full article from Kunal Jain: How Do I Become a Data Scientist?
Last week, Kunal Jain shared a framework to help you answer the question, “Should I become a data scientist (or business analyst)?“. For the people, who clear the cut-offs, the next obvious question is “How do I become a data scientist?”
Having said that, if I was starting his career today, would he choose the same path? The answer is NO.
Step 1: Graduate from a top tier university in a quantitative discipline
Step 2: Take up a lot of MOOCs on the subject – but do them one at a time
- Python:
- Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python – eDX.org
- Intro to Data Science – Udacity
- Workshop videos from Pycon and SciPy – some of them are mentioned here
- Selectively pick from the vast tutorials available on the net in form of iPython notebooks
- R:
- The Analytics Edge – eDX.org
- Pick out a few courses from Data Science specialization to complement Analytics Edge
- Other courses (applicable for both the stacks):
- Machine Learning from Andrew Ng – Coursera
- Statistics course on Udacity
- Introduction to Hadoop and MapReduce on Udacity
Step 3: Take a couple of internships / freelancing jobs
Step 4: Participate in data science competitions
Step 5: Take up the right job which provides awesome experience