The world of digitalization has taken innovation to the next level. Today we are experiencing the Industrial Revolution 4.0 which is dominated by Artificial intelligence (AI). Gadgets that were unimaginable a decade ago are easily being used by people like virtual assistants, self-driving cars, Google Lens, and more. The overall digital transformation has contributed a lot to this changing technology landscape. Though AI and machine learning are being used to develop such applications, they are taking the support of a massive amount of data to make human-like decisions and perform specific tasks. So, along with AI and machine learning, the popularity curve of data science and big data analytics is also growing simultaneously.
An unprecedented amount of data is being generated every day but that is in the raw format. Unless that data is analyzed and crucial patterns are identified from it, that data is of no use to companies. So, the art of gathering, analyzing, and then uncovering the insights and trends in data is what comes under the field of data science. In other words, data science is the broader term used for a variety of disciplines and expertise areas that are involved in producing an in-depth and refined look into the raw data. Professionals who have developed skills in this field are already receiving many perks in their careers. A data scientist is the sexist job of the 21st century and many aspirants are taking data science certification programs to join this talent pool.
Many professionals are showing interest in starting a data science career. However, they have limited information regarding what skills are actually required in handling data science projects. That said, it is a wise decision to rely on a data science online course to develop the necessary skills. This article is dedicated to professionals who don’t have a clear idea of which training provider offers the best data science course that can help them achieve their career goals. So, let us discuss your top choices for a data science eLearning platform.
Best Data Science Online Courses
Here is a list of top courses that give you a competitive edge in the field of data science and establish your career as a successful data scientist.
Post Graduate Program in Data Science by Simplilearn
You shouldn’t think twice about taking this data science program as it is offered in partnership with the prestigious Purdue University and in collaboration with IBM. The course duration is 12 months and you will have to spend 5-10 hours per week to complete it. Covering key concepts and tools like Python, R programming, machine learning, and natural language processing, the program lets you know what it takes to be a data scientist.
Here are some of the top advantages of the program:
- Access to IBM Watson for hands-on training and practice
- $1200 worth of IBM Cloud credits for hands-on platform exposure
- Become entitled to membership in the Purdue University Alumni Association
- Enrollment in Simplilearn’s JobAssist program
- 25+ hands-on Projects on Integrated Labs
- Capstone Project in 3 Domains
Data Science Specialization by Coursera
Offered in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University, this specialization covers the concepts and tools that you need throughout the entire data science pipeline. It is a beginners level program that takes around 11 months to complete if you spend 7 hours per week. The entire syllabus of the specialization is divided into ten courses, namely:
- The data scientist’s toolbox
- R programming
- Getting and cleaning data
- Exploratory data analysis
- Reproducible research
- Statistical inference
- Regression models
- Practical machine learning
- Developing data products
- Data science capstone
Additionally, the course offers shareable course certificates, practice quizzes, graded assignments, and quizzes.
Become a Data Scientist Nanodegree program by Udacity
By taking this nanodegree program by Udacity, learners will understand how to run data pipelines, design experiments, build recommendation systems, and deploy solutions to the cloud. The program duration is 4 months and needs around 10 hours per week to be completed. Aspirants also need to have a prior foundational knowledge of Python, SQL, and statistics before enrolling for the program.
Here is the syllabus of this nanodegree program in brief:
- Solving data science problems
- Software engineering for data scientists
- Data engineering for data scientists
- Experiment design and recommendations
- Data science projects
The program is ideal for professionals interested in deepening their expertise in the fields of analytics, machine learning, data engineering, and data science.
Professional Certificate in Data Science by Edx
If you trust a university none less than Harvard, then this course by EdX is ideal for you. Designed by the experts at Harvard University, the program takes 1 year and 5 months to complete, requiring 2-3 study hours per week. You’ll learn all the in-demand data science skills like R programming, statistical concepts, data visualization with ggplot2, Linux basics, machine learning algorithms, and more.
There are 9 courses covered in the program:
- R basics
- Visualization
- Probability
- Inference and modeling
- Productivity tools
- Wrangling
- Linear regression
- Machine learning
- Data science capstone
There are no prerequisites to take this training program.
In conclusion, the world is wide open for professionals willing to start their data science journey. It is one of the fastest-growing career domains and helps you earn high salaries. Top companies like Google, Facebook, Ford Motors, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Airbnb, and more are offering great opportunities for data scientists. All it requires is choosing the right data science course and gaining expertise in this area.
