You have probably already heard about Data Science, or maybe not? Simply put, data science is a multi-disciplinary field that uses scientific methods, algorithms, processes and systems to extract knowledge and insights from structured and unstructured data. So far so good, but if you want Data Science to become your job, you should probably want to read below these 4 key advices.
It requires some statistic’s skills
If you really want to learn Data Science, then you must have or develop skills in statistics. And yes, this means derivatives, set theory, matrix calculations, data science tools, some knowledge in quants and business acumen, vectors, etc. If you want to learn Data science, or become a data scientist, you must be able to possess or develop all these skills.
Knowledge in programming languages
It is quite impossible to know everything about Data Science; it takes many years of education, research, reading, etc. But, if you are wondering where to start from, apart from statistics, you should emphasize on different programming languages. For example, Python is one of the most popular programming languages when it comes to Data Science. You can’t call yourself a data scientist if you don’t know about it. Then, you should also know about SAS/R, Hadoop platform, Spark, etc. But let’s leave this for now.
Salaries can be quite tempting
I believe that this is one of the first questions that comes to mind to future data scientists. Well, the average salary of an experienced data scientist is $117.345 per year, according to Glassdoor. It is way higher than any other IT professionals. Of course, the salary depends on certain factors, such as industry, experience, education, job title, region, etc. An interesting fact is that for every year of experience, the salary of a data scientist increases with up to $2500. If you are just starting to work this job, you should probably want to know that the salary on an entry-level is around $95,000. But as it comes to experienced data scientists, the salary varies between $165,000 - $250,000. Sounds tempting, but as in any other job, this should not be the only factor when you choose your next employer.
Communication is the key
If you want to become a successful Data Scientist, you must possess excellent communication skills. If you’re wondering why, well, you will need to interact with other departs, in order to solve a problem. Programming, communication and statistics go together. If you don’t have good communication skills, then how can you understand the problem, work on presentations, documents, or deliver solutions?
Now, when you have a better idea of Data Science, you should last, but not least know that it is important to never give up. It may sound confusing or even hard at first, but if you’re really motivated and determined to learn, you will make progress and after some time of studying, interning and working, you will ultimately start getting good paychecks.