Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job No One Has - InformationWeek

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Comments
Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job No One Has
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majid_aldosari
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majid_aldosari,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/31/2013 | 8:36:45 PM
Re: Data Scientists From Unlikely Places
the hard sciences have some fields that are data-intesive like bioinformatics and astronomy. the practitioners necessarily have skills to deal with (computational) and analyze (stats, machine learning) large data.

i alluded to this in my post. http://msdresearch.blogspot.com/2013/12/pydata-nyc-2013-breeding-ground-for.html
Brian.Dean
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50%
Brian.Dean,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/8/2013 | 1:51:25 AM
Re: Data Scientists From Unlikely Places
Yes you are right if HR continues to run a checklist to find candidates then anything that is new and innovative will always have a candidate pool that is limited, even if the population in general has all the necessary skills needed to implement technology which will result in efficiency. I guess, this would be a human error rather than market disequilibrium.

It is not to say that markets are not in disequilibrium, as we hear so many times that individuals wanted to get into a computer specialized field and somehow ended up getting an IT degree over a CS degree, the later being the one which the market desires. And ironically, I feel that it is big data itself that needs to help students find degrees that will be in high market demand.
Joe Unicorn
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50%
Joe Unicorn,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/3/2013 | 5:06:40 AM
Sexy sourcing
I believe the source of the title "Sexiest Job of the 21st Century" comes from the Harvard Business Review.  see http://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/

The problem is that firms seem to want to hire only experienced data scientists, but very few people actually have that experience.  There are people out there (not lots of them, but some) who have the data and statistics skills as well as the proper aptitude to explore data and find elusive insights - Companies should start to consider these people next.

  
Li Tan
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50%
Li Tan,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/3/2013 | 12:05:36 AM
Re: Send in the creative folks
I think we need to leverage the resource/talent from other fields such as mathematics, statistics, etc. to get more data scientists. You need strong background in mathematics to become qualified for this kind of sexy job. The short-term professional training is far from enough to transform an IT professional to a data scientist. 
Stratustician
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50%
Stratustician,
 User Rank: Ninja
12/2/2013 | 7:46:36 PM
Send in the creative folks
I can only liken this to how scientists have started to involve gamers in solving complex scientific problems.  I love the idea of looking at candidates from other backgrounds, not just IT, to work with Big Data.  It's a very tricky thing, trying to look at mass amounts of data and draw correlations.  If you ask me, it's the creative types that would make strides in this, as they tend to think of different ways to relate information, and can often mentally visualize how data is connected.  The problem is that these roles still scream IT geek, as sexy as you may make it seem, so many folks who would do wonders in this type of role would still question how they could possibly be qualified for what they deem to be a technical role.
jrainey570
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jrainey570,
 User Rank: Apprentice
12/2/2013 | 2:12:30 PM
Data scientist jobs
I am interested in learning how to get into the data science field..is it recommended to get some type of formal education and/or certification. Are there entry level positions?  
ChrisMurphy
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ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Author
12/2/2013 | 12:41:38 PM
Re: Data Scientists From Unlikely Places
What I take from this is you're really hiring for a skill -- a way of thinking -- and not some specific training. Is the risk here similar to where the HR team hires technical people based on a checklist of software they've worked on, rather than a broader ability to apply tech to our company's needs? 
Laurianne
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0%
Laurianne,
 User Rank: Author
12/2/2013 | 10:05:14 AM
Data Scientists From Unlikely Places
Your views mesh with a recent guest column that explained how a data science team benfitted from hiring a biologist. What other specialties teach people to process large patterns and make connections -- and this might produce valuable data science team members? I even think of musical composition here.


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