The Guide to Becoming a Data Scientist, Part 3: Machine Learning | by Vyacheslav Efimov | January, 2025

From beginner to expert: essential machine learning skills for data science aspirants

DAta science is undoubtedly one of the most interesting fields today. Following significant breakthroughs in machine learning nearly a decade ago, data science has grown in popularity among the technology community. Each year, we see more and more powerful devices that seemed unimaginable. New techniques such as Transformer Architecture, ChatGPTi Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework, and modernity computer vision models – including GANs – have had a profound impact on our world.

However, with the abundance of tools and the constant hype surrounding AI, it can be difficult – especially for beginners – to decide which skills should be prioritized when aiming for a career in data science. In addition, this field is very difficult, it requires a lot of dedication and patience.

The first two parts of this series focused on the key math and software skills you can acquire to become a data scientist. In this part, we'll dive into a very interesting part that directly touches on the skills required for machine learning!

This article will focus only on the math skills needed…