Thread by @mentorshipzim

THIRD THREAD: How to Get Started on being a Data Scientist

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@erickhumz @emziniwecode

I'd love to believe that people who have reached this far are determined to do all it takes to be good in this field of Data Science. And yes, big data + data science = a jewel. This jewel is a good one hebana! Let's see how we can get the skills to prepare us to start mining.

Ok, I have to start with a disclaimer, we all do! It's a Data whatever thing to give myself a protective shield in case one follows these steps and does not get the same results. Repeat the process multiple times, the law of averages will guarantee you a result!

Let's revisit our Venn diagram from the previous thread. I'll include it below. I'll include links to resources to get people to earn more about this.

It would be useful for university students and professionals to review some of the following knowledge requirements to lay a strong foundation in a Data Science Career.

High School and Gap Year students can refer to the next thread for a much gentler intro/guide.

Identify your passion for the Substantive expertise category and read more papers, books and journals on it. Examples of these are Economics, Social Policy and Law, Human Behaviour and Psychology, Business, Cognition, Environment & Resource Management.

For Mathematics and Statistics, It'll be good to learn some of these modules.

Calculus(Multi)
Advanced Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Probability and Statistics - Advanced

We should also add a Modeling, Learning or Decision-Making module on top of this. Examples of such are Statistical Prediction, Machine learning, Deep Learning etc based on what you want to explore.

Deep Learning Book - deeplearningbook.org

Now for the Computer Science track, we have to make sure we have really good foundations. I've heard some people in the Industry saying that good Data Scientists are also good Software engineers. Learn the structure and interpretation of Computer Programs, ...

... Data Structures and Algorithms, Database Management Systems. Have a strong understanding of Python or R or Scala to name a few programming languages.

Here's a good diagram that highlights some of the skills that you might need.

Here's another good diagram summarizing the skills you'll need to be a Machine Learning Expert.

You can see that the highlighted skills can be met by introducing yourself to the track that I suggested above.

Data Visualization and presentation skills complete a Data Scientist. Here's one of the visuals that I like by @maroofafrica. It shows a time-lapse of Africa's Biggest Economies by GDPs. Actually, this channel has a lot of useful domain info about Zim

Current undergraduates, if you can take some of those classes at your university and are interested in pursuing Data Science, go ahead! That's will make your work easier. High School students, Love your Math and feel free to reach out to @emziniwecode for advice on a path to take

Okay, this for sure wasn't a brain-friendly thread. But always remember to be ethical in your approach to understanding and learning from Data. Read articles and papers that can help you establish a social and ethical context in the ways you collect, analyze and apply big data.

Luckily for so many young people in Zimbabwe and sub-Saharan Africa, I founded a coding school to help lay the foundations for you. Follow @emziniwecode on all social platforms to be always up to date.

Visit our website at emziniwecode.com to learn more.

Thank you for staying tuned for the past couple of hours. A thread about Emzini weCode is following where we will explain more about our course offerings, how people can sign up

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