In the modern data-centric world, businesses seek to fully capitalize on the use of the data they generate in every day processes. This burgeoning need to gain access to data assets has given the rise in demand of data scientists. They are capable of analyzing and processing the voluminous amount of data to derive valuable business insights from it. A data scientist is not only limited to transform IT systems, but also poised to influence sectors, from retail and healthcare to telecommunication, agriculture, and mobility, among others.

Undeniably, the field of data science is very vast in terms of skills and job roles and spans Data Analyst, Data Engineers, Database Administrator, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Architect, Statistician, Business Analyst, and Data and Analytics Manager.

The demand of data scientists is continuously growing. Considering data from LinkedIn, Data Scientists ranked first among the most promising jobs in the United States in 2019. They have the ability to assist businesses to interpret and manage data and solve intricate problems using expertise in a variety of data niches. Their roles are becoming more indispensable to even traditional organizations that did not previously invest much of their budgets in technology.

What Really Defines a Data Scientist?

The role of a data scientist can be varying based on industries' business objectives and goals. He/she must have the ability to comprehend the business problem or decision that helps model and abstract what is critical to solving the problem, rather than ignoring that issue. Data scientists have a foundation in computer science, modeling, statistics, analytics, and mathematics, along with a strong business sense. They are often responsible for data management, analytics modeling, business analysis, and visualizing opportunities for business success.

A data scientist also requires to have knowledge of designing, developing, and deploying the most germane solutions for business and share their outcomes with stakeholders. Generally, he/she is someone who knows how to derive meaning from and interpret data.

Data Scientists work with some of the technological skills including programming skills in Java, Python, R, and SQL; Reporting and data visualization techniques; Big Data Hadoop and its various tools; Data mining for knowledge discovery and exploration; and communication and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities:

As data scientists require to have academic, technological and business knowledge and skills, their job is to simply assess data for extracting actionable insights by:

• Identifying problems around data analytics to deliver the greatest value to organizations
• Determining the appropriate datasets and variables
• Gleaning structured and unstructured data from various sources
• Finding new solutions and opportunities by assessing data
• Cleaning and validating data to ensure accuracy, completeness, and uniformity
• Analyzing the data to identify patterns and trends
• Devising and applying models and algorithms for mining big data and much more

Become a Winning Data Scientist

The buzz around data science has significantly grown in recent times and will continue to rise. In order to become a winning data scientist, a candidate must be data-savvy. They must have the ability to not only influence enormous amounts of data with sophisticated statistical and visualization techniques, but have an obstinate acumen from which they can derive meaningful insights. While data science defines as a diverse field that demands programming knowledge along with an understanding of mathematics and statistics, an aspirant must comply with this knowledge and skills.

There are some degrees that are beneficial to become a data scientist include Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Management, Economics, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics.

Moreover, a majority of universities and institutes offer numerous certification programs in data science that can help a candidate to begin his/her career in this diverse field. Some of the leading data science certifications are Big Data Certification by UC San Diego Extension School; Data Science Certificate by Harvard Extension School; Data Science for Executives by Columbia University; Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert by Microsoft, among others.