Data Science Certificate OnlineData Science Certificate OnlineData Science Certificate Online

Model your industry’s future — and your own

We live in the Information Age, and we’re experiencing a paradigm shift. As computing technology advances, so too does our ability to explore and analyze mountains of data that would have been impossible until recently.

Businesses and organizations everywhere see big opportunities in data science — and that means there are plenty of opportunities for data science professionals to explore. The number of data scientist jobs is projected to rise 36% between 2023 and 2033. This equates to the creation of 73,100 new jobs, according to data from the BLS.1

With your 100% online certificate in data science from Maryville University, you can learn the fundamentals of data science and begin preparing for a career in this booming and vital field. Here, you can learn from experienced data science professionals and work with state-of-the-art industry tools like Python, R, MySQL, Spark, Amazon Web Services, Databricks, Keras, TensorFlow and PyTorch.

Our curriculum allows you to go beyond theory and experience practical, real-world learning based on actual case studies, challenges and opportunities in data science, so you can apply what you learn to your career in real time — or pursue further education.

Get curriculum details

Apply with no application fees or entrance exams, and choose from 3 start dates

Build real-world skills through a dynamic, project-based curriculum that reflects emerging trends and technologies

Earn your certificate in as few as 6 courses (18 credit hours)

Access 100% online coursework with no campus visits required

Develop critical, in-demand skills in programming languages, deep learning, big data, and more

Learn from a faculty of experienced data science experts and industry leaders

Who should earn an online certificate in data science?

While many data science careers may require a bachelor’s degree, your online data science certificate can help you build your foundation in data science without committing to a full bachelor’s degree. Our program is dynamic and streamlined, so you can upskill for your current career or reskill to pursue new opportunities in as few as six courses. If you work in — or plan to work in — an industry that utilizes data science, this certificate is a great way to expand your skill set and open up new opportunities. Or, you can take your online data science certificate further by pairing it with a bachelor’s degree in computer science or data science.

As more companies across industries recognize the benefit — and often the necessity — of investing in data science, employers will need professionals to help them create, manage and interpret these operations. Whether you’re looking to advance or grow in your current position or find a new passion in a future-focused field, your online data science certificate can be the first step toward accomplishing your goals.

Why earn your online data science certificate?

The data available to us is no longer just measured in megabytes or gigabytes. Employers know there’s plenty of value hidden in such large amounts of data — they just need qualified professionals to help them find it.

With your online certificate in data science from Maryville, you can be that professional. Our program is practical and experiential, informed by real case studies in the field, to help you prepare for a career in data science — or add to your existing knowledge base.

At Maryville, we designed our data science certificate program to be accessible, dynamic and quick. In as few as six courses, you can begin to build a fundamental understanding of issues, techniques and opportunities in the field. Here, you can earn a dynamic education that prepares you to thrive in the industry using tools like Python, R, MySQL, Spark, Amazon Web Services, Databricks, Keras, TensorFlow and PyTorch. Plus, our courses are for-credit, so if you choose to pursue further education, you can apply what you learned toward a bachelor’s in computer science or data science (up to 18 credit hours).

Dynamic, affordable, and highly streamlined.

Get personalized support. Benefit from a dedicated student support team who can assist you from application through graduation and beyond.

Learn from a streamlined curriculum. Study in-demand important topics in data science and earn your certificate in as few as six classes.

Prepare for further credentials. Complete coursework that you can apply toward a bachelor’s degree in computer science or data science, or continue to earn a second certificate from our computer science suite in as few as six additional courses.

Gain real-world experience. Learn from a practical, experiential program that helps you build skills you can apply to your career immediately.

What can you do with your online data science certificate?

Data science enables better business, and that means organizations are seeking professionals to help them discover data’s insights and opportunities. This demand could pose difficulty for employers, as data science is one of the areas that seems most affected by the computer science talent shortage.

When you earn your data science certificate online from Maryville, you can start building your foundation by learning the fundamentals of the field. Our project-based program may help enhance your skills in areas like machine learning, big data, computer programming languages, deep learning, natural language processing and linear algebra. If you already have a background in data science, you may also qualify to pursue other subjects through electives.

While some careers may require a bachelor’s degree to qualify, we can help you build the foundation in data science so you can help your organization thrive on the digital frontier.

What types of careers can I pursue with an online data science certificate?

Businesses and organizations of all types use data analytics, meaning you can use your online data science certificate to pursue a career in nearly any industry or setting. If you hope to work or currently work in an organization or industry that utilizes data science in its operations — such as biotech, information technology, software development, finance, economics and marketing — our certificate can help you get a better understanding of the practical uses of data science. You can also prepare to go even further by applying your coursework toward a full bachelor’s degree in computer science or data science.

Your understanding of data can help you determine the best and most efficient ways for nonprofits to solicit donations, businesses to maximize reach, marketers to appeal to audiences, and designers to enhance the consumer experience, just to name a few applications.

Data can give insights into advertising effectiveness, customer preference and opinion, client acquisition and retention, and operational efficiency. As we rely more on digital communication and commerce, employers will need qualified data science professionals to help analyze and interpret data.

Put your online data science certificate to work in a variety of settings, including:

  • Advertising and communication agencies
  • Banks and credit unions
  • Financial services firms
  • Higher education
  • Hospitals and clinics
  • Insurance companies
  • Local, state, and government offices
  • Manufacturing plants
  • Marketing firms
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Supply chain operations
  • Travel agencies
  • Tech startups

Entry-level career opportunities that benefit from a data science certificate include:

Where can your online data science certificate take you?

Pursue high-salary careers

Employers across almost every industry need qualified data science experts to help them take advantage of data’s opportunities. This means positions in the field tend to have attractive salaries. Note that employers may require a bachelor’s degree for some data science positions, but your certificate can help you build the fundamentals to begin pursuing these opportunities. While pay varies based on factors like experience, location and education, your data science certificate can help you qualify for lucrative jobs, including data scientists who earn a median salary of $108,020 per year.2 The certificate in data science also positions you well for associated professions, like data analysts, data engineers, business intelligence analysts and marketing business intelligence analysts

Become a leader in a vital field

There are huge financial incentives for businesses across all fields to invest in data science and analysis, from increased consumer insight to operational business intelligence. With your online certificate in data science, you can position yourself as a leader to help discover new opportunities based on empirical, data-focused information.

Why choose Maryville’s data science certificate online?

Build the skills to thrive

Our online certificate in data science is designed to help you build a comprehensive knowledge base to utilize in areas like computer programming languages, deep learning, machine learning, big data analytics, and linear algebra. We believe the best way to learn is to do, so we offer an experiential, project-based curriculum informed by case studies in data science to help you gain real-world skills. That means you’ll have the opportunity to learn practical techniques in data science you can apply to your career in real-time.

Maximize your education investment

When you earn your data science certificate from Maryville, you can focus on the topics that can help you achieve your career goals. If you already have a college-level background in some of the areas the curriculum covers, you may be eligible to switch out up to two courses (6 credit hours) with electives in other areas of computer science to ensure you get the most out of your education. You can also apply coursework toward your bachelor’s in computer science or data science from Maryville Online (up to 18 credits).

Put our reputation to work.

Maryville University was founded in 1872 and has been helping brave, motivated professionals launch or enhance their careers with industry expertise ever since. Ninety percent of our full-time faculty holds a doctorate or terminal degree, and our software development and computer science faculty comprise experienced practitioners and experts in the field.

We’re proud of our reputation for quality academics, accelerated growth and affordability, because it demonstrates our commitment to excellence.

Online certificate in data science curriculum

Our online data science certificate allows you to learn fundamental data science and analysis skills in as few as six classes (18 credit hours). Our program is designed to help you grow your foundation in the subjects and skills employers value most so you can qualify for a career in the field — or seek further education.

Focus on skills important to data science

When you earn your data science certificate online with Maryville, you get a practical, project-based education that can prepare you for real-world opportunities. Our project-based curriculum can help you develop real-world skills in areas like computer programming languages, natural language processing, machine learning, big data, deep learning and applied linear algebra.

Build on your experience and maximize your education

Do you already have a background in data science or a similar field? Our certificate program can help accommodate your experience. You may be eligible to replace up to two classes with electives to help you develop new skills — not rehash old ones.

Expand your career potential with a second certificate

There’s so much to explore in the world of computer science. That’s why we offer five separate certificate programs in some of the most high-growth, in-demand areas of this booming industry. After you complete your online data science certificate, round out your computer science knowledge by pursuing a second 100% online certificate in artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, software development or user experience/user interface (UX/UI).

Prerequisites

  • This course assumes that the student is familiar with the fundamentals of algebraic concepts, expressions, equations and inequalities. Topics include functions and their graphs; polynomial and rational functions; exponential and logarithmic functions; systems of equations and inequalities; partial fractions; operations with matrices, as well as arithmetic and geometric sequences and series.

Core Courses (18 credit hours)

  • This course covers data types, statements, expressions, control flow, top Python core libraries (NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, Matplotlib and Seaborn) and modeling libraries (Statsmodels and Scikit-learn). Project-based learning is used to help students develop effective problem-solving skills and effective collaboration skills. Cross-Listed: DSCI-503

  • This is an introductory course in machine learning intended primarily for students majoring or minoring in Mathematics, Data Science or Actuarial Science. This course may also be useful for those using predictive modeling techniques in business, economics or research applications. 

    The main focus of this course is to understand the basic operations and applications of what we currently call machine learning. This course will cover material from several sources. A few main topics that will be covered include: how machine learning differs from traditional programming techniques, data manipulation and analysis, some basic coding skills, and an introduction to some of the tools available for data scientists. 

    Specific application techniques will include the following (as time permits): data acquisition, classification, regression, overfitting, supervised and unsupervised training, normalization, distance metrics, k-means clustering, error calculation, optimization training, tree-based algorithms (including random forests), frequent item sets and recommender systems, sentiment analysis, neural networks, genetic algorithms, visualizations, and deep learning (including an introduction to convolutional neural networks and generative adversarial networks). Cross-Listed: DSCI-508

  • This course targets data scientists and engineers. It covers programming with RDDS, Tuning and debugging Spark, Spark SQL, Spark steaming and machine learning with MLlib. It provides students with the tools to quickly tackle big data analysis problems on one machine or hundreds. Project-based learning is used to help students to develop effective problem-solving skills and effective collaboration skills.

Electives (Choose 3)

  • This course covers practical issues in data analysis and graphics such as programming in R, debugging R code, Jupyter Notebook, cloud computing, data exploration and data visualization. Project-based learning is used to help students to develop effective problem-solving skills and effective collaboration skills.

  • This course is for students who want to enhance their SQL skills through exploring real-world examples. Topics covered include but are not limited to pattern-matching using regular expressions, analytical functions and common table expressions. Students are expected to be able to construct advanced SQL queries to retrieve desired information from the database and solve real-world problems. Cross-listed: DSCI-504

  • This course covers text analytics, the practice of extracting useful information hidden in unstructured text such as social media, emails and web pages using Python. Topics include working with corpora, transformations, metadata management, term document matrices, word clouds and topic models. Project-based learning is used to help students to develop effective problem-solving skills and effective collaboration skills.

  • This course is an introduction to deep learning with an emphasis on the development and application of advanced neural networks. It covers convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, generative adversarial networks and deep reinforcement learning. Project-based learning is used to help students to develop effective problem-solving skills and effective collaboration skills.

Ready for your next step toward your online data science certificate?

Get admission requirements

Take your education further with your online Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or a Bachelor of Science in Data Science

While your data science certificate can help you expand your career skill set in areas like data analysis, business, and marketing, a bachelor’s in computer science or bachelor’s in data science can establish you as a true leader in the field. If you choose to pursue further education, we can help you earn your bachelor’s degree more quickly.

Our data science certificate program features college credit coursework, so you can apply the 18 credit hours you earned toward your bachelor’s degree. Get a head start and save time as you build an even greater understanding of data science and computer science.

Want to learn more about how your Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or a Bachelor of Science in Data Science can help you take your data science certificate further? Schedule a call with an advisor and discuss the benefits for your career.

Learn more about the data science certificate online at Maryville University

Apply now

Be Brave

Bring us your ambition and we’ll guide you along a personalized path to a quality education that’s designed to change your life.

  1. Data Scientists: Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2024). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 3, 2024. ↩︎
  2. Data Scientists: Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2024). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 3, 2024. ↩︎