AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF BECOMING A DATA SCIENTIST

Data!!!!!! The most important asset of the organizations today. Both structured and unstructured data are oceans from where pearls of business insights are taken out. And who does that, data scientists. Google uncle is there to find out every answer but who knows the right questions? The answer is, a data scientist. There has to be a reason behind Harvards of the world predicting a data scientist job as the hottest in immediate times to come. It is because; there is a large gap between the rate at which stored data is growing annually and the number of data analysts in organization’s workforce to handle it. Numbers are 28% and 5.7% respectively (Source: www.delphianalytics.net). According to Reuters, Big data market is estimated to grow at 45% annually to reach $25 billion by 2015. So, from where these data masters are going to come? The answer is from some of ‘challenge and mathematics loving us’.

Now having said that there is going to be a huge requirement for data scientists in near future, the next questions arise that who can become a data scientist? What would it take to become a data scientist? Are there any courses available in the market or on internet? What will be the ROI? Is there any particular skill-set which is good to have before deep diving into the science of data? Read further if till now you are thrilled with the idea of becoming a data scientist. Statutory warning: Don’t read further if you are allergic to numbers or don’t like to apply much logic.

To start answering above questions, a data scientist is an amalgamation of a statistician, a software engineer and a domain expert. The third part is highly subjective but the other two are extremely non-negotiable. A data scientist’s primary responsibility while looking from business’s perspective is to derive actionable and predictive insights from data to infuse confidence in business decision makers while developing stories around their product/service to sell it in the market. Wow!! That’s too heavy to digest. Simply put, a data scientist’s job is to make/derive sense out of any piece of business information that he/she is exposed too.

So, what do you have in you already to become a data scientist? Please tick the boxes.

• Are you comfortable with coding? Are you familiar with coding in any object oriented language?
• Are you comfortable in playing with numbers? Would you love to be thrilled by the thought of being in the company of numbers all through your life?
• Would you love to see data as a critical decision maker in the business decisions of your organization or you simply like data to be kept as a record entry?
• Would you like to go to any extent to establish a communication with machines in order to make them work according to your data?

If you have answered even two of the above into a yes, then you are good to go in quest of a career in data science.

In data science, ‘Context is the king.’ So, all you need is ask the right question. Answers are readily available if you are able to connect the dots and have the ability of being with a thought for a long time without being concerned about the factual truthiness of it. It is really hard to be with numbers and logic all the time or rather being in the quest of it. But, trust me on this; if you have this ‘peculiar’ habit then you can have a large chunk of the whole pie.

So, what is available in the market about this mysterious art? Various universities outside India, offer bits and pieces or at some places all the stuff that is required to become a data scientist. In India, I know Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai popularly known as GLIM offers analytics as a specialization. Frankly speaking, you just need to have the intent and the right attitude. Those who cannot afford to have an MBA/Post graduate degree need not be disheartened. There is plenty of material available on the internet, mostly free. But you will have to bear the extra burden of stitching the whole shirt together. Otherwise, it is always convenient to learn from a specialist who will teach you in the ‘right’ way.

In IT industry, people who are working on ERPs, CRMs, Analytics tool will find it slightly easy to shift gears and fast forward towards a career in data science, if they have the intent and ability. People who have access to analytics tools are already there but they will be required to polish their coding skills to establish themselves as a data scientist. People from all the other domains, will find it a bit hard to take the jump. But again, there is no right or wrong time to do ‘right’ things. When it is right, it is right.

A typical day in the life of a data scientist is spent in reducing the magnanimity of data, defining and testing hypothesis, commanding machines to learn from data and doing the storyboarding for the data product of the respective organization. As has been rightly said by Donald Rumsfeld, which is true for the people working in the field of data science:

• There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know.
• There are known unknowns. There are things that we know we don’t know.
• There are unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.

Since, data is precious, its security is priceless. Data science has added various dimensions to the concept of ‘data security’. Since there are hackers, there has to be protectors to keep the balance intact. Data science extends its arms in the field of giving able defenders who can handle any attack varying from brute force to Ddos. That’s where connecting the dots again becomes very important, but this time with right intent. So, there are various examples in our day to day lives which will be driven by data science in future. Right from buying groceries, driving cars to hanging out with friends to doing our routine jobs, everything will be controlled by data science. So, it is only wise to start working on being a data scientist if you have the above mentioned qualities. How exciting that time will be is hard to tell now but it will surely be rewarding and satisfying if you will prepare yourself to be ready to grab this opportunity.

Happy learning. Good luck. Godspeed.