It seems that everyone loves and wishes to be in Data Science. Especially after 2010, when Harvard Business Review described a Data Scientist’s job as “The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century!” Before that, words like Data Mining only existed. A decade later, this domain has grown exponentially in every sector and has played decisive roles to lay the foundation for new businesses and accelerated the growth potential of many existing markets.
Data Science is the science of working with data to uncover trends, insights, and fascinating patterns that answers pecking questions to improve a process quickly. Data is the new oil! Rightly so, like everything can be improved if we know how to improve them. Data has the power to transform anything it is applied to. Since the word Data Science is buzzing all around, let’s focus on it, to help many beginners by showing a path to master Data Science in the right way! Here we will discuss 7 steps to start your Data Science journey:
Everyone’s journey in Data Science is different. Be You!
Everyone is different, and so is their journey! If you aspire to become a Data Scientist or any other role in Data Science, you have different skill sets than your peers. So don’t compare your skill sets with others, analysis is required, but that should not dictate you. Identify your shortcomings and explore things that you want to instill in yourself. Work towards achieving that. The best way to do so is to learn a new skill or a concept daily. You will be amazed at the compound effect it brings. So to save your precious time and effort, I suggest you take up Data Science Certification
Understand the different ways of learning Data Science
There are three ways to learn a new subject or concept. They are Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic. Simply, by seeing, hearing, and by doing. Learning is possible from a variety of resources. They could be blogs, articles, course materials of a training program, podcasts, videos, lectures, audiobooks, and lastly, by doing. The best way to learn a concept or master a subject is by using all the senses to understand and comprehend it in simple ways. Start learning Data Science concepts by hearing about them or by seeing a video. The next step is to do what you listened to or observed visually. This way, you will reinforce what you learned visually or through the auditory senses.
Which resource to rely on
Talking about the resources, well, there is an ocean of resources that you can depend on to master Data Science. There are thousands of videos to help you get started in Data Science available on YouTube, many more blogs, and articles to read and follow. But the pitfall is that many resources are of no use to you or the path that you’re headed. It may be of someone else. courses from a recognized e-Learning platform or an institute of your choice. There they will have experienced mentors who will mentor you and help you reach your goal quickly.
Your why should be clear, and you must keep your progress on track to be productive.
The next big step to successfully start your Data Science journey is to be clear of why you have opted for Data Science and why you are learning it. The answers to these questions will help you go smoothly in your rough patches or no motivation phase, and it will also help you narrow down your specific objective. Be patient and make your “Why” the go-to reason for mastering Data Science. The other great way I will suggest you is to keep track of what you’re learning and how far you have achieved your objectives by posting or showcasing your work on online platforms, like LinkedIn or Twitter, or anywhere you have a huge community of like-minded people. Step by step roadmap to become a successful Data Scientist is explained in this video.
Love failures and fall in love with Debugging, and don’t worry about learning many things, especially when you are a novice.
Since you are just beginning your Data Science journey, you must be patient, make your Why clear, keep objectives, targets very clear, focus on daily tasks and learning, and keep track of your progress. It will be exciting at the start to learn many new things through the Data Science Tutorial, but don’t lose focus, as there are a lot of things that you must master to be able to solve Data Science problems. Learn to be confused or stuck in a problem for a long time and also fall in love with debugging as you have to do it a lot in your career.
Work on projects but don’t forget them to make them reproducible.
Try to work on projects as many as you can. As it will help you reinforce what you learned and also help you get a good practical grip on the concept that you learned. Make a Minimal Working Example (MWE) and export your projects as containers so that you can be helped by others for your errors, and you can constantly update as every day the underlying technology is changing.
Always remember Success starts from within you!
You must love the domain to master it! And for that, you must be curious to learn, show a growth mindset, comprehend the process, love it, and at last, Grit or intense determination to succeed. Always keep an attitude of learning something new, even though you become an expert as it will keep you humble and alert of new opportunities.