Data Science Tools

Data science has been called the sexiest profession of the 21st Century—but you could be forgiven for thinking that the job description sounds anything but. As an interdisciplinary field, data science incorporates scientific methods, algorithms, systems, and processes in the study and management of data. Working in the field involves handling processes like data engineering, data visualization, advanced computing, and machine learning. Feeling hot under the collar yet?

Fortunately, there are a range of powerful tools that make all of the above achievable for data scientists. A big part of becoming a data scientist is understanding how to utilize these tools meaningfully in your role.

This article takes a look at some of the popular tools used in data science and what they can do. We’ll finish up by taking a look at some of the popular data science job descriptions where you’re likely to use these tools in your day to day role.

Tools Used by Data Scientists

Data scientists have a range of tools at their disposal that make all of the above achievable. Some of the more popular tools used in data science include:

SQL: SQL (Structured Query Language) is considered the holy grail of data science. You won’t get very far in this field without knowledge of this important tool. SQL is a domain-specific programming language used for managing data. It’s designed to enable access, management, and retrieval of specific information from databases. As most companies store their data in databases, proficiency in SQL is essential in the field of data science. There are several types of databases, like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. Since most of them recognize SQL, it’s easy to work on any of them if you have a thorough knowledge of SQL. Even if you’re working with another language, like Python, you’ll still need to know SQL to access and manage the database to work with the information.

Apache Spark: Spark is a powerful analytics engine. It’s one of the most popular and most-used data science tools. It was specially created to perform stream processing and batch processing of data. Stream processing means processing the data as soon as it’s produced, while batch processing is the running of jobs in batches, as opposed to individually.

MATLAB: MATLAB is a powerful tool for AI and deep learning. It works by replicating "neural networks": computing systems that emulate biological brain activity.

BigML: BigML is a leading machine learning platform and one of the most widely used data science tools. It features a completely intractable graphics user interface (GUI) environment that is cloud-based. BigML uses cloud computing to deliver standardized software across various different industries. Organizations can use it to employ machine learning algorithms across the board.

SAS: SAS is a statistical software tool. In the data science field, SAS is used by large organizations for data analysis. SAS has a range of statistical libraries and tools you can use to model and organize your data. Being on the expensive end, SAS is typically only purchased and used by large industries.

Excel: Most people have heard of Excel as it’s a widely used tool across all business sectors. One of its advantages is that users can customize functions and formulae according to their task requirements. While Excel is not suitable for large data sets, you can manipulate and analyze data quite effectively when paired with SQL.

Tableau: Tableau is distinguished by its feature of visualizing geographical data. With this tool, you can plot longitudes and latitudes on a map. Other than creating intuitive visualizations, you can also utilize Tableau’s analytics tool for data analysis.

Scikit-Learn: This is a Python-based library you can use to implement algorithms for machine learning. It’s a convenient tool for data science and data analysis as it’s simple and easy to implement. Scikit-Learn is most useful in situations where you have to perform rapid prototyping.

Apache Hadoop: Apache Hadoop works by dividing the data sets over a cluster of thousands of computers. Data scientists use Hadoop for high-level computations and data processing. Its stand-out features include:

• effectively scaling large data in clusters;
• functions of variant data processing modules, such as Hadoop YARN, Hadoop MapReduce; and
• usage of the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) for data storage, which allows the distribution of massive data content across several nodes for parallel and distributed computing.  

Becoming a Data Scientist

Thinkful offers a full-time five month data science course as well as a part-time six month flexible course. Each course is taught by experts in the field, and includes consistent one-on-one mentorship to assist you while learning the curriculum and tackling the real-world projects. Following the coursework, you get six months of dedicated career coaching that will get you into your new profession.

For further reading, check out our four must-read tips for launching a career in data science. Or get a glimpse of what’s ahead: find out what a day in the life of data scientist looks like.