Data Scientist - Skills Needed

You can google for weclouddata. He landed on job after a month ...previous batch students refer the current batch and so on..hence job placement rate is 80 percent with this center.Also students go to start up firms here as interns to do the real time work and add that as experience in their profile.If you join some good study centers who helps with job hunting it's a plus.

 

I used to be in the (machine-learning) field but moved out due to a different opportunity that came up. I loved the field and am always on the lookout for opportunities to do more of it - but for me vertical matters more (in my current stage of career) so I wouldn't shift back to a role because it allows me to user ML.

About 5 years ago, I think if you did a high-quality boot camp (not just a part-time, few hours a week type of one for a couple of months), your resume would stand out - based on the interviews I used to do for my first company. But now a lot more is expected - 1. Excellent foundations of the math/statistics involved. 2. Hands-on experience with real-world data for significant project(s).

The reason that a lot of folks get filtered out is that - Because of the hype, a large number of people are trying to getting in to the field with a few months of part-time prep. A couple of courses via MOOC and then some short projects - will only get your feet wet and allow you to evaluate for yourself whether this is a field you will be able to have sustained interest.

Both of these (1) and (2) are best acquired with a Masters degree where you will have to make sure you choose to do extensive projects along with your course. If possible use spare time to volunteer with professors at the Univ on extra un-credited but real-world projects in their lab. This will make sure you have more experience that others in your graduating class and will have an edge during the job search phase. But before you commit to grad degree, go the route of MOOCs and open-source project contribution to see if data-science is your cup of tea.

When I started with ML, the maths overwhelmed me but I got lucky and found two awesome professors at my Univ who completely changed my relationship with the maths needed for ML.

Also please be weary of online data-science course: for e.g. there are courses that teach you only TensorFlow. Yes, TensorFlow is powerful, used for a large variety of applications - but if you start your learning for DS with TensorFlow - you won't get the big picture, or the fundamentals, you won't be able to answer most interview questions and won't have the skill set to actually do a lot of the work that happens before and after TensorFlow can be used. But these courses will advertise - that you can change the world with TensorFlow.



Missed answering your questions:

> What would it take to enter as a beginner ? How much of an effort / time is realistically needed to get a foot in the door ?

Time depends on how many hours per day/week you would be able to put in.

> Lets say if I put in the rest of this year for prep work would it be worth it in terms of job market.

I'd say 1 year at least if you are committed to working on it for a significant amount of time each week. Also would depend on your current background. If you can already code or do Matlab - it might easier to get the practical aspects of it. If you have a math background, the fundamental courses - would be easier for you. Even if you don't have both these backgrounds, it should be fine. It would take longer but that's a reasonable investment of time/effort for a career change for anyone.

> I know there are lots of roles in that area but for some one to enter without prior experience how the opportunities are out there ?

Very difficult if you are beginner with no work-experience only because "lots of people" are trying to get into this field. But that's what you will be doing during your 1 to 2 years of study and job search prep.


> I have not completely decided on it yet but I am trying to find information about it before I go further.

My sincere advice before you decide to go for it - is to do lots of reading about the field and take an online course or two and see if it interests you. Only then decide if you will want to put in a year or two of time to prep for this field.

 

Also want to add that - even though I recommend the master's route, I still think it is possible to acquire all the skills you need without a University degree, but you would need to be very disciplined and systematic in your approach. Would definitely recommend getting a mentor or even two who have a current job in the field to guide you as you choose your plan of courses, projects, technologies, etc that you will be self-learning or learning via MOOCs or remote-learning programs.

 

Yes I have seen some ppl on LinkedIn who join a bootcamp after MS.

As you mentioned these days attending a bootcamp alone is not sufficient. They want someone who has experience in real-time projects. It’s a catch 22

And whatever projects you do in bootcamp is like a POC but most of the companies want someone who is experienced!

 

Maybe the best option is to enroll in Udacity or any similar ones. Get the hang of it. If you are successful in getting a job then good. Else you can plan for masters.

 

Yes I had asked earlier about Udacity but dint continue as I got busy with job.

Currently they are offering free trial of 30 day’s for all the NAno degrees due to this covid19 but this is only for limited time.
You can check out. After which they charge around 300$ per month.

They have also mentioned career assistance, but I’m really not sure how good it is.
I recently enrolled for Cloud Nano degree. I’m planning to continue further if I feel it’s worth.