
Ask HN:Skills/Tools to Stand Out as a Data Scientist - methusala8
Apart from Conventional tools like Python&#x2F;R and Knowledge  of Machine Learning&#x2F;Statistics&#x2F;SQL are there any other skills that I can pick up in order to up skill myself as a Data Scientist?<p>I have nearly three years experience in this field and would like to level up. 
Thanks.
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usgroup
A provable ability to conduct Bayesian data analysis: from experiment design,
to modelling, to evaluation and back again.

I think it’s what makes a “data scientist” legitimate.

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methusala8
I am yet to encounter projects that require this skill, hence not well-versed
in this. I will look this up.Thanks.

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usgroup
It’ll colour your approach to everything but it’s unlikely to ever be directly
“required”.

I’d recommend BDA3. It’s a Treasure of a book. The maths is relatively simple
but it does expect a early grad level mathematical maturity.

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sloaken
Is this the book you are recommending?
[http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/](http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/)

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usgroup
Yes.

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vxpzx
Depending on the role, data science is generally either [data analysis (with
very little modelling) + business understanding + communication and
presentation skills], OR it's [statistics + software development]. There can
be some deviation and mixing between the two, but to help with the latter:

\- linear algebra

\- calculus

\- software development - best practices, version control, design patterns
etc.

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methusala8
Can you elaborate on the third point with any resources for Best practices and
Design patterns? I looked into Amazon and came across a few books for both.
Many people have commented that Data Science should move towards Software best
practices, etc. As I am a statistics major, This is a gap that I would have to
bridge. Thanks.

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vxpzx
Look up The Pragmatic Programmer and Clean Code - they're decent books and I'm
sure other people on HN have even better recommendations.

Also, you don't necessarily need to cover something completely in order to get
started. And these will be useful mostly if your work is in some way part of a
software product instead of being some "offline" analysis, model build or
forecast. Just learning to use version control, to collaborate with other
developers and to run tests goes a long way.

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codingslave
Fundamental understanding of linear algebra and optimization techniques

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methusala8
Any particular resources that you would recommend for Optimisation techniques?
Thanks.

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philshem
Data visualization and storytelling.

