What steps do I take?

Question

I’m a freshman in college studying data science and I had next to no knowledge of the field going in (other than liking statistics and finding things in data). I‘ve learned some python, sql, data visualization, and very basic ML. What should I learn and do in the next few years to give myself the best chances at a data science job relating to statistical analysis and modeling?

Answer 1

Internships
Work in an academic research lab if you can’t do an internship
Network

Answer 2

As a start, I suggest learning the following:
  

  
Statistics:
  
\- probability (distributions, basic manipulations)
  
\- statistical summaries (univariate and bivariate)
  
\- hypothesis testing / confidence intervals
  
\- linear regression
  

  
Linear Algebra:
  
\- basic understanding of arranging data in vectors and matrices
  
\- operators (matrix multiplication, ...)
  

  
Calculus:
  
\- limits
  
\- basic differentiation and integration (at least of polynomials)
  

  
Information Theory (Discrete):
  
\- entropy, joint entropy, conditional entropy, mutual information

Answer 3

My brother in arms, if you cannot google or use Reddit search to see how people answered this question in the past and the many numerous similar posts, then I have no idea how we can help you.