Top 5 Data Science courses for 2024
Bob Armstrong
14 May, 2024
In the age of AI, Data Science careers are increasingly important; however, to access them, you have to be properly certified.
Whether you're a Data Science pro or just entering the field, here are our top 5 Data Science courses to add to your CV in 2024.
1. CompTIA Data+
The Data+ certification designed by the Computing Technology Industry Association, also known as CompTIA, is an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to be certified in Data.
This comprehensive course helps you develop the skills to manipulate data to drive informed decision-making for your employer. The course encompasses 5 modules, from Data Concepts and Environments, Data Mining, and Data Analysis, to Visualisation and Data Governance, Quality, and Controls, and is also vendor-neutral, which means that you can apply what you learn on any tech stack you may encounter at work.
Passing your official Data+ certification exam can then help you explore more specific Data Science qualifications, such as the second and third ones on our list.
2. Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate (Exam DP-100)
Number 2 is the Microsoft Azure Data Scientist Associate, with current exam code DP-100. Microsoft has been at the forefront of innovation for decades; Microsoft tech stacks are used in all sectors, so this Azure Data Scientist certification is a must if you're using them.
This intensive course teaches you to design and implement Data Science solutions on Microsoft Azure. You will learn to refine your data modelling and feature engineering skills, as well as apply Azure's Machine Learning methods to manipulate and analyse key data.
Study modules include No-Code Machine Learning with Designer, Computing Contexts, Training, Deploying, and Interpreting Models, Running Experiments, and more.
Before taking this course, you should have technical knowledge equivalent to the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification (AZ-900).
3. EMC Data Science Associate (EMCDSA)
If you have a solid understanding of statistics, experience with a scripting language such as Java, Perl, Python or R, and experience with SQL, the Data Science Associate course created by EMC could be ideal for you.
At Firebrand, this five-day course helps you develop the skills you need to participate in your employer's big data and analytics projects by studying Big Data Analytics, the Data Analytics Lifecycle, Data Analytics methods Using R, and Advanced Analytics Tools and Techniques using MapReduce, Hadoop, and more.
At Firebrand, we approach this course in a technology-neutral manner that makes it applicable to various tech stacks, enabling you to contribute to your team right away.
The course is ideal for anyone who wants to understand Data Science, including Business Intelligence Managers, Data and Database Professionals, and Business and Data Analysts.
At the end of the course, you will be able to take the official Proven™ Professional Data Scientist Associate (EMCDSA) certification exam to attest your skills.
So far, so good. But what if you're more interested in Data Analysis, and want to move into Data Science that way? Consider the following two courses, numbers 4 and 5.
4. Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate (PL-300)
Formerly known as Microsoft Data Analyst Associate (exam code DA-100), after 2021 this Microsoft course was renamed to reflect its focus on Power BI.
Microsoft Power BI is an excellent tool that turns unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. By taking this course, you'll learn to boost the value of your employer's big data—you will design and build scalable data models, clean and transform data, enable advanced analytics, and more.
This course is ideal for professionals who know how to work with relational and non-relational data in the cloud as well as core concepts about data analysis and visualisation.
At Firebrand, we were awarded the Microsoft Solutions Partner for Business Applications and Data & AI badges in recognition of our expertise, so your training is in good hands!
5. Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203)
Finally, last but certainly not least, a popular and interesting course at Firebrand: the Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate.
This course teaches you to implement, manage, design, build, monitor, and deploy data solutions on Microsoft Azure, working with Cloud DBAs, Admins, and Solutions Architects to implement these solutions into your business. If you want to certify your skills as an Azure Data Engineer, this is the course for you.
The course is suited to those with knowledge in data processing languages such as SQL, Python, or Scala, parallel processing, and data architecture patterns. Upon completion, you can take the official Microsoft DP-203 exam to attest your new skills.
*Bonus course: Microsoft Certified Azure AI Engineer Associate (Exam AI-102)
In 2024, no conversation about Data Science is complete without mentioning AI. This widely recognised and respected course is ideal for those with knowledge of Microsoft Azure, C#, Python, JSON, and REST, and who would like to step into the fascinating world of AI engineering.
This course teaches you to implement solutions that use Cognitive Services and Bots in Microsoft Azure; by the end of the course, you will learn to create, manage, and deploy an Azure AI service, process speech, videos, and text, build and manage a language understanding model, build a conversational bot, and more, and you'll be able to pass Microsoft's official AI-102 exam: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution.
Interested? See the full course spec.
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