Proven ways to be a Data Scientist Without a Degree
Having the skills to derive key insights from data is much more important than just having a degree in the field. There are plenty of resources on the Internet to kick-start your career in Data Science, but a majority of them do not make you industry-ready.
There is plenty to learn in Data Science, but with the help of the right mentors, and just the right amount of resources, you might just land your next job as a Data Scientist! By the end of the article, you will have a fair understanding of the minimum skills you would need to pick up to be a Data Scientist, even without having a degree in it.
But first, what is Data Science?
1. What is Data Science?
According to Wikipedia, Data Science is an interdisciplinary field that consists of statistics, programming, and mathematics.
Business intelligence and domain knowledge are also important soft skills. It is essential to learn the role of each building block in data science.
2. The role of Statistics
One of the building blocks of information science is insights. Without a good degree of statistical information, it would be profoundly hard to comprehend or decipher the information.
Statistical insight assists us with clarifying the information. We use insights to deduce results dependent on an example drawn from that population. Besides, AI, Machine Learning, and statistics have a lot of similarities.
So once you have a firm grip over the foundations of Statistics, it is easy to dive into other fields related to Data Science as well.
Here is a youtube playlist for your statistical needs.
3. Learning SQL
SQL is a must-have skill for Data Scientists because if there’s data, there is a need for SQL. You might be asking the right questions to a dataset, and have amazing theoretical knowledge, but all goes in vain you if can’t solve your Data Science needs.
SQL is used to manage and manipulate data through its various queries. It certainly looks daunting at first, but with the help of the right guide, it is fairly easy to understand. I would highly suggest you find a mentor/coach that helps you with 1:1 coaching.
The best resource available for such coaching is hands-down the Board Infinity Data Science Learning Path where you get a dedicated coach who is already working in the industry with plenty of experience.
4. Programming for Data Science - Python
No IT field is complete without a programming language. The simplest, most efficient language for Data Science, is Python. You can manipulate data, plot graphs, create a web app, run data science models and deploy it. Python is also used by NASA, Tesla, Google, Microsoft, and every other tech giant in the world. Learning Python can help you stand out and increase your odds of landing a job.
The most effective way to learn python is by referring to their official documentation.
For the ones who are more visually inclined, here’s a youtube video of about 4 hours.
If you need a hand-holding, 1:1 teaching to learn the most popular language, reach out here.
5. Working on real-time Datasets
Science is always backed by data. Without legitimate information, even the most developed models can't make any worth. Accordingly, we need datasets for rehearsing. One asset that you can download datasets free of charge is Kaggle. You can undoubtedly discover more datasets on the web.
6. A list of other skills
- Tableau
- Linear Algebra
- Amazon Web Services
- Hive
7. Overview
Your background doesn’t matter in Data Science, what matters is if you have the skills that can be used by a company. It’s always advised to post your learnings on various platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, and so on. It is equally important to show your real-time projects (which can be posted on GitHub or Kaggle).
Lastly, Here is a video on How can a person become a Data Scientist without any Degree?
What is of prime importance is having a mentor who guides you in this journey, and is with you in every step that you take because being lost in a pool of resources is very common when it comes to Data Science.