Data Science From a Beginner’s Perspective
When I first heard about data science, the picture that came in my head was scientists in a lab and their jobs were to study all kinds of data. I still laugh at myself when I think about that :D.
What is data science
Data science is not about coding and it is not machine learning, but it is a way of using aggregating data from different sources in making business decisions or almost everything that has something to do with data.
According to Wikipedia, “data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data in various forms, both structured and unstructured.”
In the end you should only measure and look at the numbers that drive action, meaning that the data tells you what you should do next ~ Alex Peiniger.
Have you ever wondered how YouTube knows which ads you’ll like, or search engines like Google deliver the best result for your searched query in a fraction of seconds? Well, All these search engines make use of data science algorithm to do this kind of stuff.
The other best example of an application of data science will be speech recognition products like Siri or Alexa. it is cool to talk to your mobile phone and it does all the typing for you. Simply speak out the message and it will be converted to text. How cool is that?
The history of data science
In early 2001 data science was attributed to William S. Cleveland. he laid out plans for training Data Scientists to meet the needs of the future and wrote “Data Science: An Action Plan for Expanding the Technical Areas of the Field of Statistics.” It described how to increase the technical experience and range of data analysts and specified six areas of study for university departments.
In 2002, the International Council for Science: Committee on Data for Science started publishing the CODATA Data Science Journal, a publication focused on issues such as the description of data systems, their publication on the Internet, applications and legal issues.
In 2008, the title, “Data Scientist” became a buzzword, and eventually a part of the language. DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher, of LinkedIn and Facebook, are given credit for initiating its use as a buzzword.
Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it the samurai. ~ Jonathan Rosenberg
Who is a data scientist?
A simple definition will be a statistician who can code. Their role is to use advanced analytics technologies to provide insights beyond statistical analysis. Data science topped the glassdoor top 50 best jobs 2019 When it comes down to job satisfaction, earning potential and available opportunities.
You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data ~ Daniel Keys Moran.
The data scientist must be able to communicate how to use analytics data to drive business decisions that may include changing course, improving a process or product, or creating new services or products
How to become a data scientist
To become a data scientist there are some of skills you need to have before you start or you can learn them along the way(Just like me). The skills are -:
- Statistics
- Mathematics
- Programming tools and techniques
to name just a few. For more please visit this link
Watch out for my next article on big data and how it is related to data science.
