Educational Advice

[DavRil]

I am currently a programmer using vb.net, c#.net, transactSQL, SSRS, and webfocus. I have a BS in Management of Information Systems and an MBA. I am kind of at a loss on what I need to do to develop the skill set needed for "Big Data." Do I need to enroll into a graduate program (Masters in Predictive Analytics or something of that nature) or get a Graduate Certificate and some certifications (SAS) to be marketable in this field.

[phil123]

In my opinion, you can learn by yourself with some books and by reading some articles and papers. But to be marketable, getting a master degree in computer science is also a good idea. During your master degree you could make some data mining projects and get some experience in this field.

[gauravpuri]

I have options of taking following course during my Masters in Operation Research . What do you suggest should be my priority and the sequence of the subjects ?

1)[b] [b]Linear Regression Models[/b][/b]
2)[b] Intro to Data Science[/b] - The course will be organized around three central threads: (1) statistical modeling and machine learning, (2) data pipelines, programming languages and "big data" tools, and (3) real world topics and case studies. Correspondingly there will be (1) core lectures, 92) labs and (3) guest lectures from researchers and scientists who are experts in their fields. Topics and tools will include logistoc regression, predictive modeling, clustering algorithms, decision trees, Hadoop, data pipelines, visualiziation, data journalism, R, python, javascript.


3) [b]Data Mining [/b] This course will provide an overview of current research in data mining and will be suitable for graduate students from many disciplines. Specific topics covered with include databases and data warehousing, exploratory data analysis and visualization, descriptive modeling, predictive modeling, pattern and rule discovery, text mining, Bayesian data mining, and causal inference.
4) Time Series Analysis

5) Machine Learning

Please consider i have an electrical and electronic engineering background with decent exposure to C, MATLAB. Please let me know the courses and the sequence in which i should take.[code][b][/b][/code]

[phil123]

Hi,

If I were you, I would take "data mining" because it seems to give a good overview of the main techniques used in data mining.

For the other course, I would recommend "Intro to data science". It seems close to data mining but to talk about statistics, which is an interesting topic. The "machine learning" course could be also interesting if you are not familiar with this topic.

For the other courses, I think that it depends on your interest. Time-series and regression models are more specific topics. If you are interested by that, then good. I think that it is a personal choice.

For the order, if you can start with the more general course first (e.g. "data mining" or "intro to data sciences"), maybe it is better.

Best,

Phil