Online Data Science Courses: Recommended Courses to Help You Learn Data Science

Free or paid in-person or online courses are another excellent way to grow your data science skills and are a great supplement to the data science learning resources that we provide on our site. Most successful data scientists credit a combination of formal courses, intensive self-study and a passion for learning as contributing to success, so this page can provide a helpful starting point for selecting data science courses.

Almost all colleges and universities offer some kind of online data science and analytics courses, many of which cover basic fundamentals, key concepts and advanced topics in data science and statistics (check out rankings and reviews of top data science programs here).

Other internet-based educational providers, such as Kahn Academy, Udemy, Coursera, and Codecademy also offer high-quality data science courses that you can take from your home. We have carefully reviewed each of these courses and we give a rundown of the most popular and relevant online data science courses below.

If you want to be especially prepared for these courses and in case you need a little extra help along the way, check out our expert picks for data science and statistics books. If you need to order any other books, textbooks or resources for any of these courses and want to save on shipping costs, Amazon is currently offering a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime for any new sign ups and an extended free 6-month trial for students.

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Kahn Academy: Kahn academy is one of the oldest online education providers and most of their content is provided for free. On their website right now, their course listings include key topics in data science and statistics, and we would recommend these specific courses for people at the beginner to intermediate level. Their courses are offered in a flexible, work-at-your-own pace style and are perfect for learning basic topics relevant for data science, including descriptive and inferential statistics, probability analysis, and working with and obtaining data from relational databases using SQL.

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Udemy: Many of Udemy’s courses do cost money, however the total cost is usually reasonable and is far less than what is charged by major colleges and universities. Four of Udemy’s course offerings include essential elements of data science and statistics, and we would recommend these specific courses for people at the beginner to intermediate level. Their courses have extensive reviews from actual learners, so you can get a great idea of what to expect from the course, including its difficulty, by reading these informative reviews for each course.

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Coursera: Coursera also has mostly paid courses but the great news is they also frequently offer limited time promotions during which certain courses (including data science courses!) are offered for free to students who sign up. From the courses offered right now, two contain essential elements of data science and statistics, and we would recommend these courses for people at the beginner to intermediate level. Their set up is a little different from the other options on this page because the courses begin on certain dates and continue for a specific period of time. However, you still have the ability to do many practice problems at your own pace and even better, Coursera offers professional certificates that can help you to advance your career and potentially increase your salary by demonstrating next skills.

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Codecademy: A relatively recent addition to the online data science education scene, Codecademy offers an extensive free program in data science and several paid offerings for more in-depth learning of advanced topics and extra hands-on help from tutors. Presently, two recommended courses contain more sophisticated techniques in data science, statistics and visualization, and we would recommend these specific courses for people at the intermediate to advanced level.

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