How To Become a Data Scientist in Nigeria

How to become a data scientist in Nigeria, learn skills you need, and how to build a successful data science career, on A3 Techworld.

ALSO READ: CompTIA Certifications in Nigeria, Exam Fees & Details

What is Data Science? Data Science is a blend of various tools, algorithms, and machine learning principles to discover hidden patterns from the raw data.

Nigeria is gradually moving to become a major outsourcing hub for the local and international markets for data science with its growing number of new data scientists. A big name in the game is Data Science Nigeria, one of the pioneers of the data science movement in Nigeria.

ALSO READ: Best IT & Business certifications in Nigeria

Data science is arguably the hottest career of the 21st century. In today’s high-tech world, everyone has pressing questions that must be answered by “big data”. 

This article will tell you everything you need to build a successful career in data science; steps to take, skills needed, data science jobs in Nigeria, etc. 

How to Build A Successful Career in Data Science

Below is a general guide to becoming a data scientist/analyst in Nigeria 2021:

• Earn a bachelor’s degree in IT, computer science, math, physics, or another related field.
• Learn data science basics.
• Build the skills.
• Obtain an entry-level job
• Become familiar with – Python, R, and SQL.
• Get data science certifications.
• Gain experience in the field you intend to work in.
• Learn from other experts in the field. 
• Earn a master’s degree in data or related fields.
• Build a portfolio.

Future data scientists can begin preparations before they even step foot on a university campus or launch themselves into an online degree program.

Becoming proficient with the most widely used programming languages in data science such as Python, Java, and R  — and refreshing their knowledge in applied math and statistics — will help aspiring data scientists get a head start.

Common degrees that help you learn data science include:

• Computer science
• Statistics
• Physics
• Social science
• Mathematics
• Applied math
• Economics

Obtain an entry-level data science job (or Internship)

A lot of companies are often eager to fill entry-level data science jobs. Most entry-level data scientist roles in Nigeria require at least a bachelor’s degree.

On LinkedIn, you can search for positions such as Junior Data Analyst or Junior Data Scientist. On the job, you gain experience and get the opportunity to test your skills.

Skills needed to become a data scientist in Nigeria

Becoming an expert at data science and building a successful career as a data scientist won’t come through by going to school and reading alone. Some of the main languages needed in data science are Python, JavaScript, Scala, R, SQL, and Julia.

One of the most important technical data scientist skills is statistical analysis, computing, mining, and large data sets.

The following are the skills you need to become an expert data scientist:

• Programming Skills – Python, R, and SAS
• Analytical tools – SQL, Spark, and Hoop
• Machine learning
• Data visualization – Power BI and Tableau
• Adept at Working with Unstructured Data
• Deep Learning – Deep Reinforcement Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Computer Vision

Online data science certifications in Nigeria

Data science certifications are a great way to gain an edge. Whether you’re looking to gain experience as a new grad, demonstrate your knowledge of data analytics, land a new job role in Nigeria, or a promotion, the following certifications will work for you.

• Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)
• Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst
• Cloudera Certified Professional (CCP) Data Engineer
• Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Senior Data Scientist (SDS)
• Data Science Council of America (DASCA) Principle Data Scientist (PDS)
• Dell EMC Data Science Track (EMCDS)
• Google Professional Data Engineer Certification
• IBM Data Science Professional Certificate
• IBM Certified Data Architect – Big Data
• IBM Certified Data Engineer – Big Data
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate
• Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE): Data Management and Analytics
• Open Certified Data Scientist (Open CDS)
• SAS Certified AI & Machine Learning Professional
• SAS Certified Big Data Professional
• SAS Certified Data Scientist
• Tensorflow Developer Certificate

Free Online data science certifications & courses in Nigeria

Below we have a list of free data science courses and certifications you can take online in Nigeria:

• Data Science Crash Course, John Hopkins University (Coursera)
• Introduction to Data Science (Revised) – Alison
• Data Science and Machine Learning Essentials – Microsoft (EdX)
• Data Science – Harvard
• Learn Data Science – Dataquest
• Introduction to Data Science Using Python – Rakesh Gopalakrishnan (Udemy)
• The Open Source Data Science Masters
• Analytics Vidhya
• Learnds.com
• Course Duck Machine Learning Course