Shraddha I run an analytics company called Hansa Cequity & before this I was the CMO for HDFC bank. Been in the analytics arena now for over a decade.
Here are my thoughts to your questions...you can also access some of my writing at my blog: http://blog.cequitysolutions.com Here is my response: 1. What do companies look for while hiring data scientists? It is easy for jargon to be invented. Data scientist is yet another example. *The discipline of “data scientist” is often interpreted in many different ways. Almost as if it were like the story about the “blind man & the elephant”. Analysts or Data scientists are most impactful when they are focusing on “taking effective decisions rather than sexy insight”. That is my perspective. To make effective decisions you need to influence people with insight & therefore Data scientsits must become “storytellers with data”. While technical aspects of Analytics are important, the value can be realized only if these “storytellers” influence key decisions within a company.* So there is this huge gap between talking about analytics & being able to actually make a large impact on business. And so Data science is a sexy & much hyped area but it needs a lot of "hard work" to make it happen on the ground. 2. What does one need to study to become a data scientist? Amidst all this hype about Data scientists, where does “good old analysis” feature? People seem to be excited about algorithms & sexy stuff! Where is the “good old analyst” who is plain good at analysis & may not know fancy tools & technology . Where is the value for intelligence & not for knowing technology? In this hype about “big data”, are we getting lost in the bigness of things! Can analytics be “reinvented” to just become more intelligent & practical? The word Analysis means to “let loose”(from the greek-“ana” meaning “up” & "lyein" meaning “loosen. So Analysis is supposed to loosen up a complex problem into simpler parts. But are analysts gearing up for this or are they raring to just learn SAS or SPSS? It might seem contradictory, but are intelligent people actually getting attracted to Analytics or Data science? 1. Analytics doesn’t need you to solve a technical problem but a “business & social” problem. And most Business analysts have not spent much time in business roles. They are super specialised number crunchers without a sufficient exposure to business reality. Even if the managers have some exposure to business through experience across a variety of analytics projects, is it enough? *Does this bring the analytics career into some jeopardy? Would analysts be able to grow in companies beyond a level* or is it a parallel consulting stream only? 2. Analysts need to “Story tell” to embed analytics into the fabric of the company. But analysts are too one-dimensional & not embracing the intersection of “technology, statistics & business”. So analysts struggle to tell stories. Often I see journalists do a far better job with infographics in media. But information journalists are not wanting a career as Data scientists & so *there is a gap in “story telling”.* 3. How many data scientists do companies have? Are there enough data scientists today? Or are we going to face a crunch soon (I read McKinsey and NASSCOM reports that say we will)? Reports talk of a large gap. But can be addressed by thinking about data science in a more integrative way. My view is that if we are looking at people at the intersection of technology, statistics & business & if we agree that all three are important then the gap is definitely there. 4. How is the industry building a base or trying to develop or train more people to become data scientists? 1. Analytics is *too theoretical*. Not enough integration with systems has happened to push decisions to the point at which consumers interactwith the business. This is far easier to do in new Online businesses which have built their systems around this capability. CIOs & technology teams in large existing offline businesses don’t see this as important. 2. *Average age of employees* in online business is far lower. Younger people are adopting analytics far faster. They are getting exposed to it in their education & they are consuming it through their “digital avatars”. They see this often as a “no brainer”. Older executives are harder to convert to this line of thinking. 7. The Harvard Business Review called being a data scientist the sexiest job in the 21st century. Is it really as cool a job as it is made out to be? The problem with analytics is that sometimes* it becomes an ivory tower*! Also to many people who don't spend all their time crunching data,* Analytics is boring*! But journalism is showing some wonderful examples of how analytics & visualization can connect economics & everyday life in interesting ways. Data & analysis need not be boring! I continue to believe that this trend of *“Information journalists”* is what we must bring into the analytics practise in the corporate world. Make data interesting & actionable & you will see adoption go up like crazy! Hope this helps...& hope you enjoy writing the story! Cheers Ajay On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 6:30 PM, Shraddha Uchil <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi all, > > I work as a correspondent cum copy editor with DNA, an English daily in > Mumbai. I'm currently working on a feature story on data scientists, which > requires me to speak to not just data scientists, but also people who hire > them. > > Here is a list of general questions that I would want answers to. It would > be great if you could explain in layman's language, as most of our readers > are not familiar with the field. Thanks a lot. > > 1. What do companies look for while hiring data scientists? > > 2. What does one need to study to become a data scientist? > > 3. How many data scientists do companies have? Are there enough data > scientists today? Or are we going to face a crunch soon (I read McKinsey > and NASSCOM reports that say we will)? > > 4. How is the industry building a base or trying to develop or train more > people to become data scientists? > > 5. Why has this field suddenly become so popular? > > 6. Any idea what the demand for data scientists is like in India? > > 7. The Harvard Business Review called being a data scientist the sexiest > job in the 21st century. Is it really as cool a job as it is made out to be? > > -- > For more details about this list > http://datameet.org/discussions/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "datameet" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- For more details about this list http://datameet.org/discussions/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
