How to begin…

This is a lucky time in the history of the human kind. Sure there are so many bad things out there but there are tons of opportunities as well. The web is full of resources about Data Mining, Search Engines, Retrieval Systems and the likes. However, for a total newbie I would recommend to take a structured approach. One possibility is to follow an online Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), offered by one of the most prominent site. Most of the times you can enroll free of charge, and with a small fee you can get certified when you pass the tests. And when you pass it is a good feeling, isn’t it? Some of the offerings group together several courses in a specialization, which in most cases is really a solid starting base.

Let’s have a look at the available resources on the web. Please note that I am new to the world of MOOCs and I just discovered it because I had something that I wanted to learn the proper way!

My platform of choice for this is Coursera, because is the one that has the biggest offer. I have also tried to use a generic MOOC catalog like Skilledup.com but I found it to be too much dispersive, I was not convinced by the results I got while searching for “Data Science”, “Data Mining” and “Big Data”. Not that they were irrelevant though, just not organized enough for my taste. I have also looked briefly at the offerings on edx.org, and they do not seem to bad either. However, what I have tried to do is to take courses in one specialization, the Data Mining specialization, offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I have selected this one because it is composed of 5 courses, which I plan to take individually. I have started with the course Pattern Discovery in Data Mining but this was not a good idea, as the course was already in its 3rd week out of three. You have to have the time to dedicate to these courses and to deliver the assignments on time. Otherwise do not bother. So, I left this one on the side and took the second course, Text Retrieval and Search Engines. It took me quite some time. There are video lessons, suggested readings, quizzes and programming assignments. If you take one of these courses, plan to spend at least 5 hours per week, if not a bit more on the material. Anyway, although I did not take the verified path, may be because I am still “building up my toolset”, and by that I mean knowledge, not certifications, but I made it through all quzzes and assignments. Mind you, if you have a full time job and a family, these courses are going to take time away from you. I have been studying mostly in the evenings, at home or when travelling for work in hotel rooms. During the week-ends. During this course I became aware of several toolkits: META, which is using C++, used for the programming assignments, Apache Lemur, and more. A new world of possibilities is now before my eyes. Thanks Coursera, thanks professor ChengXiang Zhai.