Bcom is a common degree in college, but did you know that they often choose career fields outside of commerce? There are many such examples, making a bachelor of commerce degree a sought-after choice for future college students. That being said, there’s quite a bit of confusion when it comes to becoming a data scientist with a Bcom degree.
A Bcom student can do data science if they take the required courses. While Bcom degrees aren’t a direct ticket to a data science career, they can be combined with courses and boot camps to be worth enough to land a job. They use data science tools, including Excel, which makes it a good fit.
Throughout this article, you’ll also learn the following information about doing data science as a Bcom student:
- Why you might consider data science even though you chose Bcom
- How to get a data science job with a Bcom degree
- Different data jobs that might also interest you as a bachelor of commerce student
Important Sidenote: We interviewed numerous data science professionals (data scientists, hiring managers, recruiters – you name it) and identified 6 proven steps to follow for becoming a data scientist. Read my article: ‘6 Proven Steps To Becoming a Data Scientist [Complete Guide] for in-depth findings and recommendations! – This is perhaps the most comprehensive article on the subject you will find on the internet!
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Why Do Bcom Students Pursue Data Science Careers?
According to India Today, Bcom students often choose data science jobs for all sorts of reasons. Contrary to what many people believe, there are all sorts of similarities between the two fields. If you’re interested in using your Bcom degree for data science, then you’ll have quite a few reasons to do so.
Here’s a list of five reasons that a Bcom student would pursue a data science career:
- Bachelor of commerce degrees have a lot of overlaps with data science. For example, they both use popular programs, such as Microsoft Excel. If you’re interested in trying either field, then learning the basics of many Office programs will be a huge advantage.
- Commerce and data work hand-in-hand. They both require knowledge of data, including collection methods, storage, and turning data into usable information for businesses. There’s a good chance that your career will overlap, even if you don’t pursue data science with a Bcom degree.
- Choosing two career paths with the same degree will double your chances of getting hired. If you’re only choosing Bcom jobs, then you’ll be quite limited. Since data science jobs are always in high demand, you’ll have a good chance of getting one of them while waiting for a different job.
- Getting a data science job will greatly enhance your resume. Even if you don’t want to do data science in the long run, doing a few years of it can make your next job much easier to get hired. Who knows? You might end up preferring this career rather than going back to a Bcom career.
- Data science jobs often make twice as much money as Bcom students do. If you’re after the money, then there’s no doubt that data scientists make an excellent income. They also have better job security due to the aforementioned limited amount of applicants. Financially, data science might be considered a wiser career.
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons that a data science career might be a decent selection for Bcom students. If you want to know how you can take your degree and follow this path, then proceed to the next section.
How to Become a Data Scientist as a Bcom Student
Data science offers all sorts of career benefits, including high pay, job security, and a constantly changing work environment. If those sound appealing, then you could take your Bcom degree and give it a chance.
Below, you’ll find the step-by-step process to become a data scientist as a Bcom student:
- Towards Data Science suggests that you start by pursuing an online course or Bootcamp. There are all sorts of options, most of which cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to apply. However, as you’ve read throughout this article, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth if you’re hired.
- Complete your graduation. Although it might be tempting to go straight into an online course and quit college, having the degree under your belt will drastically increase your chances of getting hired. Someone with a degree and a course certificate always looks like a better choice than someone who only did the course.
- Learn all of the programs (beyond school and courses). There’s no doubt that you’ll learn about the basics of data science programs, but self-education is an excellent choice. Python, R, and many other useful programs are free for you to use and learn. You may find many helpful tutorials on YouTube for reference.
- Study and make your own data compilations. It’s smart to get the hang of how data is gathered and stored. After using the tutorials and getting the degree/certificate, you should try to run a few trials. Remember to continue applying for new data science jobs, but don’t stop learning in the meantime.
- As mentioned above, apply to ask for as many jobs as possible. Although it’s not too difficult to get hired with a decent resume, keeping your options open will optimize the chance of finding a variety of data science jobs to choose from. You’ll miss all of the opportunities if you don’t take it!
Becoming a data scientist isn’t an easy journey, but it provides so many good reasons to do so. However, there are dozens of other jobs that a Bcom student can pursue. In the next section, we’ll cover a brief description of a few careers that you could try out.
What Else Can a Bachelor of Commerce Graduate Do?
There are plenty of jobs at the disposal of someone with a Bcom degree. Let’s run through the most common careers below.
Financial Risk Manager
This job requires you to analyze risks for a person or company. They come to you with different stocks, investments, and other financial decisions. You’ll be able to figure out the best course of action that allows the person or company to save as much money as possible. Many FRM’s are allowed to be in charge of an entity’s investments, but not always.
Certified Financial Planner
Just as with a financial risk manager, a CFP’s job is to handle a person or company’s money. However, rather than only reviewing potential risks and outcomes, they set up goals and savings accounts. This allows the client to meet their expectations with realistic mindsets rather than shooting too low or too high.
Investment Banking
This one is fairly self-explanatory, but an investment banking job allows you to determine what happens to investments. It primarily deals with hedge funds UpGrad, as mentioned by, but they also focus on all sorts of other financial planning.
Education
As with many business-related degrees, you can use a Bcom degree to teach courses as a college professor. You’ll be the perfect candidate since you went through all of the necessary training. However, it’s highly recommended that you minor in education or go back for another degree.
Author’s Recommendations: Top Data Science Resources To Consider
Before concluding this article, I wanted to share few top data science resources that I have personally vetted for you. I am confident that you can greatly benefit in your data science journey by considering one or more of these resources.
- DataCamp: If you are a beginner focused towards building the foundational skills in data science, there is no better platform than DataCamp. Under one membership umbrella, DataCamp gives you access to 335+ data science courses. There is absolutely no other platform that comes anywhere close to this. Hence, if building foundational data science skills is your goal: Click Here to Sign Up For DataCamp Today!
- IBM Data Science Professional Certificate: If you are looking for a data science credential that has strong industry recognition but does not involve too heavy of an effort: Click Here To Enroll Into The IBM Data Science Professional Certificate Program Today! (To learn more: Check out my full review of this certificate program here)
- MITx MicroMasters Program in Data Science: If you are at a more advanced stage in your data science journey and looking to take your skills to the next level, there is no Non-Degree program better than MIT MicroMasters. Click Here To Enroll Into The MIT MicroMasters Program Today! (To learn more: Check out my full review of the MIT MicroMasters program here)
- Roadmap To Becoming a Data Scientist: If you have decided to become a data science professional but not fully sure how to get started: read my article – 6 Proven Ways To Becoming a Data Scientist. In this article, I share my findings from interviewing 100+ data science professionals at top companies (including – Google, Meta, Amazon, etc.) and give you a full roadmap to becoming a data scientist.
Conclusion
Bcom students have a wide variety of career paths to choose from. If you’re going through the classes and worry about whether or not you’ll find a good job, worry no longer. Whether you want to chase data science, banking, or financial planning, there’s always another option.
Here’s a recap of the post:
- Bcom students can pursue data science careers by getting an online certificate in addition to their degree.
- You can start by self-educating to learn basic programs, such as Excel, Python, and R.
- You can teach business courses at a college if you get a Bcom degree.
BEFORE YOU GO: Don’t forget to check out my latest article – 6 Proven Steps To Becoming a Data Scientist [Complete Guide]. We interviewed numerous data science professionals (data scientists, hiring managers, recruiters – you name it) and created this comprehensive guide to help you land that perfect data science job.
Affiliate Disclosure: We participate in several affiliate programs and may be compensated if you make a purchase using our referral link, at no additional cost to you. You can, however, trust the integrity of our recommendation. Affiliate programs exist even for products that we are not recommending. We only choose to recommend you the products that we actually believe in.
