TLDR: This blogpost shares the author's experience and resources for learning data science and genomic data science. They recommend websites, online platforms, and books to aid in continuous learning and experimentation. The author highlights the importance of incorporating new approaches to optimize learning. Read on for detailed insights and recommendations.
I'm often asked by people where I learned data science: I made a google document which you may have seen in the first part of the blog. In this post, you'll find out why I chose those resources and how I got into the field.
My driving force: "I have many ideas on research but I had limited skill to further my ideas since my undergraduate education didn't empower me much. It feels like it was leading me to go for a masters degree besides the course was leaning into being a researcher/Academic." This realisation is what led me into this field but don't be fooled I still do microbiology in my work.
Section 1: How to take learning from various sources
First, if you've been browsing the web you may have come across this website called Brainfacts. The website is a resource for people to learn more about the brain. But, I couldn't stumble across it without doing one of the most popular Massively Open Online Courses called Learning How to Learn. A rather cringey title yeah? But they go over learning principles and how different people take learning, some were able to become autodidacts or what Scott Young calls UltraLearners. The principle that guided me to choose different resources is you'll get knowledge from different sources that helps you interact with material more. Remember what Uncle Iroh from the Last Airbender said:
<aside> 💡 "It is important to draw wisdom from different places if you take it from one place it will be rigid and stale. Getting this understanding from different places will help you become whole."
</aside>
I made a class project where I summarised what I learned from the course.
After going through those you kind of get the idea that when learning something, the effort made to make something memorable is important. The memory palace technique that helped Joshua Foer become the US memory champion relies on mental imagery. Here's how it works: In your mind's eye, place items in a memorable place and going through that place with the items scattered all over in your mind, this is the memory palace technique. In case you didn't get it Joshua explains it better than me. There are others but I encourage you to look for them. Variation and aggressive exploration is key to becoming an ultralearnner. From "Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career" by Scott Young, James Clear.
Section 2: Resources
Learning Genomic data science solving problems with data centred around the central dogma of molecular biology DNA, RNA and protein). Math and statistics, programming with familiarity of databases is also needed like in data science. Remember enthusiasm for biology is extremely important. Without further a do. Let's talk about the resources to make you dangerous!
Biology track on Khan academy. I chose this because Sal and co-instructors work very hard to teach you concepts and you'll have so many eureka moments in case some or most concepts were very mundane in high school or at other levels. It may seem like repetition especially if you have a background in biology: worry not you'll always learn something new from another person so go for it. Don't just skip to DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Understanding important biological activities in living organisms is really important especially if you're looking at gene expression in Bioinformatics/genomic data science.
Human physiology and anatomy -Simply how about different cells, tissue, organ,organ systems and systems work to achieve various objectives: breathing, muscle contraction and relaxation and a bit of disordered physiology.
You can fight diseases with what you eat! If you knew about the microorganisms and how they impact your health you'd agree with me (look into the microbiome). Always good to know your Nutrition to avoid getting sick and taking care of those around you, right? Stanford Introduction to Food and Health