Data Scientist are in high demand, ranked the #1 profession in America on Glassdoor. And according to Forbes, an additional 1,700 job openings paying an average salary of $116,000 US dollars are available, contributing to an exponential expansion of the field.
So are you interested in Data Science but not sure where to start? Here’s a breakdown of a few steps and resources to help you gain a foundation to pursue your studies or undergo a career change into the trending and lucrative field of Data Science.
1. Start by brushing up on your Math
Calc I-II
Professor Leonard’s videos – he is the best resource for Calc I and II in my opinion
Paul’s Notes – great for practice sets and for clear notes
PatrickJMT’s YouTube account
Linear Algebra (books)
Linear Algebra from UC Davis
Linear Algebra from Saint Michael’s College
Linear Algebra Done Wrong
Statistics Foundation
Intro to Statistics
Stanford’s online Statistical Learning with R
Probability, preferably using R (books)
Introduction to Probability and Statistics Using R
Introductory Statistics with R, 2nd edition
Bonus: Econometrics
Mark Thoma’s YouTube channel
idre UCLA Resources for R
2. Knowing a bit of programming is an advantage for Data Scientist and Python Language is the best bet. For an intro to Python:
Automate the Boring Stuff course – make sure to find a coupon for the class, the book is free online
Python for Everybody Specialization
An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python – Part I & Part II
Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python
3. Data Analysis, nuff said.
Data Science Class at Harvard (CS 109/ Stat 221)
Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science – followup to the Intro to Computer Science & Programming using Python
Data Analysis and Statistical Inference
Code Academy for Data Scientists
4. Machine Learning will help with your data analysis and access hidden insights.
Andrew Ng’s class – widely recommended by many people
Neural Networks for Machine Learning
5. SQL will make your life easier and help you access the data you need.
SAMS Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes
Khan Academy course for introductory SQL
W3Schools
6. Last but not least, a few additional resources that are always a good go to.
Join meet-up groups, there is likely to be no shortage of good ones.
Read the book Data Science from Scratch
Finding interesting datasets – data.gov; Reddit r/datasets; R10 – Yahoo News Feed dataset, version 1.0 (1.5TB) & UCI Machine Learning Repository
Check out a list of 100 free data science books
Are there any additional resources that you use or have used? Please share with you fellow Data Scientists.
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