What is a data scientist and what do they do? We put together this profile to help you decide if it’s the dream tech role for you.
Data scientists are one of the most argued over tech roles that there are. It’s because it’s such a wide umbrella term. Anyone who works in It or tech and uses data to solve a business problem is technically a data scientist. If we look more closely than that, however, the role grows exponentially. Data scientists are the most misunderstood technicians of all. Let’s discuss.
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The Scarcity of the Data Scientist
One of the reasons this particular tech role is so often talked about in IT circles, is because there has been a perceived shortage of them for years now. The problem seems to be that businesses underestimate the importance of having a data cruncher improving their online and offline tech. People don’t understand the value in it and therefore don’t hire them. Couple this with the gross lack of perceived value in the role that most computing students have, and we end up with a lack of data scientists in an advancing technological world.
The Role of the Data Scientist
While Data Scientist jobs are in high demand, people don’t seem to know what it is that they do exactly. The UK government describes the role well. They maintain that this type of technician uses techniques and computing knowledge to retrieve data and process it into something businesses can use. They then use this data to create solutions that are tailored to your business. They use statistics, analytics, and machine learning, to devise solutions to problems you haven’t identified yet.
As you can imagine, the role of the data scientist has the potential to turn a business that’s missing the mark into a business that is turning a profit. There is no other type of techy out there that can interpret data in the same way. Not only does the scientist interpret the data in ways that are useful to your corporation, but they can also then piece together solutions through creating programs, building sites and pages, or providing a tech-based knowledge that could solve your business problems.
Examples of a Data Scientist in Business
What would your business need a data scientist for? There are some real world examples of what they might do within your organisation. Here are a few favourites.
Present Facts/Figures in Graphic Format
The data scientist is the person you turn to for that presentation when you need figures at a glance.
Data Engineering
When your business needs a new software system that you can totally tailor to your specs, the data scientist is capable of building a new one, or of tweaking an old one to work better.
Sourcing New Programs
When the time comes that you need new accounting software or a better storage retrieval system, they will help source a better one than what you have already.
Digital Architecture
Wherever your organisation has a need for improved digital architecture, the data scientist can help highlight the need and even start to tackle it.
Data Scientists are Underrated
Consider a role in data science and you will never be short of work.
