Opinion
"Be a lifelong student. The more you learn, the more you earn and the more self-confidence you will have." – Brian Tracy.
In the modern generation, data is a valuable resource, and the emerging trends show a steep increase in the popularity of the subject of Data Science.
Hence, this occasion is probably the best for you to invest your precious time and efforts to enhance your skills in the field of Data Science. And develop into a blossoming successful Data Scientist of the future!
But if you are a beginner enthusiast of the subject or even an intermediate learner, what is the best course of action to learn Data Science effectively and efficiently?
A common question asked by beginner Data Science enthusiasts is how much money do you actually need to pay to learn Data Science and become an expert by mastering all essential aspects of the field.
In this article, I will aim to answer these questions with a little backstory while also clarifying some misconceptions.
We will then look at some of the best free resources and useful links for becoming proficient at Data Science.
Finally, we will get motivated to learn more and consistently focus on self-improvement as Data Science is a constantly advancing field, and we must evolve simultaneously as well.
A Simple Journey
Three years ago, I had almost no experience with Data Science.
My background was from Electronics and Communications, where I worked mainly on Robotics projects. I enjoyed planning, building, and constructing unique robots.
However, I realized at one point in time that it would be super awesome if I could integrate Artificial Intelligence into my robotic projects to make them more innovative.
I wanted my robot to have features like face recognition, object detection, and speech translation, among various other unique entities and characteristics.
At this moment, Artificial Intelligence sparked my interest immensely, and I began my journey towards Data Science.
By Googling, I found out that the best resources to get started with Data Science was Programming with Python and dealing with mathematical concepts.
For me, Math was never a major issue as I always enjoyed it a lot. I also noticed that because of my background, I also fulfilled most of the essential Data Science requirements for math, which includes concepts of statistics, probability, and calculus.
Don’t Worry as I will mention some of the best free resources for learning math as well in the upcoming sections!
Programming, however, was not something that I had much experience with and had to practice quite a bit. I had worked a lot with Java in high school, so I knew some of the essentials of object-oriented programming.
The main objective for me was to learn Python and the basics of Data Science so that I could create innovative and unique real-world applications with the immense knowledge I have gained.
Long story short, I learned most of the essential requirements for Python programming in under one month and became quite proficient using it in about three months.
That is around the average time a complete beginner with no experience but a lot of interest would take to learn and grasp most of the necessary topics.
Data Science is a continuously developing and advancing field. I studied the subject and worked on numerous projects for the next couple of years.
I gained most of my knowledge from the free courses and resources I utilized during this time. I finally did an additional paid course to earn a certificate for my learnings.
However, the majority of time was spent with free resources, which are absolutely fantastic due to the amount of valuable information they provide.
In the next section, let us analyze and explore some of the best free valuable resources for learning Data Science!
Best Free Resources
There are tons of sensational research papers, lots of free documentations, video tutorials, concise guides, and so much more to improve your knowledge and understanding of the subject of Data Science.
In this section, let us discuss the best options available for each essential concept, namely Math, Python, and Basics of Data Science, individually.
Note: The asterisk (*) symbol will denote resources that I have personally used. Otherwise, it is according to research or from other knowledgeable people that have recommended them.
Math:
- *Khan Academy ():** Best place for you to start off with learning basic mathematical concepts like linear algebra, calculus, and probability and statistics.
- *3Blue1Brown ():** One of the best YouTube channels to check out some brilliant in-depth explanations and intuitively understand concepts much better.
- Books: If you are more into reading books, then do a quick Google search to check out some outstanding resources for the best free e-books to learn Mathematics. You should prefer separate books for each specific topic for better practice.
Python:
- *Free Code Camps():** freeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization that consists of an interactive learning web platform and other awesome features that intend to make learning programming accessible to anyone.
- *YouTube Videos():** Sentdex, Tech With Tim, and Corey Schafer, are some popular Youtubers that I followed, and I would highly recommend them. There are also other brilliant options that you can choose to learn from.
- *HackerRank ():** A fantastic platform for learning programming and participating in competitions.
- *Free Courses ():** If you have time to take up free courses from popular platforms, then it is highly recommended.
Data Science (Includes Machine Learning and Deep Learning):
- *Machine Learning from Stanford (Coursera) ():** Absolute best resource for learning the basic concepts of Machine Learning. Audit this course as most of the assignments are in Matlab and utilize this resource to the fullest.
- *YouTube Videos():** I would highly recommend checking out various YouTube Channels for Machine Learning and Deep Learning content creators.
- *GitHub():** The best platform to share your code and knowledge, as well as learn and understand other’s codes effectively.
- *Kaggle():** Kaggle, a subsidiary of Google LLC, is an online community of data scientists and machine learning practitioners.
- *TDS():** Towards Data Science hosts some of the best Data Scientists and enthusiasts who create fabulous projects and showcase them to a wide range of audiences. Other article sites are also highly recommended to check out to gain more knowledge.
- Research Papers: Understanding and reading research papers will provide great insight into the complex nature of complicated problems of Data Science, machine learning, and deep learning.
- Books: I would highly recommend and encourage all of you to Google and find free e-books for learning Data Science whenever you can.
I will create another article covering useful resources more extensively. Do let me know if you guys would be interested in the same!
Clarification
This section of the article is more like a disclaimer to clarify any misconceptions surrounding the topic we discussed today.
Is it possible to learn Data Science without for free?
- Short answer is yes. But….
It is absolutely possible to learn data science for free, and you will notice that in the previous sections of the article where I have provided concise details regarding this topic.
The main objective of the article is the learning process behind picking up Data Science from scratch with free resources rather than utilizing some paid online courses (some of which could be a scam as well).
It is not to tell you to not get a Masters Degree or PhD in the subject.
If you have the opportunity to accomplish these Degrees in esteemed universities, I promise you that it will be extremely helpful in gaining further knowledge and better understanding with respect to Data Science.
These are some of the paid degrees that you should consider engaging in to learn more. (If you receive a scholarship for the same, then that is a win-win!)
However, if you are not able to afford them or you have not yet received an opportunity to dwell in a university of your preference, all hope is not lost as you can learn Data Science from your home with multiple free resources.
The current situation of the world also provides an ideal Situation for you to pick up Data Science and master it!
The first link provided in the final conclusion section of this article is a concise twenty five minute guide of how to master data science concepts in 12 months in the year 2021!
Additional Motivation
"A data scientist is someone who can obtain, scrub, explore, model, and interpret data, blending hacking, statistics, and machine learning. Data scientists not only are adept at working with data, but appreciate data itself as a first-class product." – Hillary Mason, founder, Fast Forward Labs.
In my opinion, as long as you enjoy what you are doing and you are happy with it, then nothing really matters.
Make sure you do what you love and enjoy.
There are tons of awesome and fantastic projects you can create with Data Science. I will cover more on this in my next article!
The field of Data Science is spectacular, with so many new ideas and innovations that are to be uncovered in the future. I am glad all of us Data Science enthusiasts can contribute enormously to this continuously advancing and rapidly developing field in numerous ways.
But if you find out that Data Science is not something you like, then don’t simply jump on the bandwagon because other people want to do so.
There are so many other wonderful options out there in the world. Understand your own interests and follow your dreams! Check out the last link in the next section to learn more about this topic.
We are surrounded by Artificial Intelligence and Data Science all around us, and I find the fast pace of progress in this field extremely fascinating. I am excited about the newer technologies in the future and the ultimate rise of Data Science.
The amount of hype generated by Data Science, along with the various job opportunities created, makes Data Science a step everyone must consider exploring and learning!
This is the best time for all of us Data Science enthusiasts and Data Scientists to explore the various options and opportunities out there in the world.
Efficiently utilizing your time will help in creating a better hemisphere with fabulous Data Science projects.
Let’s all contribute to the evolution of Data Science by constructing amazing models and projects to solve complex tasks and find solutions to complicated questions!
Conclusion:
From the points stated in this article, we can figure out that it is not a compulsory requirement for you to pay money in order to master the essentials of Data Science. There is a wide array of free resources that you can utilize and benefit from.
However, if you want to take programming, math, or any online Data Science courses, I would highly recommend that you do in-depth research on that particular course. Make sure you read all the reviews and consider the opinions of other people who have taken up that course.
With the increasing popularity of Data Science, there are a lot of scams and scam sites running around the internet. So, it is better to be safe than sorry!
I would highly recommend checking out the free courses first for a complete beginner. It is ultimately your choice if you want to follow the suggestion or not.
If you are able to find a valuable course or resource you can benefit from in a reasonable amount of money, then it is even recommended to take up those courses to achieve higher skill ceilings and greater knowledge.
I wish you all good luck on your Data Science Journey!
If you guys liked this article, please feel free to check out some of my other stories that you might enjoy also reading!
12 Steps For Beginner To Pro In Data Science In 12 Months!
Python Project To Improve Your Productivity For The New Year!
Everything You Need To Know About Jupyter Notebooks!
Thank you all for sticking on till the end. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this article. I wish you all have a wonderful day ahead!
