Hey SQL Server DBAs: So you want to be a Data Scientist?
‘Confident Data Skills: Master the Fundamentals of Working with Data and Supercharge Your Career’ by Kirill Eremenko is a fascinating book on Data Science.
This book makes great points, has many real life examples and answers many key questions about Data Science.
In addition, free Data Science courses, workshops, podcasts, blogs and much more is available at SuperDataScience.com. You will need a password listed in the book to register for all the free goodies.
Interesting fact is that there is NO code available for download. Kirill believes ‘as it should be …. easy to solve online…’.
Just a few book points…
- BI describes what happened
- Data Science asks Why did it happen? What will happen? and What should we do?
- R and Python are the best programming languages for Data Scientists
- Data Science has 5 stages
- Identify question
- Prepare Data
- Analyze Data
- Visualize Insights
- Present Insights
- Big Data has 3 V’s
- Volume of data in the billions
- Velocity of data must be known
- Variety of data types included in data
The last chapter of the book ‘Your Career in Data Science’ is pure gold for anyone aspiring to be a Data Scientist.
This book is a must for a SQL Server DBA looking at other career paths and opportunities. The book is an easy yet fascinating read. One of the few technical books that I could not put down. It’s packed with great information and the book can be found at a reasonable price.
On a personal note, I started as a math major and took alot of classes on statistics. I eventually switched to Computer Science as the job prospects in mathematics were limited back in the 1970’s. Data Science is a new frontier that needs to be considered for your SQL Server DBA career path. I’m not sure I would jump into Data Science, even back then, but it might be just what your career needs.
