Deciphering the Significance of Coding in Data Science

Written By Ankush Singla

significance of data scienceData science is an in-depth study related to the substantial amounts of data that are stored in a company’s or organization’s database. Research tells us that it is important to know from where the data is retrieved, its accuracy, and how it can help the business to expand.

Therefore, analyzing this data allows a company to gain a keen advantage over its competitors by detecting patterns in the data set. We also gain valuable insights into the market or customer trends. 

In this post I’ll offer you a closer look at data science, explaining its importance, and elaborating on why it’s a solid career choice for a coder.

Who Are Data Scientists?

A company’s data is found in either of two formats: organized or unstructured. Data scientists are experts at turning unstructured data into useful business knowledge. Algorithmic coding and data analysis, machine intelligence, and statistics are all recognized by these scientists.

Some organizations that handle massive amounts of data are:

  • Federal government
  • Computer systems design
  • Delivery companies
  • Tech companies
  • Research and development
  • Colleges and universities
  • Software companies
  • Car companies

To name a few examples, Amazon, Netflix, the pharmaceutical industry, airlines, and companies dealing with fraud detection or internet search are all big data analytics users.

Data science is a quite new and buzzing career option, offering attractive packages. The reason for this is clear: Everything is considered as data today, and experts in this science are required to precisely manage that data.

If you are considering taking data science as a career path, then you should know that the demand for data scientists is rising. So, you must train yourself accordingly to stand out from the crowd.

How To Train as a Data Scientist?

There is no predefined certification for being a data scientist. If you want to become a data scientist, the usual norm is to have a degree in engineering (with or without coding). To earn this, you have to crack engineering exams.

You can also pursue a B.Sc. in Computer Science or IT. You can even have a look at courses that allow you to learn more about data science and data structure.

Your main objective behind training yourself in data science should be to acquire these skills:

  • Knowledge of techniques for managing unstructured data
  • Familiarity with programming languages, e.g., R and Python
  • Knowledge in using SQL databases
  • Data cleaning and mining
  • Using Hadoop, Hive, and Pig as data resources
  • Visualization of data

Mastering coding languages will also help you enhance your skills. Learning the two languages listed below is encouraged:

  • Java: This language is used in most workplaces, as big data tools are available and written in the realm of Java. The benefits of this language are endless in data science.
  • Python Coding Language: It is one of the major names among computer languages. It is used to obtain, clean, analyze, and visualize data. Therefore, this language serves as the foundation of data science.

The right training can help you grab your dream job and earn as per your desires.

Understanding the Role of Coding in Data Science

To comprehend the importance of coding in data science, let’s walk through the different stages in data analytics.

Plan and Design

Before coding, data scientists must understand the problem that has to be solved and identify the final aim behind solving it. Then, they have to hunt for tools, data, and software to be used at the time of the process. Coding isn’t required in this planning phase.

Rather, plotting and designing are the priorities here, and skipping these can create consequences in the future. Conversely, proper execution allows the data scientist to concentrate on the objective and avoid distraction from unrequired results or data.

Obtain Data

In today’s market, there is a huge database that is growing instantly. It is reported that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created daily. Therefore, there is an emergent need for data handling and quality analysis, as mishandling or misplacing such a large amount of data may lead to some serious consequences.

The issues arising from the mismanagement of data can be anything, like misentered data, outdated data, or inconsistent data, or they might range from duplicate to missing datasets. It is possible that obtaining the extensive datasets required is tough and monotonous. Many times, data scientists may require multiple datasets. Coding, such as NoSQL and SQL, plays an important role here.

Clean Data

After compiling the data at one location, you need to clean it. For example, the data that is labeled incorrectly might cause issues when the data is analyzed and optimized. Therefore, minor spelling mistakes, labeling errors, and other small mistakes cause problems.

Data scientists use languages like R and Python to clean data. They might use applications like Trifacta Wrangler and OpenRefine, which are mainly made for cleaning data and transforming it into various formats.

Analyze Data

After cleaning and uniformly formatting data, it is ready for the analysis phase. Data analytics is a term with multiple definitions that change from application to application. Therefore, when it is time for data analysis, Python is omnipresent in the data science community.

MATLAB and R are also renowned because they were created solely for data analysis. Though the learning curve of these languages is steeper than Python’s, it is a savior for striving data scientists. These two are used for data analysis globally. Other than these languages, various tools are available easily on the internet to streamline and accelerate data analysis.

Visualize Data

significance of data scienceThe conclusion and results of data analysis need to be visualized, which assists data scientists in transmitting the worth of their findings and work. It can be done with the help of charts, graphs, and other visuals that allow people to know the importance of a data scientist’s work.

The commonly used language in this visualization process is once again Python, and tools like Prettyplotlib and Seaborn help data scientists build visuals. Other software like Excel and Tableau are also available for creating graphics.

Querying

Other than data analysis, it is crucial to know object-oriented languages. At the time of data acquisition, many scientists maneuver databases in data hierarchies. Languages like SQL, its descendants, and particular cloud systems help accelerate the data squabbling process.

Other than this, querying languages also compute operations and formulas based on the data scientist’s preference.

Data Science Is the Future

At every step of the data science process, programming is crucial in achieving various goals. As the field of data science intensifies and becomes complex every day, data scientists will rely mostly on coding to ensure that they are successful in solving the complex problems that may arise.

For these reasons, it is integral that data scientists learn to use coding to prepare for such roles and services. Furthermore, due to the rapid increase in innovation and constant expansion of businesses, there is an increasing demand for data scientists from companies in all fields. In a nutshell, data science and the future of this profession are filled with more fun and thrills!