Over the past decade, the availability of data and the demand for skills to be applied to data-driven decision making have skyrocketed. Further, the drastic shift in business operations and consumer behaviour, catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic, pushed the need for data-driven decision-making into the limelight. Analytics and data science have become essential directional tools for organisations across industries and functions.
A career in data science is rewarding, especially with the increasing demand for data science professionals. Here are some benefits and opportunities this career offers:
Solving complex, real-world problems: For someone who enjoys challenges and solving complex problems, data science is a fulfilling career option. The primary task is to analyse vast amounts of raw data to find answers and insights for real-world problems. They can vary from driving sales to identifying future challenges for the business, economy and society. With the new hybrid/remote work culture, there are many opportunities to work with global organisations seeking data-driven business intelligence.
High salaries: According to data from Robert Half, the median starting salary for data scientists is $95,000, almost double the US median salary. At about $70,000, even the average salary for data analysts, an entry-level role, is considerably higher than the median salary in the US.
Low risk of job automation: Data science roles are in high demand and growing at an average of 50%, according to the Dice Q2 Tech Job Report 2020. Data scientists, especially analysts, therefore, face a very low risk of job automation. Organisations continually need human-powered decision making and observation of all data-led artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems.
For a career in data science, you don't necessarily need a technical bachelor's or master's degree or even experience, just the right skills and the willingness to learn. Bigger companies tend to have well-defined roles, whereas smaller ones seek more generalist skill sets.
To build your resume further, you will want to add some professional practical experience. You can start with some freelancing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, as well as search for part-time work or internships through social media and job boards. You can also write up your project as a blog post or read blogs by data scientists. Learning through new mediums like AirPlus helps aspirants gain foundational data skills. It is important to understand interest areas, such as deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), ML, and computer vision. Depending on your interest, there are many other roles available.
Anirban Roychowdhury leads the global human resources function, and has focused on people strategy and creating a robust HR system over the past eight years. He has more than 19 years of experience in delivering strategic HR initiatives, addressing the unique challenges and discoveries of building, training and managing a large, distributed impact workforce with immense diversity. Under his leadership, iMerit has earned multiple business awards and certifications for HR excellence and has established itself as one of the most favored workplaces in IT services. Additionally, Anirban has contributed to the growth of the organization while keeping its social vision balanced with business objectives.
Prior to iMerit, Anirban was part of various global MNCs such as Bata, Writer Corporation and MPS Groups. He is a post-graduate in HR and marketing from MSRIM, Bangalore.
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