Analysts are eager to dive into new challenges, but you've only got part of the picture if you don't have all the information necessary to understand new industries and technologies. That's why we assembled a set of free resources for analysts to activate their data science and machine learning expertise.
Free courses offer a solid introductory baseline, with technical resources available to take you to the next level. Communities and newsletters can help keep you involved and up to date in the industry while helping you get to know interested peers:
Courses
- Leada’s The Data Analytics Handbook series - If you're not interested in lectures, these guides are tailored to different fields, so whether you're interested in local systems or Big Data, there's a guide for you.
- MIT’s Artificial Intelligence MOOC - Even though it is a few years old, this course provides impressive insight into AI through a technical lens.
- Stanford University’s Probability and Statistics MOOC - This course is a bit broader than others on this list, but offers a solid foundation and gives some useful context to newer data and analytics topics.
- Analytics Vidhya - A business-centered data learning community, Analytics Vidhya also offers relatively inexpensive data learning courses.
Technical Resources
5. Learning SQL Toolkit - These SQL Basics videos are accessible are straightforward and a great jumping off point if you want to explore how SQL can help your data analytics.6. R-bloggers - If you know (or want to know) R, this is the place for you. R-bloggers offers tutorials and news all about the language.
News & Newsletters
7. KDNuggets - While this news platform definitely swings to the more technical side, its dedication to AI and analytics mean that their stream is all data all the time.
8. BananaData - This newsletter sifts through the news and sends top data stories to your inbox once a week.
9. Wired - Specializing in making even the most technical content accessible, Wired provides news and opinions on the intersections of data, business, and culture.
Community
10. Kaggle - As you accelerate your data literacy, you can try out a Kaggle challenge and go head-to-head with other data enthusiasts around the world to tackle pressing issues with the data sets provided. Kaggle also offers discussion and learning resources to help you deepen your understanding and explore new topics.11. Reddit - Reddit isn't only useful for AMAs, but offers extensive technical answers to the questions that are bothering you. There are educational threads as well as funny memes.
12. LinkedIn - LinkedIn groups are a great way to expand your network globally and engage with pertinent analytics conversations from the comfort of your home.
13. Meetups - If you want to engage with an in-person community, data and analytics Meetup groups are a great way to meet local peers and learn from leaders in the field.
On top of all of these great tools, you may also want to check out the guidebook that lets you choose your own adventure and become the analyst of the future - it also features even more resources for each step of the way.