Can a Software Engineer become a Data Scientist?

Data Science, AI and ML
, ,
#1
The skillsets of software engineer and a data scientist is quite different wherein a data scientist need to have in-depth knowledge of statistical concepts, numerical concepts, field-level knowledge and developing various optimization algorithms to derive valuable insights from data. Although there’s some amount of software engineering concepts required to become a successful data scientist; still a software engineer needs to work really hard to become a data scientist.

However, it still depends on the interest and motivation of the students on whether they can upskill themselves to build a career in data science.
#2

The transition from “software engineering” is hard because most of what you have learned about SE will be completely useless in the world of Data Science. You will have to unlearn a few things, and you will have to learn several new things, specially in the areas of math and statistics.

The ML courses are good but probably not enough, you need some experience in languages such as R, Python and a good base of statistics.

The good news is that you want to make the switch, I’m happy about that because I think Data Science is a lot of fun and I believe Software engineering is boring. If there is a will there is a way but bear in mind you will have a lot of work to do it’s like a starting a complete new career.