Data science continues to be a rising career in the years to come

Why should someone choose Date Science as a career option now? Where can they start?

Data Science skills and qualifications provide a quicker entry to a reasonably high-paying job (based on the current and projected market conditions) and probably with lesser challenges. Candidates looking for an entry into such roles as a fresher, are best served by a full-time contact course which would provide both skills and a degree (as evidence for qualifications). There is also a general trend where candidates with four to five years of experience, even 10+ years of experience, have signed up with degree programmes (often at a master’s level) offering data science qualifications.

Do we have enough institutes in India that offer quality programs in Data Science? Where should Indian students look for data since programs, India or abroad?

There are many institutes in India that have started offering academic degree programmes in data science and well complemented by edu-tech startups who also offer the non-degree options; for universities, there is sometimes a pre-qualification filter used such as past academic background, scores in aptitude tests, etc., but those barriers are not there for online edu-tech startups – here everyone is welcome. Unfortunately, one requires a certain level of preparedness, interest and passion to become a professional in a specialized area such as data science and if that is missing, one would know the catchphrases, but won’t gain the knowledge.

One can do the programme anywhere they like, all are very similar in the content with some variations in the structure. Indian-based technology programmes are well valued across the globe and maybe that could be an advantage and another advantage is that only Indian institutions offer placement services. But whatever one might do, the benefit of doing a degree programme (undergraduate or master’s) far outweighs the costs and time associated with such programmes. Having the requisite skills (such as in coding problem solving, cloud, data engineering, front end dashboard development, ability to work with a neural network etc.) is the key differentiator in this area. SP Jain programmes have always been focused on skills and this is one of the reasons that recruiters are keen to hire such a candidate.