Machine Learning - A Robotics & AI Career Guide

Welcome to DNSP HOST’s Robotics & AI Career Guide!

The benefits of getting into AI & Robotics are numerous. The demand for AI and robotics skills have doubled over the past few years and employers are on the lookout for top tech talent. From providing useful skills for the future, to offering competitive salaries, a career in AI & Robotics is profitable.

It is evident that many people are interested in a career in robotics & AI, but do not know how to get started. This guide has been created to introduce you to the different career options in the field, and help you kickstart your journey into the career of your choice. ?

In the next few posts, I’ll take you through a practical guide on the steps required to land the most in-demand positions in the field of Robotics & AI.

Part 1: Data Science Career Guide (This Article)

Part 2: Machine Learning Engineering Career Guide

Part 3: Robotics Engineering Career Guide

Part 4: Research Science Career Guide

Part 5: Robotics Science Career Guide

Part 1: Data Science Career Guide

Table of Contents

What exactly does a Data Scientist do?
Educational Requirements to become a Data Scientist
Technical skills required to become a Data Scientist
Non-technical skills required to become a Data Scientist
Additional Resources to learn from
Job Hunting Platforms you may need

According to a report by the World Economic Forum, Data Scientist roles are projected to grow by 33% in the IT sector by 2022, with consistent demand for this role across almost all sectors.

What exactly does a Data Scientist do?

Collects, analyzes and interprets large amounts of data from various sources.
Design data modeling processes to create algorithms and predictive models and perform custom analysis.
Analyzes and finds patterns in data to help organizations optimize their business.
Uses data to support business decisions and solve business-related problems.
A data scientist can work across diverse settings including private and public organizations, education, healthcare, government agencies and so on. According to Indeed.com, the average salary of Data Scientists is around $125,000/year.

Educational Requirement to become a Data Scientist

People who are interested in Data Science careers require education based on science, technology, math and engineering. A degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or Maths & Statistics is usually necessary. However, this does not absolutely mean you need a Bachelors or Masters degree to get into Data Science. For people interested in self-learning, there are several online courses which comprehensively teach the skills required for Data Science. The core coursework generally includes:

Technical requirements to become a Data Scientist

The technical skills required by a Data Scientist include programming and math skills as mentioned above. Some of the core skills include:

Python Programming
Statistics
SQL Database
Data Visualization
Scala
Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence.

Completing the core modules listed in the Educational Requirements section will provide you with the core computer Science and Math skills for Data Science. However, in order to be able land a job, you’ll need to get your hands dirty with common libraries and tools you’ll encounter in your job. These tools you need to be familiar with include: Hive, Excel, Hadoop, MapReduce, Pig, Apache Spark, BigML, D3, MATLAB and Tableau.

Non-technical skills needed to become a Data Scientist

Analytical thinking helps in looking at complex problems from diverse angles and develop the most effective and efficient solutions.
Critical thinking helps in problem solving abilities and promotes creativity.
Good communication skills to help share findings with business leaders.
Industry knowledge to understand changes, identify new technologies and difficulties in the industry.

You can develop these soft skills by networking or attending virtual events. You can also join an online or local community to exchange ideas with other aspiring and professional data scientists.

Additional resources you can learn from

If you want to get started in Robotics & AI, or you are already an expert, Robociti provides courses that start from basic introduction to the field of AI & Robotics. Robociti offers beginner courses, where no prerequisite courses are needed. For experts in Robotics & AI, you can develop your skills and advance your projects. On the Robociti platform, you can participate in competitions, showcase your projects and engage with other users in the Robociti community.

To showcase your skills and engage in hands-on data science projects, you can also participate in Data Science competitions on Kaggle and Robociti. These competitions offer you an opportunity to put what you’ve learnt into practice, and expand your project portfolio, which comes in handy when applying for jobs.