Whatever you wanted to learn can change with time, and it seems like you have decided to dive into the field of data science. It is a vast field that is growing every day. In today's modern era, every person can be defined with data, every person is data, data is strength.
Every day uncountable MBs of data are produced and so there is a demand of data scientists. If you have mathematics/statistics in your backdrop then it becomes easy to aspire for a data scientist. But, if you are from a non-technical background, more hard work would be required from you, and you can join the field of data science.
Without big data analysis firms wander into the world like a man in the woods. There is a demand for data analysts nowadays, so if you enhance your skills to the anticipated level, jobs would be hunting you. If you don’t have the pre-requisite of statistics or programming, the first and foremost thing is to enroll yourself in such courses. Udacity, KDnuggets, Dataquest, etc. are some platforms that can provide you online courses in data science.
They also provide certification which proves to be helpful when you toil for a job. But remember, education should also come. If you keep your focus maintained then data science is a very interesting field. Certification is secondary, if you have the knowledge, your value will automatically increase in the market. All the talks of big data and analysis, not many people understand it. It is a trendy field so many talk about it just for the sake of talking. Real knowledgeable people are valued when we are talking about data science.
Once you have enrolled yourself in a course, you can find new ways to brush up your knowledge. You can dive into real-life data analysis projects. There is much free data sets out there for various kinds of projects like criminal records, census reports, cause of death count, etc. They are available on the internet and you can use them for better interpretation and analysis.
Indulging yourself in a project will enhance your statistical skills and practical knowledge will help you when you will be seeking for a job. Also, you can join various data science communities and learn what is best suited for you. You can also follow data scientists on different social media sites to learn their perspectives on data science.
The field of data science is vast, but you have to gain knowledge. Without knowledge, nothing ever happened and nothing will. Since you are from a non-technical background, there is no substitute for hard work. If you have a mentor in this field, then it is even greater. Because sometimes, learning a new technology is not going to be easy.
Proper guidance will help you in investing your time for the right thing. You will also want to learn programming languages as an analysis of such large sets of data is done with the help of machines. Hadoop and R languages are widely used for data science and analysis.
They help in parallel usage of data at multi-points. Keep yourself updated with news and blogs so that you know which thing is in demand nowadays. The statistical approach to data science will also require a lot from you including real-time computation. And at last but the least, keep trying.
Once you have the knowledge and the skills, keep looking for the job until you find it, yes, it is going to be hectic but that’s how everyone starts! And who knows, one day you can provide jobs in data science if you keep learning and keeping your focus towards your goal.
