DATA SCIENCE AND DATA SCIENTIST

In today's tech world very, few technologies are spelled out by everyone. One among those few is 'data science'. Many tech people and even non-tech people pronouncing the word data science. The young crowd and experienced professionals talk about data science. And, many aspired to become a 'data scientist'.

When I was discussing with my colleagues (between 14-18 years of work experience) over a tea break about "what is next?" (Yes, of course we all wanted to survive). I am sure every professional will have behind their mind (especially those who are in consulting) "what is next?" and lean towards the job which is highly demanded, highly paid and hot in market. Most of them said data science would be the next choice and some said blockchain and few said IoT. But majority of us were interested in data science, including me. 

So, what is data science and how you will define data science? Many experts explain data science in different ways but eh essence will be almost same. 

I will give my understanding on the essence of what is data science and role of data scientist.

Data Science

Data Science is study of data. It is an art of uncovering the insights and trends that are hidden behind data.  Data science is a process, not an event. We can also define as ‘the data science is something that data scientists do’.

In nutshell, data science is more and more about the ‘data’ than it is about science. 

Data Scientist

Data scientist is someone who find solutions to the problem by analyzing the data (irrespective of the size big or small) using appropriate tools and then tell 'stories' about the findings to communicate to the relevant stake holders. 

Primarily, the data scientist must be

• curious
• argumentative 
•  judgemental

The aspiring data scientist should be curious minded, always looking for something, highly argumentative about his views and findings and judgemental of the results. 

Secondarily, the data scientist needs comfort and flexibility in

• analytical platform
• computing platform and
• relevant software

The data scientist must have the working knowledge on the analytical and computing platforms and the relevant software / languages. Fluency in this area would take the data scientist to a new level.

If you have both of these primary and secondary skills, then you are a data scientist.

Presence of Data Science

Data Science is one of the hottest and demanding jobs in the global market. It has a vital and significant place in almost every industry like 

• banking & financial markets
• retail & CPG
• healthcare & life sciences
• Professional Services & IT
• travel and transportation
• food and beverages
• gaming and betting
• Professional Services & IT

and so on.

Demand for Data Science

IBM predicts

• the demand for data scientist will soar 28% by 2020
• 59% of data science and analytics job demand is in finance & insurance, professional services and IT 
• by 2020, the data science and analytics job listings are projected nearly 364,000 listings to approximately 2,720,000
• 39% of data scientist and advanced analyst positions require master’s or Ph.D.
• Experienced Data Scientists and Data Engineers are negotiating over $100,000.

If you are reading this post, then you must be an aspiring data scientist. I hope this post would have given you some basic insight about the data science and data scientist. 
All the best! Good Luck!!!

(* Statistics courtesy: Forbes & IBM)