The demand for skilled data scientists is at an all-time high and the number of data science jobs has increased by 50% in the last 5 years or so. Businesses in various industries are beginning to embrace the significance of understanding the trends behind vast amounts of data and they are scrambling to hire experts to help them understand the trends behind the data.
This therefore makes data science a great prospect for any individual that is looking for a lucrative career in a very challenging and exciting field. The beauty of trying to carve out a career out of data science, is the fact that you don’t have to follow the traditional academic path of studying in the university- you can self-learn data science for FREE.
Runrex has always been on the front foot in advising prospective data scientists on the best places and resources to use in learning data science and today, Runrex is providing you with a list of free online courses and tutorials you can use as a springboard into the world of data science. Here are the 10 places where to learn data science for free
Places to Learn Data Science for Free
Coursera
Coursera is one of the biggest, if not the biggest online data science education hub. Run by the John Hopkins University, Coursera offers some of the best online education programs and data science is one of the most notable.
Although it is not completely free, the rates are more than 80% cheaper than what you would be required to pay in a traditional learning facility. The beauty of Coursera is that you don’t have to leave your home to get certified in data science.
Data science is divided into 10 courses which cover everything from statistical programming, cluster analysis, natural language processing to machine learning.
EdX
EdX is a program run by Microsoft which is seen as a continuation of R and Python programming in data science. Before enrolling for this program therefore, it would be wise to take R or Python programming classes which double as the most popular programming languages in data science.
In EdX, you will learn probability and statistics, data exploration, data visualizations and snippets of machine learning. All these courses are completely free but upon completion of the program, students will be required to pay $90 to get official Microsoft certification.
Udacity
Udacity is up there with Coursera as the most resourceful online education platforms. Udacity offers one of the best free courses in machine learning. Although it is only an introductory course, it offers a lot- from theory to practical applications.
The entire course lasts about 3 weeks and you will be required to pay nothing to complete the course.
IBM
As a tech giant, IBM gives back to the society by offering a number of free online courses. Through its free to access portal referred to as cognitive class, IBM offers one of the most comprehensive data science courses there is out there.
The IBM course covers programming in R, introduction to data science and understanding open source tools. All these courses need about 24 hours to complete but if you have knowledge in the data science field, you might complete the courses more quickly.
California Institute of Technology
The Learning from Data course offered by California Institute of Technology, is one of the most undertaken courses because of its proximity to an actual program offered in the institution. Through a series of video lectures, homework assignments and a final exam, the course is very impressive.
Dataquest
Unlike all the other sources mentioned above which have some sort of affiliation to a university or a large tech company, Dataquest is an independent online training provider that offers free access to most of its course materials.
Although most of the courses are free, you can pay for the premium services which features tutored projects and certification at the end of the training. Dataquest courses on data science cover everything from programming to handling databases.
KDNuggets Data Mining Course
KDNuggets offers insightful nuggets of knowledge on data science and their data mining syllabus is one of the best around. The syllabus features modules on machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistical concepts and practical implementations of data mining technology.
A lot of these programs are free of charge even though there is a premium option which one can use to access premium options and get professional certification at the end of the training.
The Open Source Data Science Masters
This is more or less the Wikipedia of data science. This course comprises of a collection of open source materials and resources which are available online at no cost. The subjects offered include SQL, noSQL databases, data visualization and algebra and statistics.
There might not be certification upon completion of the program but the knowledge gained will be priceless once you are in the job market.
Talk to Runrex
Want more information on how and where to learn about data science? Give us a call here at Runrex and we will help you to get started in the world of data science.