Making Predictions with Data and Python

Python has become one of any data scientist's favorite tools for doing Predictive Analytics. In this hands-on course, you will learn how to build predictive models with Python.

During the course, we will talk about the most important theoretical concepts that are essential when building predictive models for real-world problems. The main tool used in this course is scikit -learn, which is recognized as a great tool: it has a great variety of models, many useful routines, and a consistent interface that makes it easy to use. All the topics are taught using practical examples and throughout the course, we build many models using real-world datasets.

By the end of this course, you will learn the various techniques in making predictions about bankruptcy and identifying spam text messages and then use our knowledge to create a credit card using a linear model for classification along with logistic regression.

About the author

Alvaro Fuentes is a Data Scientist with an M.S. in Quantitative Economics and a M.S. in Applied Mathematics with more than 10 years of experience in analytical roles. He worked in the Central Bank of Guatemala as an Economic Analyst, building models for economic and financial data. He founded Quant Company to provide consulting and training services in Data Science topics and has been a consultant for many projects in fields such as; Business, Education, Psychology and Mass Media. He also has taught many (online and in-site) courses to students from around the world in topics like Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, R programming and Python.

Alvaro Fuentes is a big Python fan and has been working with Python for about 4 years and uses it routinely for analyzing data and producing predictions. He also has used it in a couple of software projects. He is also a big R fan, and doesn't like the controversy between what is the “best” R or Python, he uses them both. He is also very interested in the Spark approach to Big Data, and likes the way it simplifies complicated things. He is not a software engineer or a developer but is generally interested in web technologies.

He also has technical skills in R programming, Spark, SQL (PostgreSQL), MS Excel, machine learning, statistical analysis, econometrics, mathematical modeling.

Predictive Analytics is a topic in which he has both professional and teaching experience. Having solved practical problems in his consulting practice using the Python tools for predictive analytics and the topics of predictive analytics are part of a more general course on Data Science with Python that he teaches online.

Who is the target audience?

• The course is designed for Data analysts or data scientists interested in learning how to use Python to perform Predictive Analytics as well as Business analysts/business Intelligence experts who would like to go from descriptive analysis to predictive analysis. Software engineers and developers interested in producing predictions via Python will also benefit from the course.