4 Approaches to Break Into the Data Science Industry

One may want to play the role of a data scientist, data analyst, machine learning scientist, and so forth in their career. Here we seek to direct the reader on how to break into the data science interview with the right mindset and credentials.

1. Education

Most companies that hire data scientists ask for a bachelor’s degree in an associated field like maths or statistics. Apart from a bachelor’s degree, most recruiters are keen to know whether the applicant has programming language, machine learning and statistics skills.

Since most companies expect the candidates to hit the ground running, aspirants are expected to have adequate knowledge and skills on the software and tools used in data science. 

Companies expect candidates to have bare minimum domain knowledge, and they are eager to recruit a candidate they consider trainable. Candidates with data science certification from reputed institutions and online learning programmes fit the bill. IIM Nagpur’s PG Certificate Programme in Data Science for Business Excellence and Innovation is such a programme that expects the candidate to have some work experience before the certification.

2. Portfolio of projects

Companies are delighted if the candidate can showcase a portfolio of data science-related projects while applying. Such projects help employers gauge the candidates’ skills. Those candidates who can confidently demonstrate their projects impress the interviewers.

Candidates can score better if their portfolios contain projects on lesser-known data sets such as Titanic or MNIST. There are many online platforms where aspirants can register and build their projects without adequate guidance. A certification like PG Certificate Programme in Data Science for Business Excellence and Innovation from IIM Nagpur would undoubtedly serve as an advantage and give the necessary head start to the candidate.  

3. Get experience

Once you have the necessary knowledge, skills and projects are in place. A good way to get some impressive credentials to your resume is through real-world job experience. This can be undertaken through internships, freelance work, or temporary job placements. Such experience helps reinforce the fact that the candidate can handle the project needs responsibly. Interviewers would be more than forthcoming to consider a candidate with prior job experience compared to a novice candidate.

4. Need for non-technical skills

A data science job is not about technical skills; it demands the candidate to have critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Unless the candidates come with a well-rounded personality, they will find it difficult to crack the needs of the job.

Employers also expect candidates to have traits like empathy, creativity and active thinking in a multidisciplinary domain. In a fast-transforming world, where hierarchies are losing relevance, the aspirants must have good soft skills apart from hard skills.