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(9)WhatclassesshouldItakeifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?Quora
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WhatclassesshouldItakeifIwanttobecomeadata
scientist?
Giventhereportedtalentgapfordatascientists(http://www.emc.com/collateral/ab... )how
shoulduniversitiesandindustrybetrainingpeople?
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Morespecificversionsofthisquestionforparticularuniversities.(feelfreetoaddyours!)
WhatclassesshouldItakeatBerkeleyifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatBrownifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatCaltechifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatCMUifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatCornellifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatDukeifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatGeorgiaTechifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatHarvardifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatMITifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatPrincetonifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatStanfordifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatUCLAifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeattheUniversityofChicagoifIwanttobecomeadata
scientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatUTAustinifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatYaleifIwanttobecomeadatascientist?
WhatclassesshouldItakeatIISc(IndianInstituteofScience)ifIwanttobecomea
datascientist?

26Answers
WilliamChen,DataScientistatQuora
22.2kViewsUpvotedbySeanOwen,Director,DataScience@Cloudera
WilliamisaMostViewedWriterinDataScience.

AdatasciencecurriculumshouldmostlyacombinationofStatisticsandComputerScience
classes,withadditionalrelevantclassesfromotherdepartments(e.g.AppliedMath,Math,
Econ)

409FollowersincludingJoeBlitzstein,Professor
intheHarvardStatisticsDepartmentRyanFox
Squire JoeBlitzstein
InFAQforDataScienceatUniversities
ProfessorintheHarvardStatistics
Department
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Herearemysuggestionsonafullcurriculumforadatascienceprogram

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Introduction
Oneyearofmultivariablecalculusandlinearalgebra/matrixalgebra
OneyearofintroCS
Oneyearofintroprobabilityandinference
CoreClasses
Datascience
Machinelearning
Linearmodeling
Predictivemodeling
Statselectives
Morelinearmodels
Timeseriesanalysis
Statisticalsoftware
Experimentaldesign
Surveyanalysis
Causalinference
Bayesiandataanalysis
Nonparametricmethods
CSelectives
Theoryofcomputation/Analysisofalgorithms
Datastructuresandalgorithms
Softwareengineering
Visualization
Parallelprogramming/Massivecomputation(forprocessinghugedatasets)
Networkanalysis
Moremachinelearning
Economics+ComputerScience(gametheory,auctiondesign)
Otherelectives
(convex)Optimization
Behavioraleconomics
Thankyouforthoseinthecommentsforsuggestingmorecommentstoaddtothelist!
Formyansweronwhatmajoryoushouldbeifyouwanttobeadatascientist,checkout
WhatmajorshouldIchooseifIwanttobeadatascientist?
ThisanswerispartofWhatistheDataSciencetopicFAQ?
UpdatedFeb3ViewUpvotes
Upvote 287

Downvote Comments 8+

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MarkMeloon,SeniorDataScientistatImpetus
2.4kViewsUpvotedbyRyanFoxSquire,NeuroscientistTurnedDataScientist
Markhas30+answersinDataScience.

First,there'sadifferencebetweendevelopingdataproductstobeconsumedbypeople
versusthoseconsumedbyothermachines.ButI'massumingyoumeantheformer,so
that'swhatI'lltalkabout.
Therearealotofgreatanswershere,butIjustwanttohighlightafewaspectsthatdon't
getnearlyasmuchattentionastheyshould.
Causality:Dr.Anonymousbelowdeservesmoreupvotes.Attheendoftheday.
youraudiencewantsactionableinformation.Ifyoudon'tgiveittothem,youhave
failed(moreonthisbelow).We'reinasituationnowwheredatascientistsdo
predictivemodeling(basedonhistoricaldata),decisionmakersactionbasedon
that,andtheresultis...well,nooneknows.Thatactionwasneverinthemodel.
Conversationalskills:ReadGuyCuthbert'sanswer.Hepointsoutavery
important,andwoefullyneglected,setofskills,namelybeingabletohavea
conversationwithnonspecialists.Iwroteabouttheimportanceofthisindetailin
myanswertoMarkMeloon'sanswertoWhatisadatascientist'scareerpath?
Mostdatascientistswhoclaimtobe"greatcommunicators"aremerelyskilledat

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onewayinformationtransfer,suchaswritingandpresenting.Thatdoesn'tcutit
indatascienceforreasonsIexplain.Guy'ssuggestionofRhetoricandCognitive
Psychologyisrightonthemoney.IhaveyettoseeauniversityorMOOCdo
anythingbutpaylipservicetothiscriticalaspectofdatascience.
UnderstandData:GreatanswersbyAlexLeavittandAdamMarcus.
MathematicianJohnAllenPauloshasagreatbookentitled"Innumeracy"that
detailsjusthowpoorlymostpeopleunderstandprobabilitiesandother
mathematicalconcepts(seeSynopsesofInnumeracy,MathandHumor,andHis
OtherBooks ).You'vegottobeabletogrokallthisatadeeplevel.
Andnowfornoncoursework,itisaverygoodideatodosomeprojectsofyourown
interesttodemonstrateyourinitiative,passionforthesubject,andthatyouareaself
starter.Notethataclassprojectdoesn'tcount(seeDataScienceInterview:IDon'tCare
AboutYourClassProjects ).Personally,Idon'tparticularlycareaboutKaggle
competitionseither(seeMarkMeloon'sanswertoHowusefulareKagglecompetitionsfor
gettinginterviewsforsomeonealreadyworkingasadatascientist?).I'mmuchmore
interestedinprojectsofyourowndesignandthosethatdemonstrateyourabilitytowork
wellinateamenvironment.
There'smore,ofcourse,buttheothercommentersonthispagehavedoneanexcellentjob
ofcoveringthose.Mybiois"DataScience:thestraight,nohypetruth"andIfeel
compelledtopointoutthatdatascienceisfarmorethansittinginfrontofyourcomputer
allday,geekingoutonusingthemostsophisticatedalgorithmyoucanthinkoftospitup
results.
Finally,goforit!Datascienceiswaycoolandtherereallyisnothingquitelikeit.The
criticismthatit'smerelyasexedupversionofstatisticsiswayoff.Yeah,trainingtobecome
onehasuniquechallenges,butit'llbeworthitintheend.
AndkeepaskingquestionsonQuora.There'saslewofextremelyknowledgablepeople
herewhoareveryeagertohelp!
Mark
WrittenJan31ViewUpvotes
Upvote 12

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RahulAgarwal,DataScientistatCiti
2.7kViewsUpvotedbyRyanFoxSquire,NeuroscientistTurnedDataScientist
RahulisaMostViewedWriterinBigData.

IcouldonlytellyouwhatIdidtillnowandwhatIintendtoworkonadditionallyto
becomeabetterdataScientist.
WhatfollowsismyownDatascienceCurriculum.ThisisaimedatComputer
SciencewithaSpecializationinMachineLearning.
MymainaimhereistolearnaboutMathematics,Statistics,ComputerScienceand
MachineLearning,thoughnotnecessarilyinthesameorder.
Ihavecategorizedthecourseshereasoftwotypes:
1. FFoundationalClass
2. AAdvancedSpecialization
MATHEMATICS:
(F1)LinearAlgebraByGilbertStrang:
AGreatClassbyagreatTeacher.IWoulddefinitelyrecommendthisclasstoanyonewho
wantstolearnLA.
(F2)MultivariateCalculusMITOCW: TODO
COMPUTERSCIENCE:
(F1)CS50x:IntroductiontoComputerScience,Harvard
ThisisanIntroductiontoComputerScienceclasstakenbyDavidMalan.Helpedmewith

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manymisunderstandingsandhelpedbuildintuitionaroundthewholeCSplayground.
StartswithabasicintroductiontoCandsomeprogrammingexercises.Endsupteaching
basicsofPHP,JavascriptandHTML/CSSaswell.Theprojectsinthisclassarereally
awesome.ThegithubcoderepositoryforthisclassisatHERE
(F2)CS101x:MITxintroductiontoprogrammingusingPython:
Thecourseisanintroductiontomanyoftheimportantconceptsincomputerscience.
Talksaboutsimplealgorithms,Asymptotictimes,Classes,OOP,Trees,Exceptions,
Assertions,Hashingandawholelotofotherstuff.
(F3)AlgorithmsandDataStructuresMITOCW: CURRENTLYWorkingon
(F4)RICEUniversity:CompSciMiniSpecialization
Thisisaseriesof6shortbutgoodcourses.IworkedonthesecoursesasDatascience
willrequireyoutodoalotofprogramming.Andthebestwaytolearnprogrammingisby
doingprogramming.Thelecturesaregoodbuttheproblemsandassignmentsare
awesome.Itconsistsofthreemaincourses:
1>InteractiveProgramminginPython :TheCoursestartswithteachingPythonbut
suddenlymovesintocreatinggraphicaluserinterfacesandgamesusingpythonin
codeskulptor.Icreatedsomeverybasicgamesinthiscourseaspartofthecoursework.
Someofthemare:
GuessTheNumber
StopWatch
Pong
Memory
BlackJack
RiceRocks
2>PrinciplesofComputing :Thiscourseaddsontothepreviouscoursebutherethe
focusismoreonthinkingprogrammaticallyratherthanGUIs.Theprojectsarereallygreat
asthecourseprogresseswithcreatinggames.
SolitaireMancala
2048
TicTacToeUsingMonteCarlo
Yahtzee
CookieClicker
ZombieApocalypse
WordWrangler
TicTacToeUsingMinimax
FifteenPuzzle
3>AlgorithmicThinking: Thiscoursestartswithafocusongraphalgorithmsanddata
structures.ThecodesaresourcedatGithub
STATISTICS:
(F1)Stat110:IntroductiontoProbability:JoeBlitzsteinHarvardUniversity
ConditioningistheSoulofStatistics.
Itookthiscoursetoenhancemyunderstandingofprobabilitydistributionsandstatistics,
butthiscoursetaughtmealotmorethanthat.ApartfromLearningtothink
conditionally,thisalsotaughtmehowtoexplaindifficultconceptswithastory.
ThiswasaHardClassbutdefinitelyfun.Thefocuswasnotonlyongetting
Mathematicalproofsbutalsoonunderstandingtheintuitionbehindthemandhow
intuitioncanhelpinderivingthemmoreeasily.Sometimesthesameproofwasdonein
differentwaystofacilitatelearningofaconcept.
OneofthethingsIlikedmostaboutthiscourseisthefocusonconcreteexampleswhile
explainingabstractconcepts.TheinclusionofGamblersRuinProblem,Matching
Problem,BirthdayProblem,MontyHall,SimpsonsParadox,St.Petersberg
Paradoxetc.madethiscoursemuchmuchmoreexcitingthananormalStatistics
Course.

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IwilldefinitelybeonalookoutformorecoursesbyJoeafterthisandIhavealreadydone
onemorecoursebyhimCS109.Moreonthatlater.
TheTop10Ideascoveredinthisclassare:
1. Probability,ConditioningisthesoulofStatistics,StoryProofs
2. BayesTheorem,LawofTotalProbability,FirstStepAnalysis.
3. ExpectationandVariancefordiscreteRVsandcontinuousRVs.LOTUS.
4. Discrete(Bernoulli,Binomial,Hypergeometric,Geometric,NegativeBinomial,FS,
Poisson)andContinuous(Uniform,Normal,expo,Beta,Gamma)Distributions
andthestoriesbehindthem.
5. MomentGeneratingFunctions(MGFs)andtheirProperties
6. JointandMarginaldistributions,CovarianceandCorrelation
7. ConvolutionsandTransformations
8. ConditionalExpectationAdamandEveLaw
9. LawofLargeNumbersandCLT
10. MarkovChains
Solvingtheproblemsetsandthemidtermreviewshelpedmealotingraspingtheabstact
concepts.
(F2)Stat111 :TODO
UsesDegrootandSchervishforinstruction.NolecturevideosavailablesoIplantoread
thebookandCompleteProblemSetsOnlinefromtheStat111website.Isowishthelectures
werethere.
(A1)BayesianStatisticsSTAT544: TODO
AlectureSeriesonBayesianstatisticsbyJaradNiemiatISU.
(A2)DiscreteStochasticProcessesMITOCW: TODO
GothighlyinterestedinProbabilityafterSTAT110soaddedthishere.Itisanalternativeto
oneofthenextcoursestotakeafterSTAT110thatProfessorJoeBlitzsteintalksaboutin
thecourseapartfromSTAT111.
MACHINELEARNING:
(F1)MITxTheAnalyticsEdge:
ThisisafantasticcourseforlearningaboutRaswellastheimplementationsofvarious
machinelearningalgorithminR.VeryBasic.VeryCrispandveryinformative.The
scenariosandexamplesrangefromMoneyballtoWatson.Theonlyproblemwiththis
courseisthatitsproblemsetsfeelalittlerepetitive.
Hereisthelocation ofmyRcoderepositoryforthiscourse
(F2)IntrotoDataScienceUniversityofWashington
MyfirstMLClass.Ittookalittlebitlongtograsptheconceptsbutinhindsghtitmightbe
becauseofmylackofexposuretothematerial.ItwasmyfirstgrapplewithtoolslikeR
andPython.CoversawholelotofbasefromRtoPythontoMapreduce.Wouldputithere
asitgivesathoroughperspectiveofthewholedatasciencespace.
(F3)DataScienceCS109 :AgainbyProfessorBlitzstein.Againanawesomecourse.
WatchitafterStat110asyouwillbeabletounderstandeverythingmuchbetterwitha
thoroughgrindinginStat110concepts.YouwilllearnaboutPythonLibrariesfordata
science,alongwithathoroughintuitivegrindingforvariousMachinelearningAlgorithms.
CoursedescriptionfromWebsite:
Learningfromdatainordertogainusefulpredictionsandinsights.Thiscourse
introducesmethodsforfivekeyfacetsofaninvestigation:datawrangling,cleaning,and
samplingtogetasuitabledatasetdatamanagementtobeabletoaccessbigdata
quicklyandreliablyexploratorydataanalysistogeneratehypothesesandintuition
predictionbasedonstatisticalmethodssuchasregressionandclassificationand
communicationofresultsthroughvisualization,stories,andinterpretablesummaries.
(A1)CS229:AndrewNg:
ContainsthemathsbehindmanyoftheMachineLearningalgorithms.TheGameChanger

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machinelearningcourse.Iwillputthiscourseasnumerounoasthiscoursemotivatedme
intogettinginthisfieldandAndrewNgisagreatinstructor.
DISTRIBUTEDANDPARALLELCOMPUTING:
(A1)IntrotoHadoop&MapreduceUdacity
VeryEasyCourse.TaughttheFundamentalsofHadoopstreamingwithPythontakenby
ClouderaonUdacity.IamdoingmuchmoreadvancedstuffwithpythonandMapreduce
nowbutthisisoneofthecoursesthatlaidthefoundationthere.
(A2)BerkeleyX:IntroductiontoBigDatawithApacheSpark and(A3)
BerkeleyX:CS190.1xScalableMachineLearning
Amightyflamefollowethatinyspark.
ThisisaseriesofcoursesinSparktaughtbyAnthonyD.Joseph ,aProfessorinElectrical
EngineeringandComputerScienceatUCBerkeleyandAmeetTalwalkar ,awellknown
nameinSparkcommunity.
Thiscoursedeliversonwhatitsays.ItteachesSpark.Totalbeginnerswillhavedifficulty
followingthecourseasthecourseprogressesveryfast.Thatsaidanyonewithadecent
understandingofhowbigdataworkswillbeOK.
Thetopideascoveredinthiscourseare:
1. RDDTransformations(map,flatmap,filter,distinct,groupByKey,sortByKey,
reduceByKey)
2. RDDActions(reduce,takeOrdered,take,collect)
3. AccumulatorandBroadCastVariables
4. DataframeinpySpark
5. SQLonpairedRDDsleftOuterJoin,rightOuterJoin,fullOuterJoin
IcertainlylikedtheMiniProjectsintheclass:
1. WordcountinSpark Awordcountingprogramtocountthewordsinallof
Shakespearesplays
2. ApacheLogFileanalysisinSpark UseSparktoexploreNASAApacheweb
serverlog
3. EntityResolution EntityResolutionusingTFIDFapproachesinSpark.
4. MovieRecommendationusingALS PredictingMovieratingsusingSpark.
5. LinearRegression PredictingSongYearusingLinearregressioninSpark.
6. LogisticRegression PredictingClickThroughRatesusingSpark.OneHot
Encoding,HashingExplained.
7. PCA RunningPCAonneurosciencedata
Someofthecoursesheremayseemrepetitivebuttheyallhaveprovidedsomesortof
additionalskillsthereforeIhaveputthemhere.
IwillupdatethisanswerformoredetailsasIcompletetheTODOcoursesonthelist.
HopethatHelps:)
WrittenDec17ViewUpvotes
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AdamMarcus,taughta6daydataliteracycourse
5.8kViewsUpvotedbyWilliamChen,DataScientistatQuora

IwanttoechosomethingJosephAdlermentionedattheendofhisanswer:thethingthat
evenacademicallywellequippedstudentswillhavenotbeenexposedtoisthetoolbox
requiredtotriageandprocessahunkofrawdatatheyacquirefromsomesource.
Sprinklinginrealworlddatasetsanddatacleaningexperienceiskeytoacurriculumin
datascience.
EugeneWuandIrecentlytaughta6day(3hoursperday)courseondataliteracybasics
targetedatcomputerscienceundergraduates[1].Ourinitialmotivationwasselfish:as
databasesresearchers,wedidn'thavealotofexperiencewithanendtoendrawdata
>dataproductpipeline.Afterafewtrialrunsofourown,werealizedcertaindata

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processingpatternskeptshowingup,andsawthatwehadasmallcourseworthofcontent
onourhands.Theimportantthinghereisthatevenwithundergraduateandgraduate
levelmachinelearning,statistics,anddatabasecoursesunderourbelts,westillhadalotto
learnaboutworkingwithhonesttogoodnessdirtydata.
Eachmoduleofourcoursecouldhavehadanentiresemesterdedicatedtoit,andsowe
favoredbasicskillswithlotsofhandsonexperienceoverintellectualdepthandrigor.We
keptlecturesto2030minutes,givingstudentstheremaining2.5hourstogothroughthe
labswesetupwhilewewalkedaroundansweringquestions.Lecturesallowedstudentsto
knowwhattheywereinforatahighlevel,andthelabportionallowedthemtocement
thoseconceptswithrealdatasets,code,anddiagrams.Allofthecoursecontentis
availableat[1],andhereisadirectlinktoday1'slab[2].
Thesyllabuswecoveredwas:
Day1:anendtoendexperienceindownloadingcampaigncontributiondata
fromthefederalelectioncommission,cleaningitup,andprogrammatically
displayingitusingbasiccharts.
Day2:visualization/chartingskillsusingelectionandcountyhealthdata.
Day3:statisticstotakethehunchestheygotonday2andquantifythem,
learningaboutTTestsandlinearregressionalongtheway.
Day4:textprocessing/summarizationusingtheEnronemailcorpus.
Day5:MapReducetoscaleupDay4'sanalysisusingElasticMapReduceon
AmazonWebServices.Thisfeltabitforced,butthestudentswereclamoringfor
distributeddataprocessingexperience.
Day6:thestudentsteachussomethingtheylearnedontheirowndatasetsusing
techniqueswe'vetaughtthem.

Whilewesetouttogivecomputersciencestudentswithfamiliarityinpython
programmingadiveintodata,weendedupwithfolksfromthephysicalsciences,doctors,
andafewsocialscientistswhohadtheirowndatasetstoanswerquestionsabout.Thelast
dayallowedthemtoexperimentwiththeirnewskillsontheirowndata.Attendanceon
thisdaywaslowerthanthepreviousdays:themajorityofthefolksinattendanceonday6
wereonthemoreexperiencedend,andIsuspectthattheundergrads,whowerenotyet
exposedtodataproblemsoftheirown,didn'tfinditasengaging.Itwouldbeinteresting
toseehowtodevelopcoursecontentthatallowsselfdirecteddatascienceforstudents
whostillneedabitmoreinspiration.
Ishouldalsosaythatourattemptisnotthefirstonetobringdatatotheclassroom.Jeff
HammerbacherandMikeFranklinatBerkeleyhaveawonderfulsemesterlengthcourse
ondatascience[3].Thehighleveloutlineofthecourseseemssimilar,buttheygetfarther
intodataproductdesign,andjumpintoeachtopicinmoredepth.Theirresourcespage
[4]hasanicesetoflinkstoothereducationaleffortsworthcheckingout.
[1]http://dataiap.github.com/dataiap/
[2]http://dataiap.github.com/dataia...
[3]http://datascienc.es/
[4]http://datascienc.es/resources/
WrittenApr11,2012ViewUpvotes
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JosephAdler,DataScientistatLinkedIn,O'ReillyAuthor
7.1kViewsUpvotedbyRobertChang,DataJanitor@Twitter|TaiwaneseAmerican|
Statisticallyeducated|AspiringsingerJamesPitt1otheryoufollow

Today,weusetheterm"datascience"tomean"doingstuffwithdata."Somedata
scientistsbuildproducts,someoptimizebusinesses,otherstrytounderstandbusinesses.
Regardlessofwhatadatascientistdoes,therearethreethingsthatadatascientistneeds
tounderstandtobeeffective:
(1)Math
(2)ComputerScience
(3)Theproblemthatheorsheissolving

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Letmeexplainalittlemoreabouteachone.
(1)Math.Whetheryouhavealotofdataoralittlebit,you'regoingtohavetousesome
mathtomakesenseofit.Mathhelpsyoufindpatternsindataanddetermineifthose
patternsaremeaningful.Inpractice,thismeansadatascientistneedstoknowsome
statisticsandmachinelearning.It'shelpfultoknowsomealgebra,signalprocessing,and
topologyaswell.(Seriously.)
(2)ComputerScience.Today,almostallthedatathatyouencounterwillbegeneratedby
andstoredoncomputers.Often,you'llhavetoshrinkthatdata,cleanitup,orcombineit
withotherdata.Sometimes,you'llhavesomuchdatathatyoucan'tsolveyourproblem
quickly.Inordertoworkwithdata,you'llhavetoknowhowtoprogramacomputer.But
inordertocopewithlargeamountsofdata,you'llneedtoknowaboutcomputer
architectureandalgorithms.Youmayevenhavetoworkwithdatathat'sstoredinacloud
orprocessedonadistributedsystem.I'drecommendthatanydatascientistlearnthe
basicsofsoftwareengineering,algorithms,andcomputerarchitecture.
(3)Theproblemthatheorsheissolving.Ifyouunderstandtheproblemyouaretryingto
solve,andthedatathatyouaretryingtouse,youwillbeabletodistinguishanswersthat
makesensefromanswersthatdonot,thinkofnoveldatasourcestolookfor,andthinkof
newwaystosolveproblems.Don'tunderestimatetheimportanceofunderstanding
economics,physics,biology,orhumanpsychologywhenyou'retacklingaproblem.In
practice,I'drecommendthatadatascientistshouldhavesometrainingineconomics
(specificallyeconometricsandgametheory),butanyscientifictrainingishelpful.
Andfinally,Iwouldn'tunderestimatethevalueofexperience.There'salotofstuffthatI've
learnedthehardwayaboutcleaningdata,runningexperiments,andimplementing
solutions.Academictrainingisagreatstart,buttherealworldiscomplicatedandchanges
quickly.Anygoodtrainingprogramneedstoincludesomebig,handsonprojectswithreal
worlddata(notcleantoydatasets).
WrittenApr11,2012ViewUpvotes
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GuyCuthbert,DataAnimator,https://uk.linkedin.com/in/guycuthbert
2kViewsUpvotedbyAnkitSharma,DataScientistatDataRPM

Lotsofgreatanswershereonthetechnicalstuffgreat,buttoomanygraduatedata
scientists(andvariantsonthatthemestatisticians,dataprogrammers,dataanalystsetc.)
areunabletocommunicatetheirfindingseffectively.Thisisarecurringthemeinmy
experience(seeSkillsforBigData? ),soIwouldsuggestthatinadditiontosolid
maths&computerscienceskillsthatyoushouldadd:
Datavisualisation(evenlightgraphicdesignprinciples)
Rhetoric(yes,I'mserious!)
Cognitivepsychology(stillserious)

Thosemaysoundoddsuggestions,butanelementofallthreemakesahugedifferencean
effectivedatascientistshouldbeabletoexplainfindingsinawaythattheaudience
understands.
Forthe1%whoonlyneedtocommunicatewithengineers,you'refinewithyourstatistics
andmathsproofs...fortherestofus,theaudiencewillconsistofbusinesspeoplewhowant
tounderstandenoughofyourfindings,withconfidenceinyourmethod,totakesome
formofcorrectiveaction.
Inordertocommunicateeffectivelywiththiskindofaudienceyouneedtobeastoryteller,
abletoexplain:
Whatdatayouusedintheirterminology(requiringyoutohavesomedomain
expertise)
Howyouexploredthatdataanddiscoveredinterestingpatterns(visualisation
helpsmassivelyhere)
Whyyoubelievethatyourfindingsareimportant(rhetoricalskillhelpsyoushape
andpersuadeyouraudience,focusingontheirneedsnotyours)

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Aboveall,youneedtoensurethatyouraudiencelearnsfromyourstoryandactsuponit
soalittlecognitivepsychologywillhelpyouexplaintotheaudiencetheirnaturalbiases,
howtodetectandavoidfalsepatterns,andwillcertainlyhelpyoushapevisualisations
whichconveythemessageyouintendtodeliver.
WrittenMar9,2013ViewUpvotes
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