Why Data Science
Data is the word we keep on hearing at the major tech conferences, meetings and career discussions across the globe. Webinars are conducted regularly to brief the interested segments keen on pursuing a career in the Data Science field. Roles and Responsibilities of a Data Scientist differ from organization to organization but the scope for success is unparalleled.
Everyone wants the best career and there is nothing better being a Data Scientist.
The evolution of data is fascinating to see, from working on Excel sheets to the MySql to Big Data, every firm wants to leverage data to drive growth and revenues.
Consumer behavior, National Economic forecast, Football Matches score prediction are just some of the aspects Data Science is concerned with as there are multiple interesting objectives being fulfilled by Data Scientists.
If you love working with data, Data Scientist Job is the perfect choice for you!
So what’s a Data Scientists’s life like? So what responsibilities one handles on a daily basis? What tools one works with? What are the different responsibilities? Skills one needs to carve a great Data Scientist career? All questions shall be imprinted in your thoughts by the time you have read the blog.
Let’s Start Reading! Let’s Start Learning!
Industry demand for Data Science–
A recruitment firm based out of Bangalore named Belong writes in its report that-
“India’s demand for data scientists grows over 400%”
Opportunities are plenty for individuals with a strong interest in the world of data and have the requisite skills to make a mark in the Data Science industry. Businesses are investing in state-of-the-art R&D Labs with a focus on hiring resources to leverage data for identifying new growth areas, increase consumers and streamline product delivery.
According to the data at their disposal, for every 100 Neural Engineers requirement, only 40 are available for hire. This speaks volumes about the lack of good candidates with skills to stand out in the competition and get selected. As per the data according to Forbes, Linkedin is observing a 37% annual increase in demand for Data Scientists and related tech positions.
IDC estimates that the Data Analytics market will touch 200$ Billion plus by the 2019 year-end and will grow exponentially as more and more businesses observe the advantages of data in shaping their growth.
Salary for Data Scientist:
The focus towards the field of Data Scientist is strong now and the rise in salary reflects that accurately. Let’s take a look at the average salary of a Data Scientist in India- ₹ 8,42,486 per year which illustrates the roles and responsibilities of a Data Scientist.
The source is: Indeed
Path to Data Science Career:
Learning the skills required to master the Data Scientist field isn’t the most important or the first step, understanding what the Data Scientist does is integral to your learning process. Data Scientist job is an exciting one if you go by Harvard description:
The Sexiest Job of 21st Century
So, where are the candidates? What are they learning? Are they picking up the trends of the Data Science world?
We, at INSAID, have been engaging the wider audience with our articles, Podcasts, Blogs among others.
Individuals should be looking to make a career in Data Science, not just a job. We will take a keen look at the Data Scientist profile.
Qualifications for Data Science
The degree gives one entry into the world of Data Scientist but there is often a 3-step process one can follow to make a mark-
- Get a Bachelor’s degree in any of the below ones-
- Statistics
- Computer Science
- Machine Learning
- Maths
- Physics
- Or any related Field
2. Get a master’s degree in data or any related field.
3. Get due experience in the industry you are interested in- Pharma, Healthcare, Tech-etc.
The candidate should acquire knowledge as well as experience in working with Python programming language, SQL Database, big data platforms like Apache Spark and Hadoop, Data Visualization tools among others.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Data Scientist
Data Scientists‘ work primarily is to organize, categorize and analyze large data with the specific function enabled data analytical software. Data scientists work closely with different stakeholders like CEO, Project and delivery heads, Business Management to make meaningful decisions with data. Right data analysis is the difference between a profit and a loss for many businesses and it’s not surprising to see the rise of Data scientists job openings cutting across industries, geographical zones, payscale and complexity.
Different roles and responsibilities
- Source and collect Data- unstructured and structured data, and convert it into a more understandable format for easy analysis.
- Extract data from multiple sources which could be internal or external.
- Ability to deploy sophisticated programs for analytics, statistical modeling, machine learning
- Develop Data-centric solutions to solve the difficult problems
- Use filters to weed out useless data
- Develop new algorithms and innovative programs to solve problems
- Read on new data analytics trend and brief the resources about the same
- Be updated with the latest advances on analytical techniques like machine learning, Deep Learning, Text analytics, NLP among others
A Data Scientist connects the business processes and technology and remains the core of any business. Combining the intellect of Data scientists, data sources, computational technology with business knowledge, Data Science is aiding the decision-makers in taking the right steps.
Problems Data scientists Solve
Data Scientists are like detectives except they seek to find patterns in large data sets. Finding context in a large pool of data is quite important for businesses as they process a lot of raw data. Understanding the data and getting an idea of what we want with data is pretty much the core concern of businesses and Data Scientists help the firms come with a definite plan. Which algorithm to run or processes to develop all are part of the roles and responsibilities of a Data Scientist.
What’s a day of a Data Scientist looks like
Data remains the focus of every firm’s process with businesses hiring Data Scientists to work with data and provide crucial insights for growth. Data Scientists work across projects of different scale, tech, requirements among others but their daily routine is similar in all aspects. Their average week is around 60 hours and revolves around solving the various problems while moving forward with new plans for the future.
We will break down the daily routine of the Data Scientists into an office schedule so any aspiring Data Scientist can have an understanding of the different tasks and problems they work on by taking a 9-5 Work routine.
9 AM-10 AM– Time for early morning coffee while going over the mails and searching for any meetings scheduled in the calendar.
10 AM- 11 AM– Reading the latest Data Science news and spends some time listening to the podcasts of Data Scientists. Reads up some snippets of information relating to the client’s requirements.
11 AM-1 PM- Meetings relating to the project progressions and status updates of the different tasks allocated to the resources. Analysis of the different errors we might have encountered during tests, discussions on algorithms and new statistical/computational models.
A Short lunch follows.
Post lunch, the major work starts where I take stock of my work and plan to focus on my pending tasks and accelerate my data processes.
1.30 PM- 4.30 PM- Coding is the first priority for me with a focus on Python, R language. Engaging discussions on new algorithms, models and I try out these in this period. I have to deliberate and think over my ideas before giving it to the team members to work on.
Evening Tea with Snacks and light-hearted talks with team members.
Post Evening Tea, we move to the day end of meetings with the team.
5 PM- 7 PM- Code review of the various team members and outlining the various tasks delivered. Discussions on the various data models being experimented upon and where we are now in regard to the delivery of products and services to our clients. Listing out the delayed tasks and programs.
Before the End of the Day– We list out the priority work for tomorrow and plan our journey back to our homes.
I might read a bit before going to sleep but overall this is how my daily life as a Data Scientist is. Someday, I would be totally knee-deep in work with pressure from client sides or my team members’ different doubts clarifications.
Work is exciting if you ask me as having spent years refining my knowledge of data, I love the insights Data provides to businesses across the world.
Takeaways:
Rewards of being a Data Scientist are unparalleled. Playing with data to create insights that can help businesses provide excellent product/service delivery is what motivates Data Scientists to keep on crunching numbers and develop algorithms. Data Scientists take the steps to understand the data and take the right processes and steps in interpreting the data to discover correct solutions and making decisions based on it.
It isn’t without reasons that Data Scientists are being sought by the biggest organizations and recruitment is at an all-time high. According to the Economic Times, 1.5 Lakh openings are coming in 2020 and opportunities are there for individuals equipped with data learning skills.
Learn more about INSAID programs for Data Science
Time to Learn! Time to Practise! Time to become a Data Scientist!
