A few months back, I decided I wanted to learn data science. In order to do this, I skipped an entire semester of my data science major.

几个月前，我决定要学习数据科学。 为此， 我跳过了数据科学专业的整个学期。

背景 (Background)

When selecting a major, I wanted to pick a subject that guaranteed a job after graduation.

在选择专业时，我想选择一个可以保证毕业后能工作的学科。

It was around this time that data science started to become a hype. Harvard Business Review had just dubbed it as the “sexiest job of the 21st century.”

大约在这个时候，数据科学开始大肆宣传。 《哈佛商业评论》(Harvard Business Review)刚刚将其称为“ 21世纪最性感的工作”。

There were only one or two universities in the country offering a major in data science at that time, and I enrolled in one of them.

当时该国只有一两所大学提供数据科学专业，而我也参加了其中一所。

Just like everyone else pursuing the major, I was excited. I was going to learn the skills necessary to be at the forefront of a newly emerging technology!

就像其他人追求专业一样，我感到很兴奋。 我正要学习掌握最新技术所必需的技能！

Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly work out that way.

不幸的是，事情并没有完全按照这种方式解决。

一团糟 (It was a mess)

Two years into the course, and I realized I wasn’t actually learning anything.

开学两年后，我意识到我实际上没有学到任何东西 。

Since we were the first batch of data science students, it seemed like the university’s data science faculty wasn’t properly set up yet.

由于我们是第一批数据科学专业的学生，​​因此好像大学的数据科学系尚未正确建立。

The lecturers had little to no knowledge on the subject, assignments were copy pasted from textbooks, and classes were not properly structured.

讲师对此主题知之甚少，甚至没有什么知识，作业是从教科书中复制粘贴的，并且课堂结构不正确。

As a result, none of us had a solid foundation in any aspect of data science.

结果，我们在数据科学的任何方面都没有扎实的基础。

Even after I finished an entire semester of machine learning (and getting an A in the class), I had little to no grasp on the topics taught.

即使我完成了一整个学期的机器学习(并在课程中获得A)，我对所教授的主题也几乎一无所知。

An example of how poor our understanding of the subject was when my friend (also a straight A student) asked me what “supervised learning” meant after completing the entire semester.

一个例子是，当我的朋友(也是一个异性恋学生) 在完成整个学期后问我“监督学习”的含义时，我们对这个主题的理解却很差。

After two years, I realized that I wasn’t going to have the skills I needed to add value to the job market, unless I did something. Fast.

两年后，我意识到，除非我有所作为，否则我将不会拥有为就业市场增值所需的技能。 快速。

创造自己的学习道路 (Creating my own learning path)

I was going to university full time, and was involved in several club activities. I also tutored part time during the weekends.

我全职上大学，参与了一些俱乐部活动。 周末我还兼职辅导。

However, all this stopped a few months back when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown.

但是，几个月前政府实行全国封锁后，一切都停止了。

Suddenly, I had time on my hands. A lot of it.

突然间，我手上有了时间。 很多。

I decided to use this time to teach myself data science. I started out with little expectation, since I doubted my ability to pick up on the topics I needed to learn.

我决定利用这段时间自学数据科学。 一开始我的期望并不高，因为我怀疑自己是否有能力学习需要学习的主题。

I had little programming experience, and no understanding whatsoever of any data science topic.

我几乎没有编程经验，并且对任何数据科学主题都不了解。

I had to start from scratch.

我必须从头开始。

I started out with a course called “Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp,” which taught me the very basics of data science in Python. This course sparked my interest in data science. The lecturer’s enthusiasm rubbed off on me.

我从一门名为“ Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp ”的课程开始，该课程向我教会了Python数据科学的基础知识。 这门课程激发了我对数据科学的兴趣。 讲师的热情削弱了我。

For the first time in very long, I actually felt as though I was learning something.

很长时间以来，我第一次感到自己好像在学习一些东西。

I realized that it was possible for me to learn everything I had to know on my own, through the resources available online.

我意识到，通过在线资源，我可以自己学习所有必须了解的内容。

I spent around 7–8 hours watching online courses, reading, and doing projects. With trial and error, I created a learning path that worked for me.

我花了大约7-8个小时来观看在线课程，阅读和做项目。 经过反复试验，我创造了一条对我有用的学习道路 。

在获得学位课程的两年时间里，我在一个月内学到了更多。 (I learnt more in one month that I did in two years of my degree program.)

After a month, it was announced that we were to start online classes in university.

一个月后，宣布我们将在大学开始在线课程。

This took up a huge portion of my day, and I barely had time left to self-learn or do my own projects. Since the classes weren’t very helpful, I decided to skip them altogether.

这占了我一天的大部分时间，而我几乎没有时间去自学或做自己的项目。 由于课程的帮助不是很大，所以我决定完全跳过它们。

However, some of my lecturers are pretty strict about attendance.

但是，我的一些讲师对出勤非常严格。

One of them reported me for missing two week’s worth of classes, for which I produced a medical certificate.

其中一个报告说我错过了两周的课程，为此我出示了医疗证明。

I still didn’t think attending classes was worth my time, so I installed the Microsoft Teams app on my phone and joined class every day while I self-studied my own material.

我仍然认为上课不值得花我的时间，因此我在手机上安装了Microsoft Teams应用程序，每天都在自学材料的同时上课。

I would then stay up all night to complete my university assignments, mid-terms, and exams. Despite never going to class, I had no problem doing the coursework because I had already taught myself to do all those things.

然后，我会整夜熬夜以完成我的大学作业，期中考试和考试。 尽管从未上过课，但我毫无困难地完成课程工作，因为我已经教自己做所有这些事情。

I did this for a couple of months, and completed the entire semester without attending a single class.

我花了几个月的时间，完成了整个学期，没有上任何一堂课。

学习如何学习 (Learning how to learn)

When self-studying, there are no exams to test you, no competition, and nobody to learn with.

自学时，没有考试可以考验您，没有竞争，也没有人可以学习。

This can make it difficult to stick it through, especially for those of us who are used to school and college environments.

这可能使其难以坚持下去，特别是对于那些习惯了学校和大学环境的人来说。

Most of us learn to pass exams, get good grades, and come out top in class. We thrive under these circumstances, because there are deadlines approaching and there is a need to study.

我们大多数人学会通过考试，获得良好的成绩并在课堂上名列前茅。 在这种情况下，我们会蓬勃发展，因为临近最后期限，需要学习。

自学教我如何学习。 (Self-studying taught me how to learn for the sake of learning.)

My learning was fuelled by curiosity, and nothing else.

好奇心推动了我的学习，仅此而已。

I’d spend hours staring in front of a computer screen trying to fix broken code. I would go to sleep at 9am in the morning after studying and completing college assignments.

我会花几个小时盯着电脑屏幕尝试修复损坏的代码。 学习并完成大学作业后，我将在早上9点入睡。

The only reason I could stick it through was because I was curious and hungry to learn more. I loved working on new projects, and learning to use new tools.

我坚持下去的唯一原因是因为我好奇并且渴望了解更多信息。 我喜欢从事新项目，也喜欢学习使用新工具。

I was inspired by senior data scientists who self-learnt and created their own learning path, and wanted to follow in the same footsteps. This motivation kept me going.

我受到了高级数据科学家的启发，他们自我学习并创建了自己的学习道路，并希望遵循同样的脚步。 这种动力使我继续前进。

结果 (The Results)

In just a few months of self-learning, I taught myself so much more than I ever imagined was possible.

在短短的几个月的自学过程中，我自学了很多东西，超出了我的想象。

I created a variety of data analysis projects, made tutorials for beginner data scientists, built my own portfolio website from scratch, and got a data science internship.

我创建了各种数据分析项目 ， 为初级数据科学家制作了教程，从头开始构建了自己的投资组合网站 ，并获得了数据科学实习机会 。

These couple of months have opened up many new doors for me, and I finally feel like I am enjoying what I do.

这几个月为我打开了许多新的大门，我终于觉得自己很享受自己的工作。

Of course, there is so much I still don’t know, and there is a long way ahead. I am eager to learn new things as I go along.

当然，还有很多我仍然不知道，还有很长的路要走。 我渴望学习新事物。

That’s all for this article!

这就是本文的全部！

If you are looking to transition to data science or “break into the field,” just know that it is never too late to do so! You just need to have the discipline, and put aside some time everyday to learn new things.

如果您想过渡到数据科学或“涉足这一领域”，那就知道这样做永远不会太晚！ 您只需要有纪律，每天就花些时间学习新事物。