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The Data Daily

You Should Become a Data Scientist. Here’s Why.

You Should Become a Data Scientist. Here’s Why.

Over the course of perhaps that past 10 years, data science has emerged as a front runner in the job market. Whereas some articles aim to write data science off as a career to no longer invest in, I am here to tell you the opposite. Not only has data science taken many forms recently, but it has also proved to be a job with high satisfaction. Additionally, this field can be quite lucrative with the median base salary of $107,801 [2]. This figure is without bonuses, stocks, or other incentives, which can add to this already high base salary. All in all, with a high median base salary, tremendous job satisfaction, and numerous job openings, data science is indeed a career and field to invest in and pursue. Below, I will elaborate on the reasoning and provide some beneficial insights as well.

Before we go into the reasoning into more detail, let us first define the career. From experience, a data scientist is someone who solves business problems with automated statistics and algorithms. The general job flow of a typical data scientist can be outlined by:

While this job flow and specific steps can alter between various companies, data scientist job descriptions, and everyday work in general usually follow this format. Now that we know what commonly constitutes the type of work a data scientist employs, we will now give the reasoning for the why to becoming a data scientist.

There are several benefits of being a data scientist and some of not being a data scientist (will elaborate later in this article). The main reasons can be summarized by job satisfaction, job openings, salary, and tools and skills learned:

Job Satisfaction — a reputable source, Glassdoor, has come up with “The Best Jobs in America 2020” [2], with the rank of number three overall being a data scientist. However, job stratification is actually the second-highest on this list after the strategy manager position. This rating is on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, with a score of 4.0, data scientists can expect to be happy in their everyday work.

Job Openings — while job openings are not the highest on the list, there are still a considerable amount of 6,542 [2]. Being that there are a limited amount of degrees that you can obtain in data science over other careers that have higher job openings like that of a software engineer, the likelihood that you would get a data scientist position is still as high.

Salary — only two positions top the data scientist base salary in the top 10 jobs in America. With online learning, this high salary can be well worth investing in. To learn more about becoming a data scientist online, I have written a different article that highlights the reasoning behind online learning [5]:

Tools and Skills Learned — that is where this facet of reasoning becomes important. When learning data science, you become well versed in skills that overlap in other fields as well. Many of which, are also referenced in the 10 best jobs list. Those similar positions and their respective rank include [2]:

Perhaps the most valuable skill learned while becoming a data scientist is problem-solving. So, if you happen to struggle to find a data science position that fits for you, there are a high number of positions akin to data science that can be obtained from the skills you already learned. Overlapping skills include, but are not limited to SQL, Python, product management,andbusiness intelligence. Other positions that could possibly be pursued are, some of which, outlined in the “100 Best Jobs” from U.S. News & World Report [6]:

While some of these positions are comparable, there are important differences as well, which I have also highlighted in another article [7]:

There are plenty of reasons why you should become a data scientist as explained in this article. Whether you are searching for your next big career move or wondering about the hype behind the data science craze, I hope this article proved to be both interesting and valuable to you. Thank you for reading!

[2] Glassdoor Team, The Best Jobs in America 2020, (2020)

[5] M.Przybyla, Yes, You Can Become a Data Scientist Online. Here’s How., (2020)

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