Skills Required To Be A Data Scientist – Know that the data science technical skills and business skills you need to have as a data scientist are in high demand.
Data science positions today require a combination of technical expertise, strong business acumen and communication skills to deliver clear insights from data. Team sizes range from hundreds of members in large companies to a few in small companies. Data science is a growing field, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the demand for data and math scientists will increase by 28% by 2026. New graduates or those looking for a career change can find interest in these jobs and the knowledge and skills needed to compete for positions.
Skills Required To Be A Data Scientist
Below we highlight the top data science skills needed in today’s job market for data scientists.
Your 12 Step Guide On How To Become A Data Scientist
Strong organizational skills are especially important for data science candidates. Skilled coders write great solutions that are easy to understand, scalable, and error-free. Employers often prefer candidates with coding experience for this reason. Coding for data science is primarily written in Python, SQL, and R. Each data science programming language has its own strengths and weaknesses, adding to the advantage of knowing multiple languages. Companies may have specialized languages, but knowledge of these three is sufficient for most data science jobs. When you want to learn another language, knowing one language often reduces the time it takes to learn another.
Most data science tools are available in Python, and the language can do everything from data preprocessing and modeling to visualization. When properly written, Python code is easy to read and, given its simplicity, runs fast. As a result, Python has become the gold standard for data analysis and one of the most sought-after data science skills. Demand for Python programmers in the data center continues to grow.
In Python, there are many common libraries for data scientists and their practices that should be learned while learning Python. Pandas is a popular library for data manipulation and analysis and is used in many data analysis projects. Everything from easily reading different file types to deleting columns and replacing null values in Pandas. They often see Pandas as an essential library in job requirements, and data science applicants should have experience with it. There are also a few libraries available for machine learning in Python, including scikit-learn, which is very popular. Data science applicants should be familiar with programming syntax and scikit-learn options to be competitive.
At , we have hundreds of Python interview questions from top employers, including Microsoft, Facebook, and Uber. For example, this programming problem where a coder is expected to calculate a project’s budget allocation by staffing level provides an example of what to expect when interviewing for data science companies.
Data Science Cheat Sheet For Business Leaders
If you’re wondering how much Python is needed for a data science career, check out our article on how much Python is needed for data science.
Standard Query Language (SQL) is the foundation of today’s database querying, and allows data scientists to search databases to find relevant information. Scripting in SQL helps data scientists because it allows them to build their own datasets and perform scalable basic to intermediate analysis. Many data scientists start their careers as data analysts, working in most companies with SQL to query databases and find solutions to solve business problems. Data science teams often value this task because it improves a candidate’s understanding of database information, which is essential for working with large data sets. You can get a feel for common SQL programming problems in data science discussions at this link.
Although less common than Python and SQL, R is an important statistical programming language used by mathematicians and data scientists to model and visualize data.
R benefits from a comprehensive set of powerful and easy-to-use statistical libraries, and results are returned in a tabular format second to none. For those mathematicians with little computer science or programming background, R’s simplicity may provide an entry point. R is not an absolute necessity in the way that Python or SQL are applications for data science, but it is common in the fields of economics and finance, among others. R is an open source project with a tutorial on its website, and the language syntax is easy to follow.
The Data Science Skill Set
Fortunately, there are many tools available for learning Python and SQL for data science, including the ones here.
Check out our article on Python vs R for Data Science to see which language is better.
The amount of math knowledge required for data science can vary by company and specific role, but the best data scientists understand the basic math principles of the tools they use. Due to the technical approach of data science, mathematical data science skills are required, and employers may ask about students’ mathematical skills during interviews. While it is unlikely that you will need to solve complex problems from scratch on a regular basis, a general understanding of the mathematics behind data variables is required.
An understanding of basic statistics is used to interpret machine learning results, such as numerical ones. Without a working knowledge of standard error and probability, data scientists are limited in their ability to develop predictive models. It offers unique interview tests that allow candidates to learn content to prepare for the interview process. At the very least, it is important to understand the different types of distributions and the statistics that describe them. In addition to increasing credibility, using the right word helps to organize data problems in the right way for your colleagues and partners.
Top 10 Skills For A Data Scientist
Computation is always present in data science projects. For example, optimization problems are solved using gradual descent and classification algorithms, dimensionality and cluster analysis from calculus techniques for optimal solutions. Like math, you don’t have to be super good at calculus to be a data scientist, but it helps and often helps to understand the basics.
Linear algebra is common in machine learning models, since data frames represent data in the form of matrices, and matrices are the domain of linear algebra. Simple concepts like vectors, matrix manipulation, and eigenvalues are useful for understanding what is going on under modern data science. Since all images are represented as matrices, image analysis relies heavily on linear algebra. For example, suppose we need a grayscale image of an apple on a computer. Each pixel of the image is represented by a value between 0 and 255, where 0 is completely black and 255 is completely white. Linear algebra allows us to manipulate the matrix that represents our image of an apple and rotate that image. Although you program using this library and do not need to understand the underlying mathematics, familiarity with linear algebra will provide a deeper understanding of the solution.
Set theory is useful for writing SQL queries, because it provides a basis for understanding how data sets are grouped. The concept of union, intersection, and Cartesian products from set theory are all found in SQL. Again, it is possible to write advanced SQL scripts without learning SQL scripts, but it can shorten the process when writing new scripts.
One of the most common mantras about modeling is ‘garbage, garbage’. The result is that unprepared – or insufficient information – irreparably affects the final product. Creating well-performing machine learning solutions is inherently difficult, and ‘dirty’ data makes it impossible. As a result, employers place a premium on data scientists who can improve data quality and build their own data sets.
Arun Kottolli: Skills Needed To Be A Successful Data Scientist
As a data scientist, the ability to crunch data ensures that we have good data going into our predictive models so that we can trust our results. Data crunching is one of the most in-demand technical data science skills because complete data sets are not readily available on real-world projects. Data scientists who are able to crunch data benefit from being able to organize their databases, saving time and allowing more time for sample analysis.
Common data problems include handling missing values and duplicate records, and using the right method to eliminate these limitations can be the difference between a successful project and a failure. The data discussion is extensive, and includes examples such as data collection, complex SQL queries on multiple databases, and data manipulation using Python. Data scientists need to create data sets to analyze from incomplete sources, and adequate data wrangling and preparation skills help to find answers.
For many, when we hear the word ‘data scientist’, predictive modeling comes to mind. Machine learning capabilities are in demand by companies around the world looking to predict trends, target customers or build new technology solutions. Proficiency in predictive analytics is one of the most important data science skills when entering data science, and one that future data scientists will need to develop.
