As the title suggests, if I’ve to tell you about the scope of Data Science in India as well as around the globe in one sentence, I am 100% positive. But I am no Michael Burry (He is the one who predicted the 2008 recession) so why’d you believe me. That’s why let’s take a deeper look at why Data Science is the latest buzzword, why there are plentiful opportunities in the field & why you should take up the data science career path. Let’s explore the future of Data Science.
Future of Data Science
Not so long ago, DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher—then at LinkedIn and Facebook respectively coined the term Data Scientist. For all who are completely new to Data Science & want to know why Data Science is important, it is a field that deals with data and extracts knowledge from it to gain useful insights on product/business. Almost all business nowadays uses data-driven decisions in one way or another. And if they don’t, they will in the nearest future. Because by far this is the most efficient technique to deal with data and gain insights.
So, if you are one of that person who critically thinks what the future of Data Science is & is looking forward to data science career path, you are in the right place. Let’s start with this. Since the Harvard Business Review gave the title of ‘the sexiest job of the 21st century’ to Data Scientist, the majority of software engineers and related people tried to adapt it to advance their data science career path.
According to Udacity, an online education system, there is a 200 percent year-over-year rise in a job search for ‘Data Scientist’ and a 50 percent year-over-year rise in a job listing for the same.
However, with technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, it is really important that skilled and not-so-evil minded people work on the same otherwise there is a good chance that robots will give us a run for our money. Just a thought! What do you think?
Moreover, According to HakerRank Developer Skills Survey 2018, ”Not enough talent” stands at number 3 with 41.1% in challenges while hiring candidates around the global. And, by 2020, all alone in the USA the job openings for data professionals will increase by 364,000 openings to 2,720,000 according to IBM.
I just gave you insights from opening for jobs to not enough talent for data professionals, don’t you think that’s a good reason to start with? Future Scope of Data Science is high and believe me or not, it is going to stay here for a while. Apart from that, Data Scientist tops the list of ‘Best jobs in the USA’ in an annual survey conducted by Glassdoor, an online portal for job hunting, for consecutive 3 years.
If we talk about India in particular, according to a recent Indian jobs study, Data Science is a topmost and fastest-growing field in India and the relevance of it is increasing in almost every sector. As you can see, analytics jobs in India saw an increment of 200 percent in April 2016 to April 207, compared to 52 percent from April 2015 to April 2016 and 40 percent from April 2014 to April 2015.
Whenever we find a suitable career for ourselves, what are the primary things that we look for? First is the salary of course. We all have to pay bills. Second, for me is a Work-Life balance. Of course, if it gives you money but if you are not enjoying nor having time for the family, what are you even doing?
And for secondary, not in the highest-to-lowest order, but, Health benefits, professional growth and learning, team environment and so on. Comparing some of these with how things are in the Data Science field right now will give you more insight into the future of Data Science job opportunities.
Data Science Salary
As you can see, 3 out of the 5 highest paying professionals are related to Data Science! Hence if the only salary is your concern, Data Science is the right path for you. In India, salaries vary from 0-3 lakhs to 1 crore plus, all based on your skills and experience.
Job Satisfaction / Work-Life Balance
Comparing all the job fields to measure work-life balance would be unfair. As Albert Einstein said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that It is stupid.” Hence here is a comparison for job satisfaction compared with the fields that fall under the title Data Science. As you can see, full-filling your second requirement of work-life balance. Data Scientist tops here as well.
Now that you have the idea about why Data Science is important & its future scope, here is a chart of relevant skills you might need to go ahead in this direction. Different job roles require different skills. Hence the image below summarizes all for you in one picture. Ain’t it clean!
Data Science Facts – Why Data Science is Important
Here are some good-to-know facts about Data Science
- Python has overcome all the other programming languages to become popular among Data Scientists. Actually, I am biased on this one. I too prefer python over R(for more technical discussion on the matter, go here)
Growth of programming languages source: quora - Data is never clean. According to Kirk Borne, Principal Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, Data scientist spend 80% of their time cleaning their data. And on a funny note, they spend 20% of their remaining time to complain about preparing and cleaning data. Good one Kirk.
- There are two different worlds: Academia and Business. If you want to develop new theorems and approaches, academia is your way. But in business, you use the existing approaches to drive business decisions.
- Presentation is the key. Since no one is going to care about how to reach your decision, you require good hands-on presentation skills. Show the only things that matter to non-technical people.
- All models are great indeed. But that doesn’t mean you have to use them all. Find one suitable for your data and go. You will know more about this once you dive into the field.
In a nutshell, India has done commendable contributions to the field of Statistics and is well assured to make great contributions to the field of Data Science.
Regardless of how things evolve, one thing is crystal clear: Enormous amount of data will be used to drive key business decisions and skilled data scientists will be the key to unlocking the endless possibilities.
As a matter of fact, this gives individuals with a keen interest in Data Science to walk on the data science career path.
Let us know in the comments what do you think about the future of Data Science in India as well as around the globe.
Happy Learning!
