## Why Should You Start a Career in Machine Learning?

If you are even remotely interested in technology you would have heard of machine learning. In fact machine learning is now a buzzword and there are dozens of articles and research papers dedicated to it.  Machine learning is a technique which makes the machine learn from past experiences. Complex domain problems can be resolved quickly and efficiently using Machine Learning techniques.  We are living in an age where huge amounts of data are produced every second. This explosion of data has led to creation of machine learning models which can be used to analyse data and to benefit businesses.  This article tries to answer a few important concepts related to Machine Learning and informs you about the career path in this prestigious and important domain.What is Machine Learning?So, here’s your introduction to Machine Learning. This term was coined in the year 1997. “A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P, if its performance at the tasks improves with the experiences.”, as defined in the book on ML written by Mitchell in 1997. The difference between a traditional programming and programming using Machine Learning is depicted here, the first Approach (a) is a traditional approach, and second approach (b) is a Machine Learning based approach.Machine Learning encompasses the techniques in AI which allow the system to learn automatically looking at the data available. While learning, the system tries to improve the experience without making any explicit efforts in programming. Any machine learning application follows the following steps broadlySelecting the training datasetAs the definition indicates, machine learning algorithms require past experience, that is data, for learning. So, selection of appropriate data is the key for any machine learning application.Preparing the dataset by preprocessing the dataOnce the decision about the data is made, it needs to be prepared for use. Machine learning algorithms are very susceptible to the small changes in data. To get the right insights, data must be preprocessed which includes data cleaning and data transformation.  Exploring the basic statistics and properties of dataTo understand what the data wishes to convey, the data engineer or Machine Learning engineer needs to understand the properties of data in detail. These details are understood by studying the statistical properties of data. Visualization is an important process to understand the data in detail.Selecting the appropriate algorithm to apply on the datasetOnce the data is ready and understood in detail, then appropriate Machine Learning algorithms or models are selected. The choice of algorithm depends on characteristics of data as well as type of task to be performed on the data. The choice also depends on what kind of output is required from the data.Checking the performance and fine-tuning the parameters of the algorithmThe model or algorithm chosen is fine-tuned to get improved performance. If multiple models are applied, then they are weighed against the performance. The final algorithm is again fine-tuned to get appropriate output and performance.Why Pursue a Career in Machine Learning in 2021?A recent survey has estimated that the jobs in AI and ML have grown by more than 300%. Even before the pandemic struck, Machine Learning skills were in high demand and the demand is expected to increase two-fold in the near future.A career in machine learning gives you the opportunity to make significant contributions in AI, the future of technology. All the big and small businesses are adopting Machine Learning models to improve their bottom-line margins and return on investment.  The use of Machine Learning has gone beyond just technology and it is now used in diverse industries including healthcare, automobile, manufacturing, government and more. This has greatly enhanced the value of Machine Learning experts who can earn an average salary of $112,000. Huge numbers of jobs are expected to be created in the coming years. Here are a few reasons why one should pursue a career in Machine Learning:The global machine learning market is expected to touch$20.83B in 2024, according to Forbes.  We are living in a digital age and this explosion of data has made the use of machine learning models a necessity. Machine Learning is the only way to extract meaning out of data and businesses need Machine Learning engineers to analyze huge data and gain insights from them to improve their businesses.If you like numbers, if you like research, if you like to read and test and if you have a passion to analyse, then machine learning is the career for you. Learning the right tools and programming languages will help you use machine learning to provide appropriate solutions to complex problems, overcome challenges and grow the business.Machine Learning is a great career option for those interested in computer science and mathematics. They can come up with new Machine Learning algorithms and techniques to cater to the needs of various business domains.As explained above, a career in machine learning is both rewarding and lucrative. There are huge number of opportunities available if you have the right expertise and knowledge. On an average, Machine Learning engineers get higher salaries, than other software developers.Years of experience in the Machine Learning domain, helps you break into data scientist roles, which is not just among the hottest careers of our generation but also a highly respected and lucrative career. Right skills in the right business domain helps you progress and make a mark for yourself in your organization. For example, if you have expertise in pharmaceutical industries and experience working in Machine learning, then you may land job roles as a data scientist consultant in big pharmaceutical companies.Statistics on Machine learning growth and the industries that use MLAccording to a research paper in AI Multiple (https://research.aimultiple.com/ml-stats/), the Machine Learning market will grow to 9 Billion USD by the end of 2022. There are various areas where Machine Learning models and solutions are getting deployed, and businesses see an overall increase of 44% investments in this area. North America is one of the leading regions in the adoption of Machine Learning followed by Asia.The Global Machine Learning market will grow by 42% which is evident from the following graph. Image sourceThere is a huge demand for Machine Learning modelling because of the large use of Cloud Based Applications and Services. The pandemic has changed the face of businesses, making them heavily dependent on Cloud and AI based services. Google, IBM, and Amazon are just some of the companies that have invested heavily in AI and Machine Learning based application development, to provide robust solutions for problems faced by small to large scale businesses. Machine Learning and Cloud based solutions are scalable and secure for all types of business.ML analyses and interprets data patterns, computing and developing algorithms for various business purposes.Advantages of Machine Learning courseNow that we have established the advantages of perusing a career in Machine Learning, let’s understand from where to start our machine learning journey. The best option would be to start with a Machine Learning course. There are various platforms which offer popular Machine Learning courses. One can always start with an online course which is both effective and safe in these COVID times.These courses start with an introduction to Machine Learning and then slowly help you to build your skills in the domain. Many courses even start with the basics of programming languages such as Python, which are important for building Machine Learning models. Courses from reputed institutions will hand hold you through the basics. Once the basics are clear, you may switch to an offline course and get the required certification.Online certifications have the same value as offline classes. They are a great way to clear your doubts and get personalized help to grow your knowledge. These courses can be completed along with your normal job or education, as most are self-paced and can be taken at a time of your convenience. There are plenty of online blogs and articles to aid you in completion of your certification.Machine Learning courses include many real time case studies which help you in understanding the basics and application aspects. Learning and applying are both important and are covered in good Machine Learning Courses. So, do your research and pick an online tutorial that is from a reputable institute.What Does the Career Path in Machine Learning Look Like?One can start their career in Machine Learning domain as a developer or application programmer. But the acquisition of the right skills and experience can lead you to various career paths. Following are some of the career options in Machine Learning (not an exhaustive list):Data ScientistA data scientist is a person with rich experience in a particular business field. A person who has a knowledge of domain, as well as machine learning modelling, is a data scientist. Data Scientists’ job is to study the data carefully and suggest accurate models to improve the business.AI and Machine Learning EngineerAn AI engineer is responsible for choosing the proper Machine Learning Algorithm based on natural language processing and neural network. They are responsible for applying it in AI applications like personalized advertising.  A Machine Learning Engineer is responsible for creating the appropriate models for improvement of the businessData EngineerA Data Engineer, as the name suggests, is responsible to collect data and make it ready for the application of Machine Learning models. Identification of the right data and making it ready for extraction of further insights is the main work of a data engineer.Business AnalystA person who studies the business and analyzes the data to get insights from it is a Business Analyst. He or she is responsible for extracting the insights from the data at hand.Business Intelligence (BI) DeveloperA BI developer uses Machine Learning and Data Analytics techniques to work on a large amount of data. Proper representation of data to suit business decisions, using the latest tools for creation of intuitive dashboards is the role of a BI developer.  Human Machine Interface learning engineerCreating tools using machine learning techniques to ease the human machine interaction or automate decisions, is the role of a Human Machine Interface learning engineer. This person helps in generating choices for users to ease their work.Natural Language Processing (NLP) engineer or developerAs the name suggests, this person develops various techniques to process Natural Language constructs. Building applications or systems using machine learning techniques to build Natural Language based applications is their main task. They create multilingual Chatbots for use in websites and other applications.Why are Machine Learning Roles so popular?As mentioned above, the market growth of AI and ML has increased tremendously over the past years. The Machine Learning Techniques are applied in every domain including marketing, sales, product recommendations, brand retention, creating advertising, understanding the sentiments of customer, security, banking and more. Machine learning algorithms are also used in emails to ease the users work. This says a lot, and proves that a career in Machine Learning is in high demand as all businesses are incorporating various machine learning techniques and are improving their business.One can harness this popularity by skilling up with Machine Learning skills. Machine Learning models are now being used by every company, irrespective of their size--small or big, to get insights on their data and use these insights to improve the business. As every company wishes to grow faster, they are deploying more machine learning engineers to get their work done on time. Also, the migration of businesses to Cloud services for better security and scalability, has increased their requirement for more Machine Learning algorithms and models to cater to their needs.Introducing the Machine learning techniques and solutions has brought huge returns for businesses.  Machine Learning solution providers like Google, IBM, Microsoft etc. are investing in human resources for development of Machine Learning models and algorithms. The tools developed by them are popularly used by businesses to get early returns. It has been observed that there is significant increase in patents in Machine Learning domains since the past few years, indicating the quantum of work happening in this domain.Machine Learning SkillsLet’s visit a few important skills one must acquire to work in the domain of Machine Learning.Programming languagesKnowledge of programming is very important for a career in Machine Learning. Languages like Python and R are popularly used to develop applications using Machine Learning models and algorithms. Python, being the simplest and most flexible language, is very popular for AI and Machine Learning applications. These languages provide rich support of libraries for implementation of Machine Learning Algorithms. A person who is good in programming can work very efficiently in this domain.Mathematics and StatisticsThe base for Machine Learning is mathematics and statistics. Statistics applied to data help in understanding it in micro detail. Many machine learning models are based on the probability theory and require knowledge of linear algebra, transformations etc. A good understanding of statistics and probability increases the early adoption to Machine Learning domain.Analytical toolsA plethora of analytical tools are available where machine learning models are already implemented and made available for use. Also, these tools are very good for visualization purposes. Tools like IBM Cognos, PowerBI, Tableue etc are important to pursue a career as a  Machine Learning engineer.Machine Learning Algorithms and librariesTo become a master in this domain, one must master the libraries which are provided with various programming languages. The basic understanding of how machine learning algorithms work and are implemented is crucial.Data Modelling for Machine Learning based systemsData lies at the core of any Machine Learning application. So, modelling the data to suit the application of Machine Learning algorithms is an important task. Data modelling experts are the heart of development teams that develop machine learning based systems. SQL based solutions like Oracle, SQL Server, and NoSQL solutions are important for modelling data required for Machine Learning applications. MongoDB, DynamoDB, Riak are some important NOSQL based solutions available to process unstructured data for Machine Learning applications.Other than these skills, there are two other skills that may prove to be beneficial for those planning on a career in the Machine Learning domain:Natural Language processing techniquesFor E-commerce sites, customer feedback is very important and crucial in determining the roadmap of future products. Many customers give reviews for the products that they have used or give suggestions for improvement. These feedbacks and opinions are analyzed to gain more insights about the customers buying habits as well as about the products. This is part of natural language processing using Machine Learning. The likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter are developing machine learning algorithms for Natural Language Processing and are constantly working on improving their solutions. Knowledge of basics of Natural Language Processing techniques and libraries is must in the domain of Machine Learning.Image ProcessingKnowledge of Image and Video processing is very crucial when a solution is required to be developed in the area of security, weather forecasting, crop prediction etc. Machine Learning based solutions are very effective in these domains. Tools like Matlab, Octave, OpenCV are some important tools available to develop Machine Learning based solutions which require image or video processing.ConclusionMachine Learning is a technique to automate the tasks based on past experiences. This is among the most lucrative career choices right now and will continue to remain so in the future. Job opportunities are increasing day by day in this domain. Acquiring the right skills by opting for a proper Machine Learning course is important to grow in this domain. You can have an impressive career trajectory as a machine learning expert, provided you have the right skills and expertise.

# Why Should You Start a Career in Machine Learning?

6K

If you are even remotely interested in technology you would have heard of machine learning. In fact machine learning is now a buzzword and there are dozens of articles and research papers dedicated to it.  Machine learning is a technique which makes the machine learn from past experiences. Complex domain problems can be resolved quickly and efficiently using Machine Learning techniques.

We are living in an age where huge amounts of data are produced every second. This explosion of data has led to creation of machine learning models which can be used to analyse data and to benefit businesses.  This article tries to answer a few important concepts related to Machine Learning and informs you about the career path in this prestigious and important domain.

## What is Machine Learning?

So, here’s your introduction to Machine Learning. This term was coined in the year 1997. “A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P, if its performance at the tasks improves with the experiences.”, as defined in the book on ML written by Mitchell in 1997. The difference between a traditional programming and programming using Machine Learning is depicted here, the first Approach (a) is a traditional approach, and second approach (b) is a Machine Learning based approach.

Machine Learning encompasses the techniques in AI which allow the system to learn automatically looking at the data available. While learning, the system tries to improve the experience without making any explicit efforts in programming.

## Any machine learning application follows the following steps broadly

• ### Selecting the training dataset

As the definition indicates, machine learning algorithms require past experience, that is data, for learning. So, selection of appropriate data is the key for any machine learning application.

• ### Preparing the dataset by preprocessing the data

Once the decision about the data is made, it needs to be prepared for use. Machine learning algorithms are very susceptible to the small changes in data. To get the right insights, data must be preprocessed which includes data cleaning and data transformation.

• ### Exploring the basic statistics and properties of data

To understand what the data wishes to convey, the data engineer or Machine Learning engineer needs to understand the properties of data in detail. These details are understood by studying the statistical properties of data. Visualization is an important process to understand the data in detail.

• ### Selecting the appropriate algorithm to apply on the dataset

Once the data is ready and understood in detail, then appropriate Machine Learning algorithms or models are selected. The choice of algorithm depends on characteristics of data as well as type of task to be performed on the data. The choice also depends on what kind of output is required from the data.

• ### Checking the performance and fine-tuning the parameters of the algorithm

The model or algorithm chosen is fine-tuned to get improved performance. If multiple models are applied, then they are weighed against the performance. The final algorithm is again fine-tuned to get appropriate output and performance.

## Why Pursue a Career in Machine Learning in 2021?

A recent survey has estimated that the jobs in AI and ML have grown by more than 300%. Even before the pandemic struck, Machine Learning skills were in high demand and the demand is expected to increase two-fold in the near future.

A career in machine learning gives you the opportunity to make significant contributions in AI, the future of technology. All the big and small businesses are adopting Machine Learning models to improve their bottom-line margins and return on investment.  The use of Machine Learning has gone beyond just technology and it is now used in diverse industries including healthcare, automobile, manufacturing, government and more. This has greatly enhanced the value of Machine Learning experts who can earn an average salary of $112,000. Huge numbers of jobs are expected to be created in the coming years. Here are a few reasons why one should pursue a career in Machine Learning: 1. The global machine learning market is expected to touch$20.83B in 2024, according to Forbes.  We are living in a digital age and this explosion of data has made the use of machine learning models a necessity. Machine Learning is the only way to extract meaning out of data and businesses need Machine Learning engineers to analyze huge data and gain insights from them to improve their businesses.
2. If you like numbers, if you like research, if you like to read and test and if you have a passion to analyse, then machine learning is the career for you. Learning the right tools and programming languages will help you use machine learning to provide appropriate solutions to complex problems, overcome challenges and grow the business.
3. Machine Learning is a great career option for those interested in computer science and mathematics. They can come up with new Machine Learning algorithms and techniques to cater to the needs of various business domains.
4. As explained above, a career in machine learning is both rewarding and lucrative. There are huge number of opportunities available if you have the right expertise and knowledge. On an average, Machine Learning engineers get higher salaries, than other software developers.
5. Years of experience in the Machine Learning domain, helps you break into data scientist roles, which is not just among the hottest careers of our generation but also a highly respected and lucrative career. Right skills in the right business domain helps you progress and make a mark for yourself in your organization. For example, if you have expertise in pharmaceutical industries and experience working in Machine learning, then you may land job roles as a data scientist consultant in big pharmaceutical companies.

## Statistics on Machine learning growth and the industries that use ML

According to a research paper in AI Multiple (https://research.aimultiple.com/ml-stats/), the Machine Learning market will grow to 9 Billion USD by the end of 2022. There are various areas where Machine Learning models and solutions are getting deployed, and businesses see an overall increase of 44% investments in this area. North America is one of the leading regions in the adoption of Machine Learning followed by Asia.

The Global Machine Learning market will grow by 42% which is evident from the following graph.

Image source

There is a huge demand for Machine Learning modelling because of the large use of Cloud Based Applications and Services. The pandemic has changed the face of businesses, making them heavily dependent on Cloud and AI based services. Google, IBM, and Amazon are just some of the companies that have invested heavily in AI and Machine Learning based application development, to provide robust solutions for problems faced by small to large scale businesses. Machine Learning and Cloud based solutions are scalable and secure for all types of business.

ML analyses and interprets data patterns, computing and developing algorithms for various business purposes.

### Advantages of Machine Learning course

Now that we have established the advantages of perusing a career in Machine Learning, let’s understand from where to start our machine learning journey. The best option would be to start with a Machine Learning course. There are various platforms which offer popular Machine Learning courses. One can always start with an online course which is both effective and safe in these COVID times.

These courses start with an introduction to Machine Learning and then slowly help you to build your skills in the domain. Many courses even start with the basics of programming languages such as Python, which are important for building Machine Learning models. Courses from reputed institutions will hand hold you through the basics. Once the basics are clear, you may switch to an offline course and get the required certification.

Online certifications have the same value as offline classes. They are a great way to clear your doubts and get personalized help to grow your knowledge. These courses can be completed along with your normal job or education, as most are self-paced and can be taken at a time of your convenience. There are plenty of online blogs and articles to aid you in completion of your certification.

Machine Learning courses include many real time case studies which help you in understanding the basics and application aspects. Learning and applying are both important and are covered in good Machine Learning Courses. So, do your research and pick an online tutorial that is from a reputable institute.

## What Does the Career Path in Machine Learning Look Like?

One can start their career in Machine Learning domain as a developer or application programmer. But the acquisition of the right skills and experience can lead you to various career paths. Following are some of the career options in Machine Learning (not an exhaustive list):

• ### Data Scientist

A data scientist is a person with rich experience in a particular business field. A person who has a knowledge of domain, as well as machine learning modelling, is a data scientist. Data Scientists’ job is to study the data carefully and suggest accurate models to improve the business.

• ### AI and Machine Learning Engineer

An AI engineer is responsible for choosing the proper Machine Learning Algorithm based on natural language processing and neural network. They are responsible for applying it in AI applications like personalized advertising.  A Machine Learning Engineer is responsible for creating the appropriate models for improvement of the business

• ### Data Engineer

A Data Engineer, as the name suggests, is responsible to collect data and make it ready for the application of Machine Learning models. Identification of the right data and making it ready for extraction of further insights is the main work of a data engineer.

• ### Business Analyst

A person who studies the business and analyzes the data to get insights from it is a Business Analyst. He or she is responsible for extracting the insights from the data at hand.

• ### Business Intelligence (BI) Developer

A BI developer uses Machine Learning and Data Analytics techniques to work on a large amount of data. Proper representation of data to suit business decisions, using the latest tools for creation of intuitive dashboards is the role of a BI developer.

• ### Human Machine Interface learning engineer

Creating tools using machine learning techniques to ease the human machine interaction or automate decisions, is the role of a Human Machine Interface learning engineer. This person helps in generating choices for users to ease their work.

• ### Natural Language Processing (NLP) engineer or developer

As the name suggests, this person develops various techniques to process Natural Language constructs. Building applications or systems using machine learning techniques to build Natural Language based applications is their main task. They create multilingual Chatbots for use in websites and other applications.

## Why are Machine Learning Roles so popular?

As mentioned above, the market growth of AI and ML has increased tremendously over the past years. The Machine Learning Techniques are applied in every domain including marketing, sales, product recommendations, brand retention, creating advertising, understanding the sentiments of customer, security, banking and more. Machine learning algorithms are also used in emails to ease the users work. This says a lot, and proves that a career in Machine Learning is in high demand as all businesses are incorporating various machine learning techniques and are improving their business.

One can harness this popularity by skilling up with Machine Learning skills. Machine Learning models are now being used by every company, irrespective of their size--small or big, to get insights on their data and use these insights to improve the business. As every company wishes to grow faster, they are deploying more machine learning engineers to get their work done on time. Also, the migration of businesses to Cloud services for better security and scalability, has increased their requirement for more Machine Learning algorithms and models to cater to their needs.

Introducing the Machine learning techniques and solutions has brought huge returns for businesses.  Machine Learning solution providers like Google, IBM, Microsoft etc. are investing in human resources for development of Machine Learning models and algorithms. The tools developed by them are popularly used by businesses to get early returns. It has been observed that there is significant increase in patents in Machine Learning domains since the past few years, indicating the quantum of work happening in this domain.

### Machine Learning Skills

Let’s visit a few important skills one must acquire to work in the domain of Machine Learning.

• Programming languages

Knowledge of programming is very important for a career in Machine Learning. Languages like Python and R are popularly used to develop applications using Machine Learning models and algorithms. Python, being the simplest and most flexible language, is very popular for AI and Machine Learning applications. These languages provide rich support of libraries for implementation of Machine Learning Algorithms. A person who is good in programming can work very efficiently in this domain.

• Mathematics and Statistics

The base for Machine Learning is mathematics and statistics. Statistics applied to data help in understanding it in micro detail. Many machine learning models are based on the probability theory and require knowledge of linear algebra, transformations etc. A good understanding of statistics and probability increases the early adoption to Machine Learning domain.

• Analytical tools

A plethora of analytical tools are available where machine learning models are already implemented and made available for use. Also, these tools are very good for visualization purposes. Tools like IBM Cognos, PowerBI, Tableue etc are important to pursue a career as a  Machine Learning engineer.

• Machine Learning Algorithms and libraries

To become a master in this domain, one must master the libraries which are provided with various programming languages. The basic understanding of how machine learning algorithms work and are implemented is crucial.

• Data Modelling for Machine Learning based systems

Data lies at the core of any Machine Learning application. So, modelling the data to suit the application of Machine Learning algorithms is an important task. Data modelling experts are the heart of development teams that develop machine learning based systems. SQL based solutions like Oracle, SQL Server, and NoSQL solutions are important for modelling data required for Machine Learning applications. MongoDB, DynamoDB, Riak are some important NOSQL based solutions available to process unstructured data for Machine Learning applications.

Other than these skills, there are two other skills that may prove to be beneficial for those planning on a career in the Machine Learning domain:

• Natural Language processing techniques

For E-commerce sites, customer feedback is very important and crucial in determining the roadmap of future products. Many customers give reviews for the products that they have used or give suggestions for improvement. These feedbacks and opinions are analyzed to gain more insights about the customers buying habits as well as about the products. This is part of natural language processing using Machine Learning. The likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter are developing machine learning algorithms for Natural Language Processing and are constantly working on improving their solutions. Knowledge of basics of Natural Language Processing techniques and libraries is must in the domain of Machine Learning.

• Image Processing

Knowledge of Image and Video processing is very crucial when a solution is required to be developed in the area of security, weather forecasting, crop prediction etc. Machine Learning based solutions are very effective in these domains. Tools like Matlab, Octave, OpenCV are some important tools available to develop Machine Learning based solutions which require image or video processing.

Conclusion

Machine Learning is a technique to automate the tasks based on past experiences. This is among the most lucrative career choices right now and will continue to remain so in the future. Job opportunities are increasing day by day in this domain. Acquiring the right skills by opting for a proper Machine Learning course is important to grow in this domain. You can have an impressive career trajectory as a machine learning expert, provided you have the right skills and expertise.

### Dr. Deepali Vora

Author

Dr. Deepali is Associate Professor in Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune. She was the Professor & Head of Department, Information Technology  in Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Mumbai and has completed her BE., M.E. and PhD in Computer Science and Engineering. With more than 20 years of experience in total in teaching, research and Industry, she has published more than 50 research papers in reputed national, international conferences and journals. She has co-authored three books and 2 book chapters and delivered various talks in Data Science and Machine learning. She has conducted hands-on session in Data Science and Machine Learning using Python for students and faculties. Under her guidance 20 students have completed their post graduate studies in Computer Engineering and Information Technology.

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## Top Data Analytics Certifications

What is data analytics?In the world of IT, every small bit of data count; even information that looks like pure nonsense has its significance. So, how do we retrieve the significance from this data? This is where Data Science and analytics comes into the picture.  Data Analytics is a process where data is inspected, transformed and interpreted to discover some useful bits of information from all the noise and make decisions accordingly. It forms the entire basis of the social media industry and finds a lot of use in IT, finance, hospitality and even social sciences. The scope in data analytics is nearly endless since all facets of life deal with the storage, processing and interpretation of data.Why data analytics? Data Analytics in this Information Age has nearly endless opportunities since literally everything in this era hinges on the importance of proper processing and data analysis. The insights from any data are crucial for any business. The field of data Analytics has grown more than 50 times from the early 2000s to 2021. Companies specialising in banking, healthcare, fraud detection, e-commerce, telecommunication, infrastructure and risk management hire data analysts and professionals every year in huge numbers.Need for certification:Skills are the first and foremost criteria for a job, but these skills need to be validated and recognised by reputed organisations for them to impress a potential employer. In the field of Data Analytics, it is pretty crucial to show your certifications. Hence, an employer knows you have hands-on experience in the field and can handle the workload of a real-world setting beyond just theoretical knowledge. Once you get a base certification, you can work your way up to higher and higher positions and enjoy lucrative pay packages. Top Data Analytics Certifications Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAP) SAS Certified Data Analyst (Using SAS91. Certified Analytics Professional (CAP)A certification from an organisation called INFORMS, CAP is a notoriously rigorous certification and stands out like a star on an applicant's resume. Those who complete this program gain an invaluable credential and are able to distinguish themselves from the competition. It gives a candidate a comprehensive understanding of the analytical process's various fine aspects--from framing hypotheses and analytic problems to the proper methodology, along with acquisition, model building and deployment process with long-term life cycle management. It needs to be renewed after three years.The application process is in itself quite complex, and it also involves signing the CAP Code of Ethics before one is given the certification. The CAP panel reviews each application, and those who pass this review are the only ones who can give the exam.  Prerequisite: A bachelor’s degree with 5 years of professional experience or a master's degree with 3 years of professional experience.  Exam Fee & Format: The base price is $695. For individuals who are members of INFORMS the price is$495. (Source) The pass percentage is 70%. The format is a four option MCQ paper. Salary: $76808 per year (Source) 2. Cloudera Certified Associate (CCA) Data Analyst Cloudera has a well-earned reputation in the IT sector, and its Associate Data analyst certification can help bolster the resume of Business intelligence specialists, system architects, data analysts, database administrators as well as developers. It has a specific focus on SQL developers who aim to show their proficiency on the platform.This certificate validates an applicant's ability to operate in a CDH environment by Cloudera using Impala and Hive tools. One doesn't need to turn to expensive tuitions and academies as Cloudera offers an Analyst Training course with almost the same objectives as the exam, leaving one with a good grasp of the fundamentals. Prerequisites: basic knowledge of SQL and Linux Command line Exam Fee & Format: The cost of the exam is$295 (Source), The test is a performance-based test containing 8-12 questions to be completed in a proctored environment under 129 minutes.  Expected Salary: You can earn the job title of Cloudera Data Analyst that pays up to $113,286 per year. (Source)3. Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAP)aCAP is an entry-level certification for Analytics professionals with lesser experience but effective knowledge, which helps in real-life situations. It is for those candidates who have a master’s degree in a field related to data analytics. It is one of the few vendor-neutral certifications on the list and must be converted to CAP within 6 years, so it offers a good opportunity for those with a long term path in a Data Analytics career. It also needs to be renewed every three years, like the CAP certification. Like its professional counterpart, aCAP helps a candidate step out in a vendor-neutral manner and drastically increases their professional credibility. Prerequisite: Master’s degree in any discipline related to data Analytics. Exam Fee: The base price is$300. For individuals who are members of INFORMS the price is $200. (Source). There is an extensive syllabus which covers: i. Business Problem Framing, ii. Analytics Problem Framing, iii. Data, iv. Methodology Selection, v. Model Building, vi. Deployment, vii. Lifecycle Management of the Analytics process, problem-solving, data science and visualisation and much more.4. SAS Certified Data Analyst (Using SAS9)From one of the pioneers in IT and Statistics - the SAS Institute of Data Management - a SAS Certified Data Scientist can gain insights and analyse various aspects of data from businesses using tools like the SAS software and other open-source methodology. It also validates competency in using complex machine learning models and inferring results to interpret future business strategy and release models using the SAS environment. SAS Academy for Data Science is a viable institute for those who want to receive proper training for the exam and use this as a basis for their career. Prerequisites: To earn this credential, one needs to pass 5 exams, two from the SAS Certified Big Data Professional credential and three exams from the SAS Certified Advanced Analytics Professional Credential. Exam Fee: The cost for each exam is$180. (Source) An exception is Predictive Modelling using the SAS Enterprise Miner, costing $250, This exam can be taken in the English language. One can join the SAS Academy for Data Science and also take a practice exam beforehand. Salary: You can get a job as a SAS Data Analyst that pays up to$90,000 per year! (Source) 5. IBM Data Science Professional CertificateWhenever someone studies the history of a computer, IBM (International Business Machines) is the first brand that comes up. IBM is still alive and kicking, now having forayed into and becoming a major player in the Big Data segment. The IBM Data Science Professional certificate is one of the beginner-level certificates if you want to sink your hands into the world of data analysis. It shows a candidate's skills in various topics pertaining to data sciences, including various open-source tools, Python databases, SWL, data visualisation, and data methodologies.  One needs to complete nine courses to earn the certificate. It takes around three months if one works twelve hours per week. It also involves the completion of various hands-on assignments and building a portfolio. A candidate earns the Professional certificate from Coursera and a badge from IBM that recognises a candidate's proficiency in the area. Prerequisites: It is the optimal course for freshers since it requires no requisite programming knowledge or proficiency in Analytics. Exam Fee: It costs $39 per month (Source) to access the course materials and the certificate. The course is handled by the Coursera organisation. Expected Salary: This certification can earn you the title of IBM Data Scientist and help you earn a salary of$134,846 per annum. (Source) 6. Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist AssociateIt's one of the most well-known certifications for newcomers to step into the field of Big Data and Data analytics. This credential is offered by the leader in the industry, Microsoft Azure. This credential validates a candidate's ability to work with Microsoft Azure developing environment and proficiency in analysing big data, preparing data for the modelling process, and then progressing to designing models. One advantage of this credential is that it has no expiry date and does not need renewal; it also authorises the candidate’s extensive knowledge in predictive Analytics. Prerequisites: knowledge and experience in data science and using Azure Machine Learning and Azure Databricks. Exam Fee: It costs $165 to (Source) register for the exam. One advantage is that there is no need to attend proxy institutions to prepare for this exam, as Microsoft offers free training materials as well as an instructor-led course that is paid. There is a comprehensive collection of resources available to a candidate. Expected Salary: The job title typically offered is Microsoft Data Scientist and it typically fetches a yearly pay of$130,993.(Source) Why be a Data Analytics professional? For those already working in the field of data, being a Data Analyst is one of the most viable options. The salary of a data analyst ranges from $65,000 to$85,000 depending on number of years of experience. This lucrative salary makes it worth the investment to get a certification and advance your skills to the next level so that you can work for multinational companies by interpreting and organising data and using this analysis to accelerate businesses. These certificates demonstrate that you have the required knowledge needed to operate data models of the volumes needed by big organizations. 1. Demand is more than supply With the advent of the Information Age, there has been a huge boom in companies that either entirely or partially deal with IT. For many companies IT forms the core of their business. Every business has to deal with data, and it is crucial to get accurate insights from this data and use it to further business interests and expand profits. The interpretation of data also aims to guide them in the future to make the best business decisions.  Complex business intelligence algorithms are in place these days. They need trained professionals to operate them; since this field is relatively new, there is a shortage of experts. Thus, there are vacancies for data analyst positions with lucrative pay if one is qualified enough.2. Good pay with benefitsA data analyst is an extremely lucrative profession, with an average base pay of \$71,909 (Source), employee benefits, a good work-home balance, and other perks. It has been consistently rated as being among the hottest careers of the decade and allows professionals to have a long and satisfying career.   Companies Hiring Certified Data Analytics Professionals Oracle A California based brand, Oracle is a software company that is most famous for its data solutions. With over 130000 employees and a revenue of 39 billion, it is surely one of the bigger players in Data Analytics.  MicroStrategy   Unlike its name, this company is anything but micro, with more than 400 million worth of revenue. It provides a suite of analytical products along with business mobility solutions. It is a key player in the mobile space, working natively with Android and iOS.   SAS   One of the companies in the list which provides certifications and is also without a doubt one of the largest names in the field of Big Data, machine learning and Data Analytics, is SAS. The name SAS is derived from Statistical Analysis System. This company is trusted and has a solid reputation. It is also behind the SAS Institute for Data Science. Hence, SAS is the organisation you would want to go to if you're aiming for a long-term career in data science.    Conclusion To conclude, big data and data Analytics are a field of endless opportunities. By investing in the right credential, one can pave the way to a viable and lucrative career path. Beware though, there are lots of companies that provide certifications, but only recognised and reputed credentials will give you the opportunities you are seeking. Hiring companies look for these certifications as a mark of authenticity of your hands-on experience and the amount of work you can handle effectively. Therefore, the credential you choose for yourself plays a vital role in the career you can have in the field of Data analytics.  Happy learning!
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## Types of Probability Distributions Every Data Science Expert Should know

Data Science has become one of the most popular interdisciplinary fields. It uses scientific approaches, methods, algorithms, and operations to obtain facts and insights from unstructured, semi-structured, and structured datasets. Organizations use these collected facts and insights for efficient production, business growth, and to predict user requirements. Probability distribution plays a significant role in performing data analysis equipping a dataset for training a model. In this article, you will learn about the types of Probability Distribution, random variables, types of discrete distributions, and continuous distribution.  What is Probability Distribution? A Probability Distribution is a statistical method that determines all the probable values and possibilities that a random variable can deliver from a particular range. This range of values will have a lower bound and an upper bound, which we call the minimum and the maximum possible values.  Various factors on which plotting of a value depends are standard deviation, mean (or average), skewness, and kurtosis. All of these play a significant role in Data science as well. We can use probability distribution in physics, engineering, finance, data analysis, machine learning, etc. Significance of Probability distributions in Data Science In a way, most of the data science and machine learning operations are dependent on several assumptions about the probability of your data. Probability distribution allows a skilled data analyst to recognize and comprehend patterns from large data sets; that is, otherwise, entirely random variables and values. Thus, it makes probability distribution a toolkit based on which we can summarize a large data set. The density function and distribution techniques can also help in plotting data, thus supporting data analysts to visualize data and extract meaning. General Properties of Probability Distributions Probability distribution determines the likelihood of any outcome. The mathematical expression takes a specific value of x and shows the possibility of a random variable with p(x). Some general properties of the probability distribution are – The total of all probabilities for any possible value becomes equal to 1. In a probability distribution, the possibility of finding any specific value or a range of values must lie between 0 and 1. Probability distributions tell us the dispersal of the values from the random variable. Consequently, the type of variable also helps determine the type of probability distribution.Common Data Types Before jumping directly into explaining the different probability distributions, let us first understand the different types of probability distributions or the main categories of the probability distribution. Data analysts and data engineers have to deal with a broad spectrum of data, such as text, numerical, image, audio, voice, and many more. Each of these have a specific means to be represented and analyzed. Data in a probability distribution can either be discrete or continuous. Numerical data especially takes one of the two forms. Discrete data: They take specific values where the outcome of the data remains fixed. Like, for example, the consequence of rolling two dice or the number of overs in a T-20 match. In the first case, the result lies between 2 and 12. In the second case, the event will be less than 20. Different types of discrete distributions that use discrete data are: Binomial Distribution Hypergeometric Distribution Geometric Distribution Poisson Distribution Negative Binomial Distribution Multinomial Distribution  Continuous data: It can obtain any value irrespective of bound or limit. Example: weight, height, any trigonometric value, age, etc. Different types of continuous distributions that use continuous data are: Beta distribution Cauchy distribution Exponential distribution Gamma distribution Logistic distribution Weibull distribution Types of Probability Distribution explained Here are some of the popular types of Probability distributions used by data science professionals. (Try all the code using Jupyter Notebook) Normal Distribution: It is also known as Gaussian distribution. It is one of the simplest types of continuous distribution. This probability distribution is symmetrical around its mean value. It also shows that data at close proximity of the mean is frequently occurring, compared to data that is away from it. Here, mean = 0, variance = finite valueHere, you can see 0 at the center is the Normal Distribution for different mean and variance values. Here is a code example showing the use of Normal Distribution: from scipy.stats import norm  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  import numpy as np  def normalDist() -> None:      fig, ax = mpl.subplots(1, 1)      mean, var, skew, kurt = norm.stats(moments = 'mvsk')      x = np.linspace(norm.ppf(0.01),  norm.ppf(0.99), 100)      ax.plot(x, norm.pdf(x),          'r-', lw = 5, alpha = 0.6, label = 'norm pdf')      ax.plot(x, norm.cdf(x),          'b-', lw = 5, alpha = 0.6, label = 'norm cdf')      vals = norm.ppf([0.001, 0.5, 0.999])      np.allclose([0.001, 0.5, 0.999], norm.cdf(vals))      r = norm.rvs(size = 1000)      ax.hist(r, normed = True, histtype = 'stepfilled', alpha = 0.2)      ax.legend(loc = 'best', frameon = False)      mpl.show()  normalDist() Output: Bernoulli Distribution: It is the simplest type of probability distribution. It is a particular case of Binomial distribution, where n=1. It means a binomial distribution takes 'n' number of trials, where n > 1 whereas, the Bernoulli distribution takes only a single trial.   Probability Mass Function of a Bernoulli’s Distribution is:  where p = probability of success and q = probability of failureHere is a code example showing the use of Bernoulli Distribution: from scipy.stats import bernoulli  import seaborn as sb    def bernoulliDist():      data_bern = bernoulli.rvs(size=1200, p = 0.7)      ax = sb.distplot(          data_bern,           kde = True,           color = 'g',           hist_kws = {'alpha' : 1},          kde_kws = {'color': 'y', 'lw': 3, 'label': 'KDE'})      ax.set(xlabel = 'Bernouli Values', ylabel = 'Frequency Distribution')  bernoulliDist() Output:Continuous Uniform Distribution: In this type of continuous distribution, all outcomes are equally possible; each variable gets the same probability of hit as a consequence. This symmetric probabilistic distribution has random variables at an equal interval, with the probability of 1/(b-a). Here is a code example showing the use of Uniform Distribution: from numpy import random  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  import seaborn as sb  def uniformDist():      sb.distplot(random.uniform(size = 1200), hist = True)      mpl.show()  uniformDist() Output: Log-Normal Distribution: A Log-Normal distribution is another type of continuous distribution of logarithmic values that form a normal distribution. We can transform a log-normal distribution into a normal distribution. Here is a code example showing the use of Log-Normal Distribution import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  def lognormalDist():      muu, sig = 3, 1      s = np.random.lognormal(muu, sig, 1000)      cnt, bins, ignored = mpl.hist(s, 80, normed = True, align ='mid', color = 'y')      x = np.linspace(min(bins), max(bins), 10000)      calc = (np.exp( -(np.log(x) - muu) **2 / (2 * sig**2))             / (x * sig * np.sqrt(2 * np.pi)))      mpl.plot(x, calc, linewidth = 2.5, color = 'g')      mpl.axis('tight')      mpl.show()  lognormalDist() Output: Pareto Distribution: It is one of the most critical types of continuous distribution. The Pareto Distribution is a skewed statistical distribution that uses power-law to describe quality control, scientific, social, geophysical, actuarial, and many other types of observable phenomena. The distribution shows slow or heavy-decaying tails in the plot, where much of the data reside at its extreme end. Here is a code example showing the use of Pareto Distribution – import numpy as np  from matplotlib import pyplot as plt  from scipy.stats import pareto  def paretoDist():      xm = 1.5        alp = [2, 4, 6]       x = np.linspace(0, 4, 800)      output = np.array([pareto.pdf(x, scale = xm, b = a) for a in alp])      plt.plot(x, output.T)      plt.show()  paretoDist() Output:Exponential Distribution: It is a type of continuous distribution that determines the time elapsed between events (in a Poisson process). Let’s suppose, that you have the Poisson distribution model that holds the number of events happening in a given period. We can model the time between each birth using an exponential distribution.Here is a code example showing the use of Pareto Distribution – from numpy import random  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  import seaborn as sb  def expDist():      sb.distplot(random.exponential(size = 1200), hist = True)      mpl.show()   expDist()Output:Types of the Discrete probability distribution – There are various types of Discrete Probability Distribution a Data science aspirant should know about. Some of them are – Binomial Distribution: It is one of the popular discrete distributions that determine the probability of x success in the 'n' trial. We can use Binomial distribution in situations where we want to extract the probability of SUCCESS or FAILURE from an experiment or survey which went through multiple repetitions. A Binomial distribution holds a fixed number of trials. Also, a binomial event should be independent, and the probability of obtaining failure or success should remain the same. Here is a code example showing the use of Binomial Distribution – from numpy import random  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  import seaborn as sb    def binomialDist():      sb.distplot(random.normal(loc = 50, scale = 6, size = 1200), hist = False, label = 'normal')      sb.distplot(random.binomial(n = 100, p = 0.6, size = 1200), hist = False, label = 'binomial')      plt.show()    binomialDist() Output:Geometric Distribution: The geometric probability distribution is one of the crucial types of continuous distributions that determine the probability of any event having likelihood ‘p’ and will happen (occur) after 'n' number of Bernoulli trials. Here 'n' is a discrete random variable. In this distribution, the experiment goes on until we encounter either a success or a failure. The experiment does not depend on the number of trials. Here is a code example showing the use of Geometric Distribution – import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  def probability_to_occur_at(attempt, probability):      return (1-p)**(attempt - 1) * probability  p = 0.3  attempt = 4  attempts_to_show = range(21)[1:]  print('Possibility that this event will occur on the 7th try: ', probability_to_occur_at(attempt, p))  mpl.xlabel('Number of Trials')  mpl.ylabel('Probability of the Event')  barlist = mpl.bar(attempts_to_show, height=[probability_to_occur_at(x, p) for x in attempts_to_show], tick_label=attempts_to_show)  barlist[attempt].set_color('g')  mpl.show() Output:Poisson Distribution: Poisson distribution is one of the popular types of discrete distribution that shows how many times an event has the possibility of occurrence in a specific set of time. We can obtain this by limiting the Bernoulli distribution from 0 to infinity. Data analysts often use the Poisson distributions to comprehend independent events occurring at a steady rate in a given time interval. Here is a code example showing the use of Poisson Distribution from scipy.stats import poisson  import seaborn as sb  import numpy as np  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  def poissonDist():       mpl.figure(figsize = (10, 10))      data_binom = poisson.rvs(mu = 3, size = 5000)      ax = sb.distplot(data_binom, kde=True, color = 'g',                       bins=np.arange(data_binom.min(), data_binom.max() + 1),                       kde_kws={'color': 'y', 'lw': 4, 'label': 'KDE'})      ax.set(xlabel = 'Poisson Distribution', ylabel='Data Frequency')      mpl.show()      poissonDist() Output:Multinomial Distribution: A multinomial distribution is another popular type of discrete probability distribution that calculates the outcome of an event having two or more variables. The term multi means more than one. The Binomial distribution is a particular type of multinomial distribution with two possible outcomes - true/false or heads/tails. Here is a code example showing the use of Multinomial Distribution – import numpy as np  import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl  np.random.seed(99)   n = 12                      pvalue = [0.3, 0.46, 0.22]     s = []  p = []     for size in np.logspace(2, 3):      outcomes = np.random.multinomial(n, pvalue, size=int(size))        prob = sum((outcomes[:,0] == 7) & (outcomes[:,1] == 2) & (outcomes[:,2] == 3))/len(outcomes)      p.append(prob)      s.append(int(size))  fig1 = mpl.figure()  mpl.plot(s, p, 'o-')  mpl.plot(s, [0.0248]*len(s), '--r')  mpl.grid()  mpl.xlim(xmin = 0)  mpl.xlabel('Number of Events')  mpl.ylabel('Function p(X = K)') Output:Negative Binomial Distribution: It is also a type of discrete probability distribution for random variables having negative binomial events. It is also known as the Pascal distribution, where the random variable tells us the number of repeated trials produced during a specific number of experiments.  Here is a code example showing the use of Negative Binomial Distribution – import matplotlib.pyplot as mpl   import numpy as np   from scipy.stats import nbinom    x = np.linspace(0, 6, 70)   gr, kr = 0.3, 0.7        g = nbinom.ppf(x, gr, kr)   s = nbinom.pmf(x, gr, kr)   mpl.plot(x, g, "*", x, s, "r--") Output: Apart from these mentioned distribution types, various other types of probability distributions exist that data science professionals can use to extract reliable datasets. In the next topic, we will understand some interconnections & relationships between various types of probability distributions. Relationship between various Probability distributions – It is surprising to see that different types of probability distributions are interconnected. In the chart shown below, the dashed line is for limited connections between two families of distribution, whereas the solid lines show the exact relationship between them in terms of transformation, variable, type, etc. Conclusion  Probability distributions are prevalent among data analysts and data science professionals because of their wide usage. Today, companies and enterprises hire data science professionals in many sectors, namely, computer science, health, insurance, engineering, and even social science, where probability distributions appear as fundamental tools for application. It is essential for Data analysts and data scientists. to know the core of statistics. Probability Distributions perform a requisite role in analyzing data and cooking a dataset to train the algorithms efficiently. If you want to learn more about data science - particularly probability distributions and their uses, check out KnowledgeHut's comprehensive Data science course.
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## Role of Unstructured Data in Data Science

Data has become the new game changer for businesses. Typically, data scientists categorize data into three broad divisions - structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. In this article, you will get to know about unstructured data, sources of unstructured data, unstructured data vs. structured data, the use of structured and unstructured data in machine learning, and the difference between structured and unstructured data. Let us first understand what is unstructured data with examples. What is unstructured data? Unstructured data is a kind of data format where there is no organized form or type of data. Videos, texts, images, document files, audio materials, email contents and more are considered to be unstructured data. It is the most copious form of business data, and cannot be stored in a structured database or relational database. Some examples of unstructured data are the photos we post on social media platforms, the tagging we do, the multimedia files we upload, and the documents we share. Seagate predicts that the global data-sphere will expand to 163 zettabytes by 2025, where most of the data will be in the unstructured format. Characteristics of Unstructured DataUnstructured data cannot be organized in a predefined fashion, and is not a homogenous data model. This makes it difficult to manage. Apart from that, these are the other characteristics of unstructured data. You cannot store unstructured data in the form of rows and columns as we do in a database table. Unstructured data is heterogeneous in structure and does not have any specific data model. The creation of such data does not follow any semantics or habits. Due to the lack of any particular sequence or format, it is difficult to manage. Such data does not have an identifiable structure. Sources of Unstructured Data There are various sources of unstructured data. Some of them are: Content websites Social networking sites Online images Memos Reports and research papers Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations Audio mining, chatbots Surveys Feedback systems Advantages of Unstructured Data Unstructured data has become exceptionally easy to store because of MongoDB, Cassandra, or even using JSON. Modern NoSQL databases and software allows data engineers to collect and extract data from various sources. There are numerous benefits that enterprises and businesses can gain from unstructured data. These are: With the advent of unstructured data, we can store data that lacks a proper format or structure. There is no fixed schema or data structure for storing such data, which gives flexibility in storing data of different genres. Unstructured data is much more portable by nature. Unstructured data is scalable and flexible to store. Database systems like MongoDB, Cassandra, etc., can easily handle the heterogeneous properties of unstructured data. Different applications and platforms produce unstructured data that becomes useful in business intelligence, unstructured data analytics, and various other fields. Unstructured data analysis allows finding comprehensive data stories from data like email contents, website information, social media posts, mobile data, cache files and more. Unstructured data, along with data analytics, helps companies improve customer experience. Detection of the taste of consumers and their choices becomes easy because of unstructured data analysis. Disadvantages of Unstructured data Storing and managing unstructured data is difficult because there is no proper structure or schema. Data indexing is also a substantial challenge and hence becomes unclear due to its disorganized nature. Search results from an unstructured dataset are also not accurate because it does not have predefined attributes. Data security is also a challenge due to the heterogeneous form of data. Problems faced and solutions for storing unstructured data. Until recently, it was challenging to store, evaluate, and manage unstructured data. But with the advent of modern data analysis tools, algorithms, CAS (content addressable storage system), and big data technologies, storage and evaluation became easy. Let us first take a look at the various challenges used for storing unstructured data. Storing unstructured data requires a large amount of space. Indexing of unstructured data is a hectic task. Database operations such as deleting and updating become difficult because of the disorganized nature of the data. Storing and managing video, audio, image file, emails, social media data is also challenging. Unstructured data increases the storage cost. For solving such issues, there are some particular approaches. These are: CAS system helps in storing unstructured data efficiently. We can preserve unstructured data in XML format. Developers can store unstructured data in an RDBMS system supporting BLOB. We can convert unstructured data into flexible formats so that evaluating and storage becomes easy. Let us now understand the differences between unstructured data vs. structured data. Unstructured Data Vs. Structured Data In this section, we will understand the difference between structured and unstructured data with examples. STRUCTUREDUNSTRUCTUREDStructured data resides in an organized format in a typical database.Unstructured data cannot reside in an organized format, and hence we cannot store it in a typical database.We can store structured data in SQL database tables having rows and columns.Storing and managing unstructured data requires specialized databases, along with a variety of business intelligence and analytics applications.It is tough to scale a database schema.It is highly scalable.Structured data gets generated in colleges, universities, banks, companies where people have to deal with names, date of birth, salary, marks and so on.We generate or find unstructured data in social media platforms, emails, analyzed data for business intelligence, call centers, chatbots and so on.Queries in structured data allow complex joining.Unstructured data allows only textual queries.The schema of a structured dataset is less flexible and dependent.An unstructured dataset is flexible but does not have any particular schema.It has various concurrency techniques.It has no concurrency techniques.We can use SQL, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle DB, Teradata to store structured data.We can use NoSQL (Not Only SQL) to store unstructured data.Types of Unstructured Data Do you have any idea just how much of unstructured data we produce and from what sources? Unstructured data includes all those forms of data that we cannot actively manage in an RDBMS system that is a transactional system. We can store structured data in the form of records. But this is not the case with unstructured data. Before the advent of object-based storage, most of the unstructured data was stored in file-based systems. Here are some of the types of unstructured data. Rich media content: Entertainment files, surveillance data, multimedia email attachments, geospatial data, audio files (call center and other recorded audio), weather reports (graphical), etc., comes under this genre. Document data: Invoices, text-file records, email contents, productivity applications, etc., are included under this genre. Internet of Things (IoT) data: Ticker data, sensor data, data from other IoT devices come under this genre. Apart from all these, data from business intelligence and analysis, machine learning datasets, and artificial intelligence data training datasets are also a separate genre of unstructured data. Examples of Unstructured Data There are various sources from where we can obtain unstructured data. The prominent use of this data is in unstructured data analytics. Let us now understand what are some examples of unstructured data and their sources – Healthcare industries generate a massive volume of human as well as machine-generated unstructured data. Human-generated unstructured data could be in the form of patient-doctor or patient-nurse conversations, which are usually recorded in audio or text formats. Unstructured data generated by machines includes emergency video camera footage, surgical robots, data accumulated from medical imaging devices like endoscopes, laparoscopes and more.  Social Media is an intrinsic entity of our daily life. Billions of people come together to join channels, share different thoughts, and exchange information with their loved ones. They create and share such data over social media platforms in the form of images, video clips, audio messages, tagging people (this helps companies to map relations between two or more people), entertainment data, educational data, geolocations, texts, etc. Other spectra of data generated from social media platforms are behavior patterns, perceptions, influencers, trends, news, and events. Business and corporate documents generate a multitude of unstructured data such as emails, presentations, reports containing texts, images, presentation reports, video contents, feedback and much more. These documents help to create knowledge repositories within an organization to make better implicit operations. Live chat, video conferencing, web meeting, chatbot-customer messages, surveillance data are other prominent examples of unstructured data that companies can cultivate to get more insights into the details of a person. Some prominent examples of unstructured data used in enterprises and organizations are: Reports and documents, like Word files or PDF files Multimedia files, such as audio, images, designed texts, themes, and videos System logs Medical images Flat files Scanned documents (which are images that hold numbers and text – for example, OCR) Biometric data Unstructured Data Analytics Tools  You might be wondering what tools can come into use to gather and analyze information that does not have a predefined structure or model. Various tools and programming languages use structured and unstructured data for machine learning and data analysis. These are: Tableau MonkeyLearn Apache Spark SAS Python MS. Excel RapidMiner KNIME QlikView Python programming R programming Many cloud services (like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud) also offer unstructured data analysis solutions bundled with their services. How to analyze unstructured data? In the past, the process of storage and analysis of unstructured data was not well defined. Enterprises used to carry out this kind of analysis manually. But with the advent of modern tools and programming languages, most of the unstructured data analysis methods became highly advanced. AI-powered tools use algorithms designed precisely to help to break down unstructured data for analysis. Unstructured data analytics tools, along with Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms, help advanced software tools analyze and extract analytical data from the unstructured datasets. Before using these tools for analyzing unstructured data, you must properly go through a few steps and keep these points in mind. Set a clear goal for analyzing the data: It is essential to clear your intention about what insights you want to extract from your unstructured data. Knowing this will help you distinguish what type of data you are planning to accumulate. Collect relevant data: Unstructured data is available everywhere, whether it's a social media platform, online feedback or reviews, or a survey form. Depending on the previous point, that is your goal - you have to be precise about what data you want to collect in real-time. Also, keep in mind whether your collected details are relevant or not. Clean your data: Data cleaning or data cleansing is a significant process to detect corrupt or irrelevant data from the dataset, followed by modifying or deleting the coarse and sloppy data. This phase is also known as the data-preprocessing phase, where you have to reduce the noise, carry out data slicing for meaningful representation, and remove unnecessary data. Use Technology and tools: Once you perform the data cleaning, it is time to utilize unstructured data analysis tools to prepare and cultivate the insights from your data. Technologies used for unstructured data storage (NoSQL) can help in managing your flow of data. Other tools and programming libraries like Tableau, Matplotlib, Pandas, and Google Data Studio allows us to extract and visualize unstructured data. Data can be visualized and presented in the form of compelling graphs, plots, and charts. How to Extract information from Unstructured Data? With the growth in digitization during the information era, repetitious transactions in data cause data flooding. The exponential accretion in the speed of digital data creation has brought a whole new domain of understanding user interaction with the online world. According to Gartner, 80% of the data created by an organization or its application is unstructured. While extracting exact information through appropriate analysis of organized data is not yet possible, even obtaining a decent sense of this unstructured data is quite tough. Until now, there are no perfect tools to analyze unstructured data. But algorithms and tools designed using machine learning, Natural language processing, Deep learning, and Graph Analysis (a mathematical method for estimating graph structures) help us to get the upper hand in extracting information from unstructured data. Other neural network models like modern linguistic models follow unsupervised learning techniques to gain a good 'knowledge' about the unstructured dataset before going into a specific supervised learning step. AI-based algorithms and technologies are capable enough to extract keywords, locations, phone numbers, analyze image meaning (through digital image processing). We can then understand what to evaluate and identify information that is essential to your business. ConclusionUnstructured data is found abundantly from sources like documents, records, emails, social media posts, feedbacks, call-records, log-in session data, video, audio, and images. Manually analyzing unstructured data is very time-consuming and can be very boring at the same time. With the growth of data science and machine learning algorithms and models, it has become easy to gather and analyze insights from unstructured information.  According to some research, data analytics tools like MonkeyLearn Studio, Tableau, RapidMiner help analyze unstructured data 1200x faster than the manual approach. Analyzing such data will help you learn more about your customers as well as competitors. Text analysis software, along with machine learning models, will help you dig deep into such datasets and make you gain an in-depth understanding of the overall scenario with fine-grained analyses.
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Role of Unstructured Data in Data Science

Data has become the new game changer for busines... Read More