Recommendation : Online Courses To Become a Data Scientist

Mam, can you recommend me some good courses online?

I get a lot of such questions from many aspiring professionals / students looking for opportunities to kick-off their careers in the fancy market of AI/ML/DS.

The "Certificate Of Achievement" is an exciting way of proving your work. Its always nice to have a document that speaks about the amount of hard work you have put into something and how you now stand out. With easy access to internet and the world going more and more digital, online courses are becoming popular everyday. All the "special notes" which could be your key to success are now available online for free or cheap. Also,  you now don't need to travel around the world to learn from the subject experts, they are now sharing their wisdom just a click away. The big universities are online now, everything for which you had to plan scholarships, funds and travelling thousand miles is now online at a much cheaper options. But like everything else, more choices come with confusion, biased recommendations and poor judgement. With right knowledge at your finger tips, also comes the difficulty to find what is the best option to pursue.

One of the good things about career these days is the fact that there is nothing you cannot make money out of and also that there are no popular or unpopular jobs. You do what you want  to, if you don't like that anymore change it to what pulls you next. I get a lot of questions from many Data science enthusiasts about what are the recommended course certificates that can help them start their career in the field.

But is this certificate printing business real? Do these graphics count when you apply for a job? Which course website is preferred by the recruiters? 

What do you think? Why are interviews more than resume and certificates? How do you become fit for a role by printing a signed document? Certificates mattered when the world was a little less digital. Now, watching hours and hours of videos with no attention and investment doesn't count anymore. Its important that you apply what you know.

What is my recommendation? Use these resources to up-skill yourself. You could also use YouTube videos to learn from, no matter how much you spend on a certification, in the end what you learnt and where you applied it will matter. Some basic qualifications are must to have to fit yourself in education system of your country but anything more you do out of interests or curiosity shouldn't be expected to get you a job right away.

Learn and earn certificates for yourself. For seeking a better job opportunity showcase your knowledge by preparing for interviews, create a good portfolio to demonstrate how and where you applied your learning and what makes you stand out of the herd. Make a good GitHub profile, score badges from stack overflow, publish articles on your learning, create an attractive LinkedIn profile with examples other than course certificates to get attention of recruiters, etc.. For an employer its always a risk to invest on your smartness but proven portfolio is always a sure shot.

HAppy Job Hunting!

Cheers.