How to Become a Data Scientist?

There are many reasons which make the career of a data scientist worth it. Each analysis can be unique. You will always arrive at the right solution empirically. The field gives you a lot of space to explore and analyse without interference, explains Sonya Hooja, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Imarticus Learning.

Data is the new oil. While there is a huge amount of data being generated across industries and applications, the hard part is manipulating and making sense of it. Every organization needs someone to analyse this data, to be able to make better decisions—and this is where a data scientist comes into the picture. According to the Harvard Business Review, being a data scientist is the sexiest job of the 21st century. Others can vouch for how it is a lucrative and intellectually fulfilling career. Insights from Burning Glass indicate that in the next 10 years, the positions for data scientists are expected to grow by as much as 19%. But who should become a data scientist and how?

How to Become a Data Scientist?

About 40% of core data scientist profiles require an advanced degree. There are various online courses available today. A course in data science will allow a person to gain in-depth knowledge about the most modern skills and technologies that data scientists use such as Tableau, Hadoop, R, SAS, Python, and Machine Learning. A data scientist must have hard skills such as analysis, ML, statistics, and Hadoop apart from possessing critical thinking and persuasive communications skills. They should have the strong industry knowledge and also be adept at problem-solving and contextual understanding to overcome various business challenges. Students and professionals from STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background are generally best suited for data science jobs. However, there are a few roles that professionals from other domains also can break into such as Data Translator, conversational UI (user interface) Scriptwriters and market researchers.

The job of a Data Scientist

As a data scientist, you will be required to work with huge amounts of unstructured as well as structured data to organize, analyse and transform them. Some of the common job functions include the following.

• Undertake research and manage open-ended industry-based queries
• Extract voluminous data from multiple sources (both internal as well as external)
• Scoop out relevant data from amongst large pools of information
• Use complex programs in analytics, machine learning and statistics to mine and prepare data for other purposes such as predictive modelling
• Find and communicate data-based solutions to critical issues in business
• Explore data from different perspectives to find loopholes and useful trends
• Device new algorithms to diffuse difficult problems
• Invent new ways to automate tasks
• Find ways to remodel existing work through cost-effective changes

Scope of Data Science in India

Data scientists are in demand in many fields requiring ML skills especially in finance, insurance, product-based services, SaaS companies, professional services and information technology. With the right qualifications, a data scientist can look forward to growing fast up the professional ladder with big names like Oracle, Microsoft and Google posting job openings regularly in this field. With analytics getting into the core of every industry, companies have to deal with a lot of data in various ways. There are numerous openings in the field of Big Data today and people with qualifications in data science can land some of the hottest jobs. This has led to a huge demand for people who can interpret and manage data.

A qualified data scientist can opt for varied portfolios such as the following:

Business Intelligence Analyst – Analyses data to understand market and business trends and develops a clearer picture of where a company stands.

Data Mining Engineer – Examines data for their own business and also third parties. Apart from this, they also help in creating sophisticated algorithms for further data analysis.

Data Architects – They work with users, system designers, and developers to create blueprints used by data management systems for centralizing, integrating, maintaining, and protecting data sources.

Senior Data Scientists – They help anticipate the future needs of a business. They can use their experience to drive forward the creation of new standards and develop new tools for further analysis of data.

What is the salary of a Data Scientist?

Data science is one of the most lucrative fields in India as well as globally, with well qualified and experienced professionals enjoying a salary of INR 850,000 or more on an average. For starters, data analyst jobs can fetch about INR 450,000 with the scale increasing sharply as one gains experience and professional momentum.

Why become a Data Scientist?

There are many reasons which make the career of a data scientist worth it. Each analysis can be unique. You will always arrive at the right solution empirically. The field gives you a lot of space to explore and analyse without interference. Perhaps the only disadvantage of doing data science may be ending up on the wrong side of what is trending as in the case of software. It is likely that the ML algorithms are going to become cheaper given the number of multiple open-source programs coming up, which will require a further update and the need to build new areas of specialization.