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How do I become a Data Scientist after completing my undergraduate degree in Economics?
I'm currently pursuing an Economics degree (lots of econometrics experience) and I am learning principles of machine learning on the side. What aspect of data science should I focus on honing to get my foot into the world of DS/ML? #technology #economics
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8 answers
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Cinthya’s Answer
HI Ayon
From my experience in the Business Consulting , I can tell you that Data Science is great, as companies are looking into how better use data to make better decisions.
Your knowledge in R and SQL willl be your start point and then i would suggest you to learn Tableau as one of the greatest platforms to represent data in a very executive way for decision making.
Coursera has some great courses
Introduction to Business Analytics
Data Visualization with Tableau
Good Luck!
From my experience in the Business Consulting , I can tell you that Data Science is great, as companies are looking into how better use data to make better decisions.
Your knowledge in R and SQL willl be your start point and then i would suggest you to learn Tableau as one of the greatest platforms to represent data in a very executive way for decision making.
Coursera has some great courses
Introduction to Business Analytics
Data Visualization with Tableau
Good Luck!
Updated
Gaurav’s Answer
Hello Ayon,
There are multiple courses online / classroom based specifically giving a good jumpstart on getting into Data Science. Some of online courses are available at very low cost .. e.g. try a search on Udemy or Coursera.
From the focus point, statistics & technology are the key for data science , would be good focus areas.
Good Luck
Explore courses on Udemy
Explore courses on Coursera
There are multiple courses online / classroom based specifically giving a good jumpstart on getting into Data Science. Some of online courses are available at very low cost .. e.g. try a search on Udemy or Coursera.
From the focus point, statistics & technology are the key for data science , would be good focus areas.
Good Luck
Gaurav recommends the following next steps:
Thank you Gaurav! Have you found any particular course interesting or helpful for your work?
Ayon
Honestly not myself as I am into different domain, but I am surrounded by people who have done these online courses and are into business analysis field today :)
Gaurav Sangamnerkar
Updated
John’s Answer
Data science is "hot" right now. There are more opportunities than there are people to fill them. If you want to get your foot in the door with data science, I think building a background in programming is one of the more important things you should focus on right now. Not all career opportunities in the data science field will require you to program every day, but the background will certainly help you get your foot in the door AND make you more successful in the long term.
Trends change all the time, but from my developer friends who are getting into data science they are focusing on building their experience in Python, so that's where I would start if I were you.
From your question, it sounds like you are still exploring the possibility of data science, but if that is something that you decide that you really want to pursue, I know that there are more and more programs available at universities that are focused on data science. I know people who have graduated from the program offered by UC Berkeley and they recommend it. Many companies are hiring straight out of the graduate pool even without professional experience in the field.
Trends change all the time, but from my developer friends who are getting into data science they are focusing on building their experience in Python, so that's where I would start if I were you.
From your question, it sounds like you are still exploring the possibility of data science, but if that is something that you decide that you really want to pursue, I know that there are more and more programs available at universities that are focused on data science. I know people who have graduated from the program offered by UC Berkeley and they recommend it. Many companies are hiring straight out of the graduate pool even without professional experience in the field.
Updated
Shruti’s Answer
If you already are acquiring knowledge of ML then that is great. However understand that Data Science is huge and not just ML. Explore that and check what exactly in Data Science you are interested in. You want to statistical modelling or Data Analytics or Business Analytics or ML or even AI?
And then an effective way to get your foot in the door is getting associated with a group of Data Scientists or maybe prospective Data Scientists (still studying). For Eg you enroll in a classroom certification or bootcamp course. You get connected with this group of people who are kind of in the same boat as you which is perfect networking. You can grow your network using their network. Do group projects (Oh so much learning!). Then you hear someone got a job in XYZ company, other friend got an interview in ABC company and so on. And this way you are gaining critical info about the job market and how to prep for interviews. You understand which company works in what kind of technology and you know what you want to do better.
Although online courses are great but I believe an in person environment does so many more things for you than just gaining subject knowledge.
And then an effective way to get your foot in the door is getting associated with a group of Data Scientists or maybe prospective Data Scientists (still studying). For Eg you enroll in a classroom certification or bootcamp course. You get connected with this group of people who are kind of in the same boat as you which is perfect networking. You can grow your network using their network. Do group projects (Oh so much learning!). Then you hear someone got a job in XYZ company, other friend got an interview in ABC company and so on. And this way you are gaining critical info about the job market and how to prep for interviews. You understand which company works in what kind of technology and you know what you want to do better.
Although online courses are great but I believe an in person environment does so many more things for you than just gaining subject knowledge.
Updated
Edward "EJ"’s Answer
If you are interested in pursuing a masters degree, some universities / graduate programs are beginning to offer degrees in Data Science that could help you pursue a career in Data Science if interested.
http://datascience.community/colleges
http://datascience.community/colleges
Updated
Yilin’s Answer
Hello Ayon,
If you major in Economics I assume you probably use R or Stata the most in econometrics. I'd recommend taking Python and SQL courses online if you are interested in data science. Again Udemy and Coursera have some good courses and a lot of them have certificates you can write on your resume or LinkedIn.
Continue on learning ML principles, statistics.
If you are still in school, try take or sit in a computer science class.
Try to find internships or research assistant jobs that allow you to work with data. Get hands-on experience in data cleaning, manipulation, and do some modeling, even simple ones.
Do some real case practice and know your coding so that you can pass the technical interviews and excel the case problems when opportunity comes :)
Good luck!
If you major in Economics I assume you probably use R or Stata the most in econometrics. I'd recommend taking Python and SQL courses online if you are interested in data science. Again Udemy and Coursera have some good courses and a lot of them have certificates you can write on your resume or LinkedIn.
Continue on learning ML principles, statistics.
If you are still in school, try take or sit in a computer science class.
Try to find internships or research assistant jobs that allow you to work with data. Get hands-on experience in data cleaning, manipulation, and do some modeling, even simple ones.
Do some real case practice and know your coding so that you can pass the technical interviews and excel the case problems when opportunity comes :)
Good luck!
Updated
Gill’s Answer
I would reach out to the companies you are interested in working at as many have their own work placement and apprenticeships
Updated
Claude’s Answer
How do I become a Data Scientist after completing my undergraduate degree in Economics?
If you majored in economics then you have some level of mathematics skill. You need to ensure that you have had exposure to statistics and mathematical modeling. A course in econometrics will be helpful.
You will probably need to consider obtaining a master's degree in data science. There are a number of solid, in-person master's programs around. I have also seen some offerings online.
I also recommend you taking computer science classes.
If you majored in economics then you have some level of mathematics skill. You need to ensure that you have had exposure to statistics and mathematical modeling. A course in econometrics will be helpful.
You will probably need to consider obtaining a master's degree in data science. There are a number of solid, in-person master's programs around. I have also seen some offerings online.
I also recommend you taking computer science classes.