New Age Career Option
In a world where 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is produced every day, a professional who can organize this humongous data to provide business solutions is indeed the hero! Much has been spoken about why Big Data is here to stay and why it is so important in every field. Right from human resources to banking, finance and healthcare, big data is creating ripples.
India is not far behind. Jobs in this segment are increasing with each passing day and there is an increase in the demand for data scientists. Jobseekers with this kind of expertise and experience will be floored with opportunities. Whether they are looking for jobs in Noida or for jobs in Bangalore, chances are that they will come up with ample options.
According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), “a data scientist is a high-ranking professional with the training and curiosity to make discoveries in the world of Big Data”. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Data Scientists are coveted professionals in the Big Data Analytics and IT industry.
HBR also named it as the “sexiest job in the 21st century” and more recently Glassdoor, named it the “best job of the year” for 2016. In India, too, companies are scrambling to hire data scientists, sending salaries soaring.
According to TeamLease, a leading staffing solutions company, data scientists with around 5 years’ experience are earning over 75 lakh per annum as compared to 8-15 lakh for CAs and 5-8 lakh for engineers with the same experience level.
What do data scientists do?
Data scientists mine and analyze data from a range of sources, including customer transactions, click streams, sensors, social media, log files and GPS plots. Their mission is to unlock valuable and predictive insights that will influence business decisions and spur a competitive advantage.
Data analytics professionals are usually statisticians, mathematicians, database/data warehouse engineers, data miners and IT professionals with data warehousing skills.
The most successful – and sought after – data scientists possess that rare combination of analytical skills, technical prowess and business acumen needed to effectively analyze massive data sets while thinking critically and shifting assumptions on the go, ultimately transforming raw intelligence into concise and actionable insights
A data scientist is a hybrid of many of the above listed skills and, therefore, a rare breed. To meet their talent requirements, some companies have come up with unique programmes.
The Future Outlook
It might come as a surprise, but even two-three years’ ago, no one would talk about data scientist as a job role. But with changing times and the massive proliferation of big data into various industries, the job role of data scientist has started gaining much popularity.
Nowadays, a lot of people and organizations are looking forward to align their long-term careers with analytics.
However, curriculum pertaining to data scientists are yet to be formulated and take proper shape. And this is not only the scenario in India but all across globally. Even companies in the US are struggling with similar issues.
Nonetheless, on a final note it can be said that with changing times and situations, the importance of big data and data analytics is here to stay and jobs of data scientists will also grow in the near future.
