20 Jun 2022

Essential Tips To Start Your Career In Data Science | Ekeeda

Ekeeda Moderator
Works at Ekeeda

Essential Tips To Start Your Career In Data Science

Introduction

Data Science is one of the hottest career fields and millions of individuals, whether students or working professionals are willing to upskill & secure a career opportunity in this field. Today, the need for data science has been ever-increasing, and nearly every business or process depends on big data sets for profit gains.

However, learning data science could be quite intimidating, especially when you’re a fresher in the industry. Which language to learn – Java or C++? What techniques do you need to focus on? What level of statistical knowledge is required? How do I learn to code? These are some of the most curious questions you may struggle to find the answers to as a part of your journey.

Therefore, we thought, we would create this guide that could help people start a career in Data Science or Analytics. The idea is to create a simple and not-so-lengthy guide that can set a great learning path for data science. Our blog will set a framework that will help aspirants learn data science during their amateur times.

To navigate through a data science career amidst hundreds of apps & platform seems to be a daunting task for beginners. Relax! It’s not a ‘Rocket science’, it’s just ‘Data Science’. What you probably need is the right guidance & proper roadmap to becoming a successful data scientist.

Ekeeda Data Science Program is the perfect platform for it. Curated by industry experts it's the program for anyone who wants to learn data science, ML, and Deep learning in their quest to become an AI Professional. In this program, you will get access to 50+ modules, 5+ capstone projects, and the best part – 1:1 live mentorship sessions with experts from fortune 500+ companies like Amazon, KPMG, Accenture, Data Scope, etc.

Take a look at the Data Science Program Syllabus – Click here!

Here are a few essential tips to start your career in Data Science:

Choose The Right Role

There are varied types of jobs in the data science and analytics industry that range from data science analyst to data architect, business analyst, statistician, etc. Few of the many roles that you get take-up in the field. Based on your background and work experience, taking up one role would be easy and helpful to enter cautiously into the field. For instance, if you’re a software developer then it won’t be difficult for you to switch your role to data engineer. So, unless you are clear about your role and what you want to become, you will stay confused about the path you would take and how to hone your skills. 

Let’s say you’re not clear about the difference or not sure what you wanna become? These are a few things we would suggest to you:

  • Talk to industry experts to figure out what’s the importance of every role

  • Take mentorship from data experts - request them for a meeting online and ask relevant questions. We’re sure platforms will never say ‘NO’ to helping people who are in need

  • Fix a video call with platforms like Ekeeda who will give excellent guidance and introduce you to wonderful opportunities through various roles. 

  • Figure out what you want and what you’re good at and then choose the role that suits your needs and study demands.

The ideology is; that don’t be in a haste and pick any form of role. You should first understand what the field requires, what is your passion, and are you ready to fuel in your energy & efforts? And lastly, prepare for it.

Take Data Science Program & Be Certified

Now that you’ve set your heart on learning data science, the next thing is to give your wholehearted dedication to understanding the role. It means not just going through the requirements of the role. The demand for data scientists is BIG so hundreds of courses & studies are there in the market. Online courses are the best medium to upskill and become industry-ready in the comfort of your home. Finding material to learn from isn’t hard but learning it may will; if you don’t put in a lot of effort and hard work. Make sure when you pick the course you clear your basics and bring you to a suitable level of gaining knowledge, from where you can push ahead.

When you take up a course, give your time and energy to understand. Follow the course material diligently, assignments, and capstone projects, attend 1:1 live sessions, and try to understand all the discussions happening around the program. Assignments and capstones are as important as the video lectures and this will help you gauge where do you rank in terms of knowledge seeking in Data Science. By doing a Data Science Program you will get a clearer picture of the field.

Choose A Language & Try To ‘Command’ IT

It’s imperative to have an end-to-end experience on whatever topic or area you find interesting. A difficult question that you would face will be which language you should use? This is the most common concern amongst freshers. The most straightforward answer will be choosing the mainstream tools or languages such as C++, Java, or Python and kick start your data science journey in style. After all, tools are just meant to implement; however, understanding the data science concept will be important.

Still, it won’t keep you out of question –which one is a better option to start with? There are various guides or discussions on the internet that will address your concern. The gist will be to start with the simplest language or the one you’re familiar with. In our opinion, Python is a global and by far the simplest language you can understand and master in a short time. If you’re not well versed with coding and you should prefer GUI-based tools for now. You get a grasp on concepts, you will get your hands-on with coding things.

Follow our blog: How To Become A Python Developer and take a headstart today!

Join Data Professionals Community

Now that you know which role you wish to opt for and trying to prepare for it, the next important thing would be to join a community. Why is this so important? Simple, because community keeps you aware of the latest trends and motivated. Taking up a new field might seem a daunting thing and you feel left alone; but when you have friends alongside you, things will be much easier and merrier.

So the most preferable way to be in a community is to have a group of people who will interact with you. Else, you can either have a bunch of people on the internet with similar learning goals, such as joining online courses or programs with colleagues.

Even if you don’t have a group, you can still have a meaningful and knowledgeable discussion over the internet. Ekeeda’s DISCORD is one of a kind that is designed exclusively for students to gain industry-level knowledge and technical trends.

Reinvent the way you connect with your peers – Join Discord

More And More Practice Is Needed

You can’t judge the ‘Depth of the water’, by merely siding near the lakeside. When you learn data science skills, you should focus on practically implementing them rather than just mugging up the theory. It would help you not only understand the concept but also get a deeper sense of how it would be applied in reality.

Here are a few tips you can follow to improvise your knowledge:

  • Make sure you do all the assignments and tasks given at the end of every video lecture.

  • Work on some data sets and apply your knowledge & learning there. Even if you don’t know the math behind it, try to understand the assumptions, and what it does, and learn to interpret the results. You can develop a better understanding in the later stage.

  • Take a look at solutions given by people who work in a similar field. Learn their way of approaches and how they come up with the solutions, this way you would be able to pinpoint the right approach. 

  • The best way to increase your knowledge and gain professional experience is to participate in data science competitions also known as ‘Hackathons’. 

Attend - HackerEarth, *Smart India, *Kharagpur DS, *Machine HACK, *WMN, TechGIG, etc. to learn, update your ML/Data Science skills, compete with fellow techies in hackathons & challenges and secure your dream data science job opportunities.

Are you looking for a comprehensive program that will boost your resume? Ekeeda offers the best data science program that will help you gain cutting-edge data scientist skills and be industry-ready!

Pick The Right Learning Resources

Learning can’t be overnight; it’s a continuous process in life. You have to engulf every source of information and knowledge you find. The best resource to get the data scientist skills required is the blogs written by the most influential Data Scientists in the country. These Data Scientists are the ‘Knowledge Pool’ that is filled with experience, and active in the industry. They are aware of top trends and global practices, the economy and its impact on businesses and processes, indices, and graphs. World’s Best Data Scientists update their followers on their findings and keep posting about the recent advancements in the field of Data Science.

Read and grasp knowledge on data science every day and make it a habit to stay updated with recent happenings. There may be a lot of resources, and influential data scientists to follow, and make sure you don't follow an incorrect piece of information. It’s very important to follow the right resources and make the most of them to grow your career in data science.

Derive Basic Database & SQL Knowledge

Data won’t appear with one magical formula in the sheet. Usually, beginners start their ML journey by using data in the CSV form or an excel file. But one thing that lacks is - SQL. It’s the most basic skill needed for a data science professional. Knowledge of Data storage techniques along with the basics of big data will have a great impact on your CV since companies are still finding out their data science requirements. These companies need SQL professionals that will help them with their daily tasks and operations.

Ekeeda offers you the most comprehensive data Science Program that will help you get hands-on practice on SQL, NO SQL database, and more. This course offers you abundant of practice, real-life examples & projects.

Display Data Science Skills In Your Resume

Let's ask you something? What's the first thing that recruiters will see about you and it will make your last impression? Simple! It’s your Resume! To keep your resume intriguing is the ultimate goal in these high-pay data science job opportunities in the market.

When you draft a resume make sure you include these pointers in it:

  • Give priority to skills needed for the data science role

  • Mention the capstone projects to show your data science skills 

  • Don’t forget to mention your GitHub & Kaggle Profiles

  • Skills are the most important than mere certification

  • Update your skills & projects alongside

  • Overall resume appearance will also count – make sure all your fonts & format are standard and uniform throughout the CV.

  • There has to be continuity in your resume & it should give a good impression on your interviewer.

Resumes and Interviews could be hard and require an exhaustive preparation of each & every skill, and projects you will mention in it. Get access to all the resume tips & tricks along with top interview questions as a part of the Ekeeda Data Science Program. The goal is to help you grab the exciting data science job opportunities and become an industry-ready professional.

Improve Your Communication Skills

People just run after technical skills and in this rat race forget to enhance their soft skills – one such important skill is ‘Communication Skills.  People don’t trust that they are being rejected in their interviews due to poor communication skills. Yes! It’s true. People expect they are technically profound, and they will ace the interview. However, it’s a myth. Ever been rejected in an interview; where the interviewer said thank you we will get back to you – despite great technical knowledge? Well! Just look around and you will find millions who have got this answer.

It’s better to take up mock interview tests and prepare yourself with good communication skills. For instance, try and give a mock interview to your friend or relative who is pro in communication skills and see what feedback they will give you – points where you’re loud, poor in explanation, fumble, etc.

Alternatively, platforms like Ekeeda conduct career-building workshops that will help you groove your personality, give mock interviews and build a resume, and communicate skills before you step out for an interview.

Communication skills are very important when you’re working in a field that requires you to meet clients, top-line management, and teammates who hold suave personalities around you. To share your ideas with colleagues or prove your point in the interview, you should know how to deal with people and communicate your ideas efficiently & basically capture the attention of an opposite person.

Wanna build strong communication skills? Read: Tips To Improve Your Communication Skills

Network And Make The Best Connections

Initially, once you start the course your focus should be on learning and acquiring knowledge. Don’t do too many things at one go, or else you will give up soon.

Once you get a hand in the field, you can look for industry events, conferences, hackathons, and popular meets, - even if you’re new, try to go to such networking places. You never know when, and how someone might help you out!

You cannot gain knowledge and sit in your cubicle, you need to come out talk to experts, meet people and build connections to grab the perfect job opportunity.

Any meet-up would be quite advantageous when it comes to making your mark in the data science field. You get to meet up with people who are in your area and work actively in the field. This provides you with networking opportunities and if you establish a good relationship with them it will help you advance your career in a great way. Networking might

  • Give you internal information on what’s happening in the industry

  • Gives you Mentorship support

  • Help you search for a job – such as giving you the best tips on job hunting through leaders, interview questions, employee connection, or opportunities directly.

Get Proper Guidance

Last but not least which perhaps is one of the most crucial elements – finding the right guidance. Data Science and ML, data engineering is a relatively new field and thus, its alumni. There are only a few people who have decrypted their path in the field.

There are a lot of ways to become a data scientist; however, the online route helps you to learn in your comfort & place. Even if your mind goes on a toss during 1:1 live classes, you can still get the recorded lectures, rewind to practice, and understand concepts. But in all this, you should know you’re not an industry-ready professional so you will find difficulties. The best way is to find a mentor!

Look for a ‘Mentor’ who has started his or her career in the field of data science, ask them what and how they did it, and what’s the best way to be a data scientist? What are the skills needed? What projects you should work with? What key areas you should focus upon?

The thing is – not everyone in the market can give you access to expert mentors. That’s why Ekeeda comes up with an exclusive Data Science Program for students and young professionals. There will be 1:1 live mentor classes from top tech companies; wherein you can get in touch with them, and build a customized learning path for your data science career needs! Certification is easy but enlightening your path with knowledge and in-demand skills is the need of the hour! 

Be wise and invest in Ekeeda Data Science Program today!

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