How to Become a Data Scientist.

In this article, I’ll shed light on the Data Science Career opportunities in India. More specifically we’ll talk about how you can become a data scientist in India. We’ll take a look at the latest research to help you assess your chances of landing a data scientist job. We’ll also focus on the education and qualifications you need to become a data scientist eligible for the job at any company. To top things off will point you in the right direction in terms of where to look for data scientists job openings in India. Moreover, I’ll share some extra tips that will help you stand out from the crowd.

Benefits of becoming a Data Scientist

So let’s get started with some major benefits that you will be getting through this career.

Beginner Friendly

It’s completely beginner-friendly. For example, if you don’t have any maths or statistics knowledge, will teach you that first. If you’d like to build a more specialized skill set you can do that with courses on time series analysis, credit risk modeling, and more.

Huge Demand

Alright, back to the data scientist job and its outlook in India. What do the numbers say? A recent report by The Hindu states that there are an estimated 97 thousand data analytics job openings in India. Bengaluru accounts for 24% of these job openings while Delhi NCR for 22%. Since the Data Science field is progressing at an extremely fast rate the huge demand for data science talent especially in the technical IT and Industrial Domain can hardly catch up with the supply of skilled data scientists. That’s why it doesn’t come as a surprise that a significant part of the data scientists in India, more than 40% have received a data scientist job title within the last 24 months. So becoming a data scientist in India seems like a truly golden opportunity.

High Paying Salary

Let’s see what that means in terms of salaries according to upGrad.com Data Scientist is the highest paying job in India. To be more precise the average data scientist salary listed on glassdoor is above 1 million rupees per year. It could even go up to 2 million rupees for more experienced candidates. Of course, corporations based in large cities like Mumbai and Bangalore offer higher salaries but keep in mind that this may soon change. Many international companies prefer to open an office in Hyderabad as it’s much more affordable. No wonder giants like Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and PNG already call Hyderabad their home. That really translates into even more career opportunities for data scientists in India

What does it take to become a Data Scientist in India

Now that you know for sure that data scientist is a rising career in India. It’s time to see what it takes to become one. Well! the education and skills required for data scientists are to a large extent universal. No matter which country you live in. However to paint the most accurate picture possible we decided to dig deep into the numbers. And guess what we discovered some pretty interesting details about the typical data scientist in India. These are as follows:

Education

So what education do you need to become a data scientist in India? According to our research, 50% of data scientists in India have a master’s degree. Around 34% have a bachelor’s degree and a small 6% hold a Ph.D. Now regarding academic background, a degree in computer studies, economics, finance, Business Studies, statistics, and mathematics is certainly considered an advantage. However, more and more employers are willing to waive such requirements in favor of relevant skills and real-world experience.

Languages & Certificates

The typical data scientist in India also speaks 2.3 languages and has taken at least one online course. Moreover, has posted four certificates on an average on LinkedIn. This goes to prove the increasing importance of online data science training, not only when it comes to learning the fundamentals but also for acquiring the latest in-demand skills.

Gender

What else 79 percent of data scientists in India are male. This shouldn’t discourage you ladies. As recent data indicate that women are becoming a competitive force in the data science field.

General Experience

Our research also shows that data scientists in India generally have seven or more years of working experience. However, there are plenty of data science job opportunities for skillful beginners in the field.

Skills

What are the skills you should have as a data scientist in India? The must-have skillset for data scientists includes proficiency in excel, good practical knowledge of statistics and mathematics, confidence in working with visualization tools like power bi and tableau, and of course experience in scripting languages such as SQL Python. As speaking of languages data scientists in India uses more programming languages as compared to other countries. Such as Python our SAS and others.

While Python holds the lead in popularity in the US and Europe. In India, it shares the winner’s place with the R language. But how do you acquire all of these if you’re starting from scratch? Well! luckily today there are many options to learn data science. For example, you can start a qualification program or study with private tutors. However, if going back to school is not on your agenda an online certificate program can be the best way to begin your professional journey.

Data Science For Indian Companies

Now it brings us to the million-dollar question where to look for a data scientist job in India? The reality is it’s hard to do data science for Indian companies. Since few of them are sophisticated enough and have sufficient data for thorough analysis. So of course the most obvious choice for an aspiring data scientist in India would be the large US and globally recognized companies in the sector outsourcing or operating in India.

Here’s a shortlist of the biggest players and the locations they’re hiring at:

• Amazon and Oracle have job openings in Bangalore and Hyderabad,
• Walmart and IBM in Bangalore and
• P&G are hiring in their office in Hyderabad.

Bonus Tips

Now as promised before here are a few tips that will help you stay ahead of the competition:

• If you are a college student or fresher try get a Data Science Internship even if it’s unpaid.
• Your goal should be to get industry experience that you will later apply in your permanent data science job.
• Create a good github repository and upload your own data science related projects and work there.
• Also put your github link in your LinkedIn profile it is a good way to showcase your work to prospective employers.
• Participate in online data science competitions this will help you validate your learning and also get some noticed by employers.
• If it is a sponsored competition attend local data science meetups that are taking place regularly in big cities like Bangalore, Pune, Delhi NCR and try to network with the people this can truly help you create more opportunities for yourself.

Alright, I hope I was able to give you some good insights into how to become a data scientist in India. In the meantime, if you enjoyed reading this article don’t forget to share it with your friends. Feel free to share your views in the comment section below.

“Best of luck for your Data Science Career.”

Happy Coding