The perfect Data Science Certification for a Junior Data Scientist

Starting with 2019, the interest in Data Science education and getting an accreditation skyrocketed. Have a look below at the Google trend of the two search terms: Data Science course vs Data Science certificate:  

This shows that many people are looking to get formal training on Data Science. 

Generally speaking, a technical certification will be somewhat attractive on a CV, but a certification alone will not secure you a role. The majority of Data Science interviews will have at least one technical test and multiple discussions. Some interviewers might even question you more on the topics of the Certification. 

To boost my confidence in my Data Science skills, I also decided to pursue a Data Science Certification. I did my “Google research” and I was pleasantly surprised by the results: DELL EMC program scored high in the top Data Science certifications search. This meant for me, as a Dell employee, that I was able to access multiple learning materials to prepare for the exam. 

Structure

Dell offers a two-level Data science certification: Associate and Specialist level.

The Associate level exam consist of 60 questions and you have 90 minutes to answer them.  The minimum score to pass the exam is 63 and the topics assessed are:

MapReduce (15%)

• MapReduce framework and its implementation in Hadoop
• Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)
• Yet Another Resource Negotiator (YARN)

Hadoop Ecosystem and NoSQL (15%)

• Pig
• Hive
• NoSQL
• HBase
• Spark

Natural Language Processing (NLP) (20%)

• NLP and the four main categories of ambiguity
• Text Preprocessing
• Language Modeling

Social Network Analysis (SNA) (23%)

• SNA and Graph Theory
• Communities
• Network Problems and SNA Tools

Data Science Theory and Methods (15%)

• Simulation
• Random Forests
• Multinomial Logistic Regression and Maximum Entropy

Data Visualization (12%)

• Perception and Visualization
• Visualization of Multivariate Data

I recently (in January 2022) took my Associate level one and I am currently studying for the Specialist level, so it is an ideal time to write about my learning and exam experiences.

Learning

The official website page for the exam and course info is this. Here you will find details about the On Demand classes they offer, exam link and practice tests.

You can also see more sample questions here and additional online practice tests.

The Data Science and Big Data Analytics course prepares you for the Data Scientist Associate v2 (DCA-DS) Certification. Once you pass the exam, you receive a Dell Technologies Certified Associate(DCA-DS) Certification.

Why is the Data Scientist Associate v2 (DCA-DS) a good certification for a junior data scientist:

• Going through the topics included in the material will give a good foundation of data science terminologies. It gives an intro into what big data is, the most basic algorithms, and an understanding of the responsibilities of a Data Scientist and the data science lifecycle.
• Learning all of this will enable immediate and effective participation in big data and other analytics projects. You’ll be hands-on Hadoop (including Pig, Hive, and HBase), Natural Language Processing, Social Network Analysis, Simulation, Random Forests, Multinomial Logistic Regression, and Data Visualization. The labs will prepare you to do data processing, apply algorithms and run data visualization in R.
• It will empower you to keep on studying and move forward to get the next level certificate as DCA-DS Certification is a prerequisite for DCS-DS. The Advanced Methods in Data Science and Big Data Analytics course prepares you for Specialist – Data Scientist, Advanced Analytics Version 1.0 (DCS-DS) Certification. 

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If you don’t have availability to sit in a class for a full week (8  hours a day), you can study for the exam at your own pace. Dell Emc published the below book to help you prepare for the exam. It is rated very high and it’s now discounted on Amazon:

When are you getting one of this?

If this is not motivational enough, I’ll leave below an interesting Ted Talk on the influence of social network  (one of the topics of the course / exam) and you’ll see why Data Science is so cool:

This is a personal blog. My opinion on what I share with you is that “All models are wrong, but some are useful”. Improve the accuracy of any model I present and make it useful!