Theoretical Foundations of Data Science-- Should I Care or Simply Focus on Hands-on Skills?

Data science is a very hands-on and practical field. Data science requires a solid foundation in mathematics and programming. As a data scientist, it is essential that you understand the theoretical and mathematical foundations of data science in order to be able to build reliable models with real-world applications. In data science and machine learning, mathematical skills are as important as programming skills. There are so many good packages that can be used for building predictive models.