Suggest you review this deck on slideshare to get a sense of "data science"
a.k.a. "analytics" and how it's used.
http://www.slideshare.net/rahsaxen/building-an-analytics-co-e-workshop-2013-0720
With this background, I'll provide short answers to your questions:
1. What do companies look for while hiring data scientists?
See Pg36 for the kinds of skills needed
2. What does one need to study to become a data scientist?
Depends how you define "data scientist", the definition should be
"analytics" and Pg5 lists the key fields of study.
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)?
Estimates vary because of the definition issue.
Currently no special gap in India (we have the general gap of not
finding well-educated people).
Reports ignore the effect of automation & productivity increases on the
headcount forecast.
4. How is the industry building a base or trying to develop or train more
people to become data scientists?
Education courses in the usual educational institutes
Certification offered by INFORMS.org
In-house education/training
5. Why has this field suddenly become so popular?
It is a huge gap
The IT vendors need the next big market to make money from
Google & Facebook showed people the value of analytics & released key
tools to open source
6. Any idea what the demand for data scientists is like in India?
Thousands needed
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?
Yes. Analytics professionals are generally happier with their job
because they see the impact and feel valued. Research on this by Accenture
via industry survey analyses, if I remember correctly.
Regards,
Rahul
On Wednesday, 24 July 2013 18:30:23 UTC+5:30, Shraddha Uchil 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?
>
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