In the U.S., data scientists are experiencing some of the best job choices, based on the average salary and the number of available opportunities in the field. With the emergence of big data, businesses have explored a new asset – data that can help them experience huge growth when leveraged properly. You may already know that almost all the giant tech companies including Google, Facebook and Amazon have leveraged data in order to create their own business platforms. This perfectly explains the need for a different set of trained professionals who can organize, analyze, and derive valuable insights from data – the data scientists.
1- An overview of the skills needed to become a data scientist
Typically, data scientists have a solid understanding of software development, database systems, predictive analysis, and statistics. This makes the role somewhat different that needs the skills of both a statistician and a computer scientist and this is the main reason why data scientists are experiencing high demand.
At its simplest form, data science revolves around the collection, storage, and analysis of huge amounts of data. In the entire process, data scientists make use of a lot of advanced tools and technologies that help them to a good extent in performing their activities. For example, advanced solutions like artificial intelligence, machine learning, powerful analytics tools etc enable them to process and understand huge volumes of data at unprecedented speeds. Data scientists are also the person responsible for translating the insights for other people in the organization, including stakeholders and senior executive – decision-makers in short. For example, they may decide on the form of data that is needed to be filtered into a storage system or pass details about consumer behavior on to other departments for building more successful and targeted campaigns.
Now consider the fast pace at which more-advanced and diverse tools and technologies in the field of data science are emerging. What we can learn from all these is how different this industry will be in the coming future. Probably you are already aware of the fact that the job of data scientists has already been considered as the 21st century’s sexiest job. And these days, job analysts across the globe are strengthening the statement as well. But how are they predicting this? What are the probable reasons? Let’s explore.
2- Why the future of data scientist is extremely bright
Most of us have gone through some articles portraying that the field of data science is already saturated. While it’s a fact that there is a huge number of data scientists are working in the field and a lot of aspirants are waiting to join the league, but that isn’t going to impact the promising future of data scientists anyway. Despite all those noises, there are no real reasons to believe that there’ll be a paucity of jobs for skilled data scientists. In fact, the very arguments utilized to form those statements are actually the reasons not to worry at all. Let’s have a look at the reasons for which the future of data scientists seems to be bright.
2.1- An exponential growth of data volume
A huge amount of data is being generated by both businesses and common people on a regular basis. A recent study reveals that the number of consumers that interact with data daily will be a whopping 6 billion by 2025. In addition, in 2018, the amount of total data in the world was 33 zettabytes and now this is projected to become 133 zettabytes by 2025. As the world is becoming more and more connected than ever through the increasing use of connected devices, data generation will keep on rising. And data scientists will be central in helping businesses leverage that data effectively.
2.2- Increased commoditization
It’s evident now that a significant number of tasks performed by data scientists is getting commoditized increasingly – a huge number of machine learning frameworks now come with libraries that contain off-the-shelf models which are pre-trained, pre-architectured, and pre-tuned. The resulting effect is that a well-rounded data scientist is now able to solve in a much shorter timeframe what an entire time wasn’t able to solve in several months a decade ago. It means that hiring a well-rounded data scientist has become viable for a significant number of domains for which the idea was too complex or too expensive before. Tools and technologies will keep on appearing and disappearing, but they’ll be targeted at increasing the productivity of data scientists and thus, their net value to a business.
2.3- The field is still evolving
It’s a fact that any field without growth potential becomes stagnant at some point in time. It also indicates that the jobs within those fields need to change in order to stay relevant, but that isn’t the case with the data scientist job. Since there is no sign of slowing down with a significant number of opportunities gearing up to appear, probably it’s the best time for people looking to become data scientists to start preparing. Of course, there’ll be some probable minor changes like someone working in the position of a data scientist in an organization may not be doing the same thing at another company. In a way, it’ll be helpful for aspiring data scientists as they’ll be able to focus on learning more specialized skills and do what’s most meaningful to them.
2.4- The emergence of data privacy regulations
You may already know that in the European Union, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) took effect in May 2018 for countries. This implementation increased the need for data scientists to the organizations because of the need for storing data responsibly. One major aspect of the GDPR is that it allows consumers to ask the companies to delete some sorts of data. These days, people have become increasingly conscious about their online privacy and security and thus, they consider different aspects of giving away their personal information before actually doing it. They now understand what can be the probable consequences of the occurrence of a data breach. As a result, it has become impossible for companies to handle customer data irresponsibly. In addition, the GDPR is probably just the beginning with some more privacy rules pertaining to consumer data waiting to be implemented. In this scenario, data scientists are the best people who can guide the businesses on adhering to those regulations while leveraging the power of that data.
2.5- The task of leveraging the power of data is complex
Businesses may have the opportunities to capture a massive volume of data regarding website interactions, customer transactions etc from different sources. But what if they aren’t in a position to store, analyze, and derive insights from that data? Simply, the data is of no use. And that’s exactly where data scientists come into the picture. Equipped with huge skillsets, these trained professionals only can help the businesses to get a competitive edge and accomplish their business goals. As we’ve already discussed that the increasing use of high-end devices will result in a more connected world where more amount of data will be generated on a regular basis, the scenario will become even more complex without the help of data scientists. And for data scientists, it’ll be something like an ongoing opportunity.
3- Closing thoughts that every aspiring data scientist should consider
While the above points demonstrate the key factors that will be instrumental in making the future for data scientists bright, aspiring data scientists also need to focus on some crucial things. First of all, there’s no denying that now there is a steady supply of average data scientists to the industry who can surely perform at a good level but may not be able to reach the exceptional mark. And to become a top-notch data scientist, you’ve to prepare yourself through the best way possible. Second, the industry will become competitive at some point of time in future, so it’s better to start planning now to rise above the competition.
Assuming you’ve your fundamentals right, you need to decide on the avenue you’ll be taking to become a good data scientist wisely. There’re a significant number of options available out there like self-learning, traditional way, bootcamps etc. All of them come with their own pros and cons. However, there’re some factors that differentiate a bootcamp from other avenues. For instance, if you’re ready to become a data scientist the hard way, joining such a program would be your best bet. There, you’ll be able to learn the concepts, tools, and technologies that are only applicable to real-life business issues and that too in a much shorter amount of time and from professionals working in the industry. In addition, most of the bootcamps offer job assistance after successful completion of the programs, so stepping into the professional field shouldn’t be an issue. But again, if you notice, we’ve mentioned the term ‘hard way’ because, from a data science bootcamp, you’ll only get what you’ll be putting in during the program in terms of time, effort, and diligence.
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