Data Scientist

Big Data

Are you a Data Scientist?

Well, the question had to come, didnt it? We have been hearing about the explosion of data assets, both structured & unstructured, and enterprises wanting to extract intelligence out of them. We also have been hearing a lot of buzz around the big data & analytics technologies like Hadoop, NoSQL databases, R etc. If you go by the Manufacturing paradigm, out of 3 Ms (Men, Material, Machines) required for an output, two are here Material (Data) & Machines (Technologies), but where is the Man (Data Scientist)? Lets find out.

Data Science?
Yeah, what is data science anyway? Well, it is a fancy name given by smart recruiters to motivate & mobilize predictive analytics workforce that is in huge demand/shortage all over the world. It is an inter-disciplinary field that has emerged out of Mathematics, Statistics/Data Mining, Social Sciences, Natural Languages, Behavioral Sciences (eg: Psychology), Research Methodology and Information Technology

It is a multi-faceted field requiring multi-talented people. Typically data scientists will be skilled in at least two of the above mentioned subjects areas. Wow! Dont be overwhelmed. Lets cut through and find your fitness by your Aptitude & Attitude.

Aptitude Math & Statistics/Data Mining

This is a specialized field focusing on extracting hidden patterns & meaning out of data using mathematical/statistical techniques. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that work for the data mining/analytics programs initiated by enterprises typically have these following traits /skills.

Data Scientist
A flair for general data analysis/number-crunching Interested in modeling & solving real-world problems mathematically Skill/Knowledge in Matrix Algebra, Vectors, Operations Research techniques Skill/Knowledge in Probability Theory, Set Theory Skill/Knowledge in Descriptive & Inferential Statistic techniques Skill/Knowledge in various data mining techniques

Big Data

Even though these are highly specialized fields requiring dedicated learning or lengthy experience, one can always work his/her way up in this stream. Here are some qualities or pre-requisites that can organically lead you to be an expert. It will be a long road but very much worth traveling. Data Stewards or Data Quality personnel responsible for cleansing data Associate statisticians/data analysts that help experts report highly-valuable findings to the management MIS reports developers well-versed in summarizing data for management Database developers that support researchers/analysts with ad-hoc extraction and massaging of data for their technical needs Independent enthusiasts that are working to improve their predictive analytics skills Math/Statistics graduates, freshers or experienced investing their time learning the skills

Social Sciences
Social Sciences have always been a dear subject for historians, human behavioral researchers, and in generally the scientific community that study social implications or effects of their experiments. Only recently has this been of a great interest to business enterprises. Reason lies in the explosive increase in the usage of online social media by people, triggering a cultural change, resulting in a lot of unstructured but valuable behavioral information that can be leveraged by businesses for increasing sales & market share. So, if you are a social sciences graduate or a professional working for a Profit or Non-profit organizations, heads-up people! You are in demand! These are the skills that the business expects from you Ability to interview & conduct Focus Group discussion Ability to administer surveys and collect data (both online & offline) Ability to design questionnaires for the surveys/interviews

Data Scientist
Ability to work with third-parties to acquire and classify social data Ability to summarize data for ad-hoc reporting

Big Data

Contribute to building hypotheses for business researchers to analyze the social dimension

Natural Languages
People that have expertise in natural human languages eg: English are required by the analytic programs sponsored by businesses that want to extract accurate meaning out of the unstructured social media data. These are exciting times if you are a language enthusiast/specialist. In order to contribute to these projects or attract more projects, you must be strong in grammar, vocabulary, colloquial usage, spoken & written patterns of people, culture of the communities speaking the language etc.; In addition, you must know a handful of word/document editing processing tools.

Behavioral Sciences & Research Methodology

Human behavioral researchers/scientists, psychologists, and science professionals that know how to meticulously conduct research are a must if a business needs to conclude on the results of an analytics program or interpret it in proper context. The skills or qualities required can be classified at a high-level Skill/knowledge in Experimental Research Design methodologies Skill/knowledge in sampling techniques Skill/knowledge in building contextual hypotheses for which the data will be tested Skill/knowledge in interpreting the analytic results Skills in exploring data for finding initial signals Experience working in a research setting

Information Technology
As ever, without Information Technology, can a business ever build a reliable system that will endure and provide consistent and often accurate analytic results? Hence, there is a great demand for technologists that can develop software programs understanding & implementing the solutions provided by Math/Science/Research experts. A typical software developer must have one or more following skills to contribute successfully to an analytics program. Programming to process text/unstructured data (Java, Python, R, Hadoop, MapReduce) Programming to implement analytic algorithms ( R, MATLAB, SPSS, SAS, Data mining tools)

Data Scientist
SQL/database programming Basic/medium knowledge of Data analysis concepts/algorithms Typical BI/Reporting tools such as Excel, MicroStrategy, Cognos, open source tools

Big Data

Attitude
As far as soft skills are concerned, people that prefer to sit alone/quietly and think deep about modeling/solving problems may find it easier to work as data scientists. This is due to the complex nature of the field rather than to do with a personality requirement. Also, people that have strong tendencies/liking to think rationally and scientifically will do well in this field. Scientific thinking implies rigorous testing of findings, irrespective of personal bias, before accepting/rejecting them as conclusive. People that can imagine real-world problems as a set of various causes and effects will be able to work on the problems a bit more comfortably. People that have a scientific temperament to solving problems, and/or tendency to classify/generalize problems can do well. Well, thats it, go ask yourself now! Are you a data scientist?

Appendix Career & Salaries

A career in data sciences is one of the most promising and cool. Here are the typical opportunities that exist in the industry and for which you may be called for.

Level

Designation

Job Description

Salary Range (in Lakhs)

Data quality management Data Steward Basic data analysis Strong interest in analytics concepts Entry Data quality management Junior Statistician / Junior Data Scientist Practicing Data analysis Graduate/Post Graduate in Math/Science disciplines 2.5 - 6 lakhs

Data Scientist

Big Data

Research methodology/design concepts Research Associate Basic data analysis Ability to co-ordinate across teams

Practicing Research Methodology Basic data analysis Research Analyst Lead research/analysis projects with design Graduate/Post Graduate in Science/Social discipline

Advanced data analysis Statistician Data cleansing & standardization techniques Graduate/Post Graduate in Math/Statistics discipline

Survey/Interview & other data gathering Midlevel techniques Social Researcher Good knowledge of Research Methodology Graduate/Post Graduate in Science/Social discipline 3 - 10 lakhs

Post Graduate in Natural Languages discipline Linguist Design input for social media analytic projects

Advanced data analysis Data cleansing & standardization techniques Senior Statistician / Senior Data Scientist Formulate & design mathematical solutions to problems Graduate/Post Graduate in Math/Statistics discipline

Data Scientist

Big Data

Advanced data analysis Formulate & design mathematical solutions to problems Lead Data Scientist Mentoring juniors Participate in sales/bidding processes Graduate/Post Graduate in Math/Statistics discipline Senior Advanced data analysis Formulate & design mathematical solutions to Principal Data Scientist / Senior Consultants enterprise-class problems Mentoring Leading sales/bidding processes Graduate/Post Graduate in Math/Statistics discipline 15 - 20 lakhs 11 - 15 lakhs