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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the increase in data scientists jobs from 2022 to 2032 is 35%. Machine learning, data mining, and data analysis will be among the most promising data scientists skills in this space but it is also a skill that many data scientists lack.
The problem is that with a general lack of talent, businesses often need help to fill such posts quickly enough. There are a number of ways that organizations can combat the sheer skill most data scientists lack, but it may need some ingenuity and perseverance. These are a few recommendations:
With all the attention that is put into data science today, technology professionals and non-tech alike might want to take up this field.
Says Pat Ryan, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at technology consulting firm SPR: "We look for people from bootcamps that are career changers." "These people have the work ethic and self-assurance to leave a career they know to do something altogether new."
SPR draws in people from areas like engineering as quickly as possible and gives them training and coaching in skills most data scientists lack. As Ryan reckons, this is a much longer-term investment compared to merely hiring data scientists. However, we've found that, apart from the technical talents we're struggling to get people with this background and situational skills as well.
Moreover, SPR recruits those individuals with professional work experience and a sound academic background in the area of data analytics. According to Ryan, "These people have the academic education to understand the math involved, and they can do some of the necessary development."
Building new tech workers in times of high demand for their services can be quite challenging. This is why companies turn to their technical workforce in search of data scientists. Centers of excellence employed together with training initiatives may help a business increase the rate from internal staff members to official data scientists.
"We're trying to develop data engineers in-house who have the math and stats background necessary to design data solutions—including applying machine learning algorithms," Ryan added that they can make sense of what an R-squared or a confusion matrix by telling them.
According to Roger Park, EY's innovation head of the Financial Services Office , many firms need help in building these skills that most data scientists lack. It trains people outside the field of data science.
“We incentivize active participation and completion of new trainings,” says Park. For example, using the EY Badges program, people can invest in their own careers to earn digital credentials in areas such as information strategy, data visualization, artificial intelligence, and data transformation.
Park explained that they are making training easier and more fun by putting incentives around their employees to earn new badges and also by having a very robust curriculum.
EY also employs gamification to get workers to pick up new skills. Park added that when new technology comes out and we're not sure where to use it, they develop some of these reward-based challenges like hackathons for their staff to come up with interesting uses and applications. They leverage the creative proclivity of their people in trying out new products or tools and come up with new ideas of the best way to integrate such superior technologies and competence into everyday work.
Many organizations now have a significant proportion of data scientists to help impart knowledge to the newer as well as established data scientists. Senior employees can train fresher’s under them to show them how and what happens within the company.
According to Park, "one strategy is to pair up new talent with mentors who get the business." "Three things that every great data science department needs are algorithm writers, algorithm programmers, and business savvy people.".
Academics need help in teaching individuals how to combine business units and data science.
"Data scientists are embedded throughout an organization and can consult on projects outside their realm," says Park, who describes analytics centers of excellence for bringing together talents.
The larger the pool of applicants, the higher the likelihood of finding talent within. Some companies explore ways to engage the greater community in a quest to create interest in data science and other areas.
According to Thota, there needs to be an effort to strengthen the next generation of data scientists and to create opportunities for education in this field from elementary school through college for underrepresented groups in the community. Thota enables next gen data scientists to build an application in real-time, by high school- girls from different socio-economic backgrounds and enabled their understanding on data science, Machine Learning and big data.
To share its insights and work with other firms, Zulily hosts analyst and data scientist groups at its Seattle headquarters and participates in conferences like the Marketing Analytics and Data Science conference.
"We try to create unique ways to bring interest in the technology that we build by leveraging data science," says Thota, "same as how our approach would be to our customer experience." Take, for instance, the business that working together with Major League Soccer team Sounders FC to host a hackathon in June 2019, is intended for utilizing sports data in tackling challenges pertaining to technology.
Though there are huge pools of data scientists working in the IT sector, Zulily doesn't restrict its talent acquisition to that domain. "One of the largest mistakes technical leadership can make is being rigid around hiring only from the tech sector," says Luke Friang, CIO. But an engineer needs a strong background in math and computer science.
Friang says, "But outstanding talent can come from a variety of industries, including academia, healthcare, and the nonprofit sector." "Those sectors frequently foster the qualities that we value at Zulily: innovators, imaginative problem solvers, and individuals who aspire to improve and own something."
According to Wortz, data science programs bring up the colleges and universities that are not ages old, and with those, organizations should team up whenever possible.
“These programs are still in the early stage of their development, and they are showing early promising signs,” Wortz says. “We know that because an influx of junior talent is demonstrating the skills.”
Monroe Partners maintains relationships with university department heads and adjunct instructors, who recognize and refer the firm to sharp young talent.
Businesses should partner with those universities and have a robust campus recruitment plan, said Brad Fisher, US leader for data and analytics and artificial intelligence at consulting firm KPMG, which also employs a group of data scientists.
"We have a recruiting engine that runs throughout the year. Some of it requires weekly meetings between our hiring managers and recruiters," says Fisher. The company partners with many analytics programs at several colleges and universities.
The demand for data scientists is high, and there are a number of ways that organizations can address the talent shortage. These include finding those contemplating a career change, retraining existing employees, establishing centers of excellence and using mentoring, tapping into diversity and the community, and partnering with colleges.
Machine learning, data mining, and data analysis
By looking for people with a strong background in math and computer science, but also considering candidates from academia, healthcare, and the nonprofit sector.
By providing them with training in math, statistics, and data science tools. Companies can also create centers of excellence and use mentoring programs to help employees develop their skills.
By creating programs to educate underrepresented groups in data science and analytics. Companies can also partner with community organizations to host events and hackathons.
5.How can companies partner with colleges to find data science talent?
By developing relationships with university department heads and adjunct instructors and by participating in campus recruitment programs
