Where do you fit in Data Science?

Africa Data School
4 min readMay 15, 2020

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Do you have a passion for data? Today’s article WE discuss skills that you as a Data scientist, Data engineer, or a Data analyst should have. It involves data mining and analytics. Is data science a combination of skills?

Introduction

Data science is an emerging technology that has everyone on edge to discover this new oil.

Ji Li Data Scientist states that Data science“It is a thing that encapsulates some programming skills, some statistical readiness, some visualization techniques, and, last but not least, a lot of business senses.’’

Let us have a look at the skills that will make your data science career a walk in the park.

What is Data Science?

Data Science is an inter-discipline that borrows and uses scientific skills, methods, processes, and algorithms to extract a given value from the available data. In the previous article, we discussed data science as a career. Today we see how you fit in the ocean of data and the skill set that is essential in data science.

Computer skills

Basic computer skills are essential in the field of data. As a data scientist being able to use a computer system is an underrated skill.

Communication skills

Another basic skill set is the ability to communicate. A data engineer should be proficient in the delivery of the findings they get after working with any type of data.

Data wrangling

Data will not always be clear. Data has a tendency of being imperfect and may include missing values and may be inconsistent. this involves transforming the data from raw format to a format that is appropriate and consistent hence giving data meaning. Such a skill will enable one to work with data in any given format.

Machine learning skills

machine learning is contained in data science every time one uses a machine learning model they are doing data science as one can do data science without machine learning but cannot do machine learning without data science. machine learning algorithms learn from data, having ML skills will change the narrative in a data scientists career.

Data visualization skills

It is the representation of data in a graphical manner for easy understanding. It involves the use of images that communicate the relationship between the data, usually achieved by the use of systematic mapping between the data values and graphic marks.

Coding /Programming skills

In data science being able to write code is a skill that any data scientist will need in order to perform functions such as data cleaning.coding/ programming is essential in data science. Python, SQL, Java, R are some of the programming languages used in data science.

Mathematical skills

Maths skills is seen to be the backbone of any career field. Data science is no different from other career paths. having the maths skill set is a big leap forward as you start a data science career path. Statistics, Calculus, linear regression and logarithmic functions are some of the hard skills used in data science.

Analytical skills

The ability to apply logical thinking to solve complex problems is a necessity when it comes to data science. A Data scientist should see patterns and trends one should be able to make sense of the data being studied.

Data mining skills

As a data scientist one should be able to find, extract,and discover patterns from data sets. by using machine learning models and statistical models to uncover the hidden pattern in a data set is a vital skill.

Curiosity and an urge to know

They say curiosity killed the cat when it comes to the world of data, a curious data scientist will tend to find solutions to problems they face in their work. with the drive to know more will make a ones career easy and enjoyable. This will enable you to develop a data intuition character.

other skill sets

-statistics

ethical skills

team player

the need to learn

summary

As seen above Data science seems to be a combination of skills used to make sense of the data available. A passion for this new goldmine and with the above skills regardless of the level, expert, or beginner you can become a data scientist. With time and practice, you grow your skillset to the intermediate level where you easily uncover patterns. It is a kind of technology that will bring a revolution with its relationship to artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and other emerging technologies.

Choose data science and data science will choose you.

Hope you liked our article where do you fit in Data Science. Share your feedback through comments

@africadataschool

www.africadataschool.com

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Africa Data School

Intensive training for a career in artificial intelligence and machine learning. https://africadataschool.com/