Why You Should Take a Course in Data Mining

Today, data search, analysis and management are markets with enormous employment opportunities. LinkedIn’s 2017 annual report on emerging jobs noted that three of the most in-demand jobs in the United States were positions related to big data.

A research conducted in 2017 on big data revealed that 90% of world data is from after 2014 and its volume doubles every 1.2 years. In this context, data mining is a strategic practice considered important by almost 80% of organizations that apply business intelligence, according to Forbes.

Data mining has provided endless possibilities for business. Computational statistics is used by companies to detect and predict consumer behavior. Its objective is to open up new market opportunities.

Data mining professionals work with databases to evaluate information and get rid of any information that is not useful or reliable. This requires knowledge of computing and information analysis, big data, and the ability to handle different types of software.

As a result of the joint action of analytics and data mining, which combines statistics, Artificial Intelligence and automatic learning, companies can create models to discover connections between millions of records. Some of the practicability of data mining include:

To clean data of noise and repetitions.
Extract the relevant information and use it to evaluate possible results.
Make better informed and faster business decisions.

Examples of Data Mining Applications

The predictive capacity of data mining has changed the design of business strategies. It helps you understand the present to anticipate the future. Here are some examples of data mining in current industry.

- Data mining is used to explore large databases and hence improve market segmentation. Analyzing the relationships between parameters such as customer tastes, gender, age, etc., makes it possible to guess their behavior in order to direct personalized loyalty campaigns. Data mining also predicts which users are likely to unsubscribe from a service or their interests based on their searches.
- Supermarkets, for example, use joint purchasing patterns to identify product associations and decide how to place them in the aisles and on the shelves. Data mining also detects which offers are most valued by customers or increase sales at the checkout queue.
- Banks use data mining to have a better understanding of market risks. It is commonly applied to credit ratings and to intelligent anti-fraud systems to analyze transactions, card transactions, purchasing patterns and customer financial data.

Medicine. Data mining enables more accurate diagnostics. Having all of the patient’s information, such as medical records, physical examinations, and treatment patterns, allows more effective treatments to be prescribed. It also enables more efficient, effective and cost-effective management of health resources by identifying risks, predicting illnesses in certain population segments or forecasting the length of hospital admission. Data mining also helps in detecting fraud and irregularities in medicine.
Television and radio. Some networks apply real time data mining to measure their online television (IPTV) and radio audiences. These systems collect and analyze real time anonymous information from channel views, broadcasts and programming. Data mining allows networks to make personalized recommendations to radio listeners and TV viewers, as well as get to know their interests and activities in real time and better understand their behavior. Data mining also enables networks to gain valuable knowledge for their advertisers, who use this data to target their potential customers more accurately.

How to Become a Data Miner

To become a data miner, earn a bachelor’s degree in computer science, data analysis, marketing, statistics, or a related field. Some employers may prefer candidates with a master’s degree. You also have to proficient in a variety of computer databases and software. When done with your course, apply for an entry-level position in an IT department at a company to learn how to navigate through sources of data to find useful information. Once you have attained several years of experience, seek data miner positions.

Learn data mining online at your own pace by enrolling in our online courses. Start today and improve your skills. Follow the links below for more information.

Introduction to Big Data Analytics (BDA01)