During this programme you will acquire:

• the ability to handle structured and unstructured data.
• insights into judging the quality of data.
• skills to perform data analysis.
• skills to report the results in a visual manner.

4 Online modules

The programme consists of 4 modules. The goal of each module is to learn practical and hands-on skills to run data science projects. We mainly focus on the practical and ‘hard’ skills like programming, statistics and machine learning, but will pay attention to the necessary soft skills as well. You can apply for 1 or multiple modules.

Module 1 (6 online sessions): Performing Data Analytics in Python
Python is a very popular programming language in data science. Via a combination of online self-study and classroom training you will acquire basic programming skills in Python. However, data is often not handed to you on a silver platter. It can be incomplete, noisy, or inconsistent. From session 3 onwards, you will learn how to apply your programming skills in data science projects, how to get to know the data you are working with, how to improve the quality of the data, and how to use it to create insights through visualisations.
No Python skills are required.

Module 2 (4 online sessions): Applied Machine Learning
Machine learning explores the construction of models and algorithms that can learn patterns from historical data and make predictions for the future. The goal of the module is to teach you the practical and hands-on modelling skills to conduct data science projects applying machine learning. We will introduce and apply different algorithms and evaluate and improve model performance.
Python programming skills are required before you start this module.

Module 3 (4 online sessions): Applied Optimisation
The goal of the module is to learn the practical and hands-on modelling skills to conduct data science projects for optimisation problems. You will learn the key concepts for recognising and modelling optimisation problems.
Python programming skills are required before you start this module.

Module 4 (5 online sessions): Business and Soft Skills
The goal of the module is to broaden your skillset as a data scientist. Too often good machine learning models and dashboards are not adopted by the business as they do not align with their needs. You will learn how to create real business value by using your new skills to efficiently run data science projects to answer the key questions of your business. We will also address the key concepts and techniques for visualising data and storytelling to convince your stakeholders and increase your impact. A basic knowledge of machine learning and its applications is required to follow this module. No Python skills required.

This course is for business professionals who perform data analyses of any form on a daily basis. The content is specifically tailored to people who seek to get more out of their existing data. A technical background or profound affinity is a prerequisite, since you will be learning a programming language and developing competences in advanced statistics. If you are not sure whether your background fits the course, please contact us.

*Fees are VAT-exempt. UvA alumni get an additional 10% discount.

This interactive programme will be taught by experienced university lecturers and consultants, who will share their knowledge and expertise on the topic. Data Science Essentials is designed by The Analytics Academy, a collaboration of the Amsterdam Business School, Ortec and Amsterdam Data Science. Our lecturers specialise in offering data science and business analytics education to a wide range of professionals - in open and in-company programmes. They help organisations grow and sustain knowledge at every stage of their data-driven development.