How long will it take to learn Data Science?

With promising career opportunities and lucrative salaries, it is certainly a terrific time to be a data scientist. However, what if you want to start from scratch? Fortunately, there are different learning paths to take. You can get a college degree, you can attend a boot camp, or you can even teach yourself.

How long does it take to learn Data Science?

In the data science field, there are three main occupations – Data Analyst, Data Scientist and Data Engineer. Each of them requires a foundational understanding of data science and each focuses on different aspects. These days, the most sought after and most desirable is the role of a Data Scientist.

With a data science course, you will be able to learn data science fundamentals in the space of 6 to 9 months if you dedicate up to 7 hours each day. However, if you want to become a data scientist able to competently operate in a business, you will need a longer time to gain experience.

If your hope of learning data science is to use it to get a job, there’s a likelihood that you will suffer from burnout before you have gone far. You will find lots of advertisements and courses that give out misleading or unrealistic expectations surrounding this occupation.

Hard work is needed

However, the truth remains that this is a long and challenging process that requires hard work, dedication, focus, and perseverance. Although you can learn data science with hard work, the only way you’re going to last the course is if you’re passionate and realistic about data science.

You shouldn’t be discouraged if you’re told that you have to learn everything concerning the field. The fundamentals, programming, statistics, machine learning, and database technologies are some of the elements that you will have to learn. There’s no skipping one or the other. You should take out ample time to become familiar with all aspects.

The dynamic nature of data

The dynamic nature of the world is something that every data scientist should keep in mind at all times. According to reports, at least 65% of current grade schoolers will have jobs that don’t even exist at the moment, and almost 50% of IT practices at the moment will be out of date in 4 or 5 years. A data scientist’s job is to access current and past data to solve difficult problems with an innovative approach.

This means the wisdom, expertise, and skills gained throughout the learning will be more valuable than most of the information you will learn. It involves improving your coding, statistical/mathematical, presentation, data visualization, communication, and business skills. This will lead to an improved ability to maintain a balance between the now and the future. Adaptability is an important trait for any good data scientist.

Admittedly, all the fundamental abilities and information are important to building a sturdy foundation, but what will set you apart is being able to acknowledge that learning all this will let you grasp the bigger picture. When this mindset starts to foster, flexibility, adaptation, and problem-solving will become easier – instead of you attempting to memorize them.