Skill-sets of Data Scientists/Analysts

http://www.kdnuggets.com/2016/05/10-must-have-skills-data-scientist.html

Ten years ago, data scientists weren’t a career you heard much about (if they even existed), but the job markets follow the technology curve and new titles are born what seems like every day. A majority of those interested in the fields of data and market analytics are young, enthusiastic, having experience with technology and being only a handful of years removed from college. As so many of us try to carve out the trajectory for a fulfilling and prosperous career, it’s natural to wonder the skillset required to succeed as a data scientist or data analyst.

The article above from KDnuggets does a great job of outlining their ideas of what is needed to build a career in the data industry. Personally, I really like how the article combines both technical skills and personal attributes, as in reality, what it takes to excel in anything is truly a mix of both. I want to briefly touch upon some of the areas the article outlines to talk about why they are so important in the grand scheme of things.

The first point is education. Simple, but true; one needs to have training and the most formal training that everyone in the data industry have in common is a college degree, and as the article states, most have masters also. College is a time that we learn about the adult world and spending any less than four years learning about business, marketing, technology and how they all intertwine would be an injustice to the subject.

The second point is only touched upon quickly, but I want to say a bit more – an intellectual curiosity. I believe this is something that will allow someone to be great in any field. Someone with an intellectual curiosity will look for a career instead of a job, something they enjoy rather than collecting a paycheck. When you are curious about the field of your work, it will always be rewarding and you will strive to be better than satisfactory. Though this is a short statement of this article, but is something I feel isn’t spoken about enough in general.

Doman knowledge/business acumen is the third point, to which is something that connects with the first point is. As the outlined above, the field of data is one that brings together so many different things that it’s necessary to understand both domains and business as whole. If you want to make data useful, you need to understand how businesses are going to want to use it and what they are going to get out of it, so you need to be able to easily put yourself into their shoes.

Communication skills is the next point and I think it again proves how the field of data is a crossroads of so many areas; computer nerds are often characterized as antisocial and unable to speak to each other effectively, but data analysts and scientists cant be that way. The ability to communicate, whether it be through written form or vocal (which often ties into giving presentations), is extremely valuable.

I wont go into as much detail on the remaining points, but they are still crucial to one’s success. Such as, being able to map your career and goals (Google Analytics isn’t the only place for goals) are crucial to long-term success. The technology and companies that are prevalent in this industry will shift quickly, so it’s important that the days of getting hired by one company and staying with them until retirement may have ended.

The remaining skills are more technical – such as knowing how to code, understanding machine learning and data mining, understanding processing platforms, SQL and unstructured data. These are the learned skills that only an education and practice can give someone. To be frank, these are not fields that I am as well versed in, so feel free to read through the link and let me know what you think!