Data Scientists

Employ Data Scientists

Data scientists are analytical experts who use their knowledge of technology and social sciences to analyze and work with data to tackle business problems. They utilize their industry experience, contextual understanding, and ability to question existing norms to create inventive solutions.

What is Involved in Data Science?

Data Science is a multidisciplinary area of expertise that combines computer science, computational mathematics, statistics, and management to analyze and visualize data to extract valuable insights. Additionally, machine learning algorithms can be used to build predictive models that transform raw data into practical intelligence.

• Data Scientist:

  Data Scientists are well-rounded professionals with a diverse background spanning several industries. They define problem statements and project goals to support company objectives. Data Scientists use advanced techniques like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis to identify patterns and trends, requiring a thorough comprehension of concepts such as statistics, data engineering, and artificial intelligence.

• Data Analyst:

  Data Analysts often collaborate with business and management teams to establish project goals and identify business requirements. Their responsibilities include obtaining and exploring business-related data. Moreover, they analyze and transform data to uncover patterns and trends. Additionally, they assist teams in translating these patterns into actionable insights by visualizing data and illustrating patterns.

• Data Engineer:

  Organizations typically hire Database Administrators (DBAs) to manage their data on a daily basis. DBAs ensure the reliability, functionality, and security of the company’s databases. They should possess expertise in fundamental relational databases, disaster recovery, database backup strategies, and reporting tools to effectively carry out their responsibilities.

What are the Responsibilities and Obligations of Data Scientists?

Data Scientists perform the following responsibilities:

• Data Scientists face business questions that are open-ended and involve unstructured research to address company challenges.
• Large amounts of structured and unstructured data can be obtained. Structured data can be accessed from relational databases using computer languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL). Unstructured data, on the other hand, can be gathered through web scraping, Application Program Interfaces (APIs), and survey forms.
• Employ contemporary analytical tools, machine learning, and statistical methods to preprocess data for predictive and prescriptive modelling.
• Eliminate irrelevant information from data and ready it for preprocessing and modeling.
• EDA is utilized to detect absent data and to explore trends and/or opportunities.
• Automation of tedious tasks and innovation in addressing issues through software development.
• Superior data visualizations and reports must be employed to communicate predictions and outcomes to management and IT teams.
• Implement cost-efficient modifications to existing procedures and methodologies.

What is the process of becoming a Data Scientist?

To qualify for an entry-level Data Scientist role, you must have a Bachelor’s degree in Data Science or a computer science-related field. However, a Master’s degree is required for many Data Science positions. A degree gives you a solid foundation for your resume, as well as the opportunity to gain valuable experience through internships, networking, and academic achievements. If you possess a Bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field, you may need to concentrate on developing skill sets specific to the job through short-term, specialized courses or boot camps.

• Acquire the essential skills to become a Data Scientist, such as programming.
  
  • Big Data Platforms
  • Cloud-Based Applications.
  • Data Warehousing and Structures
  • Techniques of Machine Learning.
  • Proficiency in Software Engineering.
  • Extracting, cleaning, and manipulating data.
  • Research.
  • Data Visualization and Reporting
  • Assessment of Risk.
  • Statistical Analysis and Mathematics
  • Effective Communication.

• Data Scientists can specialize in a specific industry or excel in areas such as artificial intelligence, research, machine learning, and database management. Such specialization can enrich and diversify one’s technical skillset, which leads to better earning prospects and more exciting job opportunities.
• Once you have acquired the necessary qualifications and identified your areas of expertise, you must be ready to start your career in data science. Developing an online portfolio and a data scientist CV that showcases some of your projects and accomplishments can assist you in attracting potential employers. Furthermore, seeking out organizations that have growth opportunities can be advantageous. Your first data science job might not carry the title of ‘data scientist’, but instead, it could be an analytical role. This position will help you learn how to work collaboratively in a team and understand the processes and techniques involved in more senior positions.
• Acquiring appropriate academic qualifications is essential to excel in the field of data science. While the requirement of a master’s degree varies with the job profile, it is common to discover data scientists who possess a bachelor’s degree or have completed a data science bootcamp.
• Being able to respond to both technical and behavioural questions during a data scientist interview is critical. To prepare for this, it is advisable to practice your responses aloud in advance. Providing examples of your academic experiences and previous work can demonstrate your knowledge and confidence to the interviewer. Devoting time to prepare and rehearse will provide you with the best opportunity to showcase your skills and expertise during the interview.

Below are some examples of questions you may face:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of a linear model?
• What exactly is a random forest?
• How can SQL be used to identify all duplicates in a data set?
• Tell us about your involvement with machine learning.
• Describe a time when you encountered an issue for which you were unsure of how to proceed. What actions did you take?

Skills required for a Data Scientist

If you are contemplating a career as a Data Scientist, you must master certain skills, regardless of your job. These include:

1. Mathematics and Statistics

   A robust grasp of mathematics and statistics is an essential requirement for any accomplished Data Scientist. Companies, particularly those with a data-driven approach, expect Data Scientists to be proficient in various statistical concepts, such as maximum likelihood estimators, distributions, and statistical tests, to aid in decision-making and make recommendations. Additionally, expertise in calculus and linear algebra is pivotal, as they apply to various machine learning methods.

2. Modelling and Analytics

   The expertise of individuals analysing and developing models for data is directly proportional to its worth. Therefore, an adept Data Scientist is expected to demonstrate a high level of mastery in this area. The ability to scrutinize data, experiment, create models, and formulate new ideas and forecasts based on their findings is expected from a Data Scientist, relying on critical thinking and communication skills.

3. Machine Learning Techniques

   While an expert level of understanding in this domain is not always necessary, some familiarity is beneficial. Employers may look for knowledge of significant elements, such as decision trees and logistic regression, enabled by the use of machine learning.

4. Programming

   Attaining proficiency in programming is crucial for Data Scientists to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Typically, expertise in a variety of programming languages, such as Python and R, is required. Additionally, understanding Object-Oriented Programming, core syntax and functions, flow control statements, libraries, and documentation is expected.

5. Data Visualisation

   Data visualisation is a crucial skill for a Data Scientist, as it facilitates the communication of important findings and helps endorse recommendations. By decomposing complicated data into more comprehensible pieces and employing visuals such as diagrams and graphs, Data Scientists can better convey their discoveries to decision-makers. To gain insight into the significance of data visualisation and learn how to generate compelling visualisations using Tableau, check out our article “Creating Data Visualisations with Tableau”.

6. Intellectual Curiosity

   A Data Scientist is propelled by a strong desire to tackle intricate problems and develop innovative solutions. Data alone is worthless unless it is analysed and interpreted, so a great Data Scientist is enthusiastic about discovering insights concealed within the data, and identifying how this data can be leveraged to achieve significant goals.

7. Communication

   Data is meaningless until it is analyzed and reported to stakeholders, hence, excellent communication skills are vital for Data Scientists. Effective communication with team members and senior management can make or break a project. This encompasses proficiently communicating to the team the steps required to go from point A to point B with the data, as well as presenting the analysis results to management in a compelling manner.

8. Business Intelligence

   To derive maximum benefits from data, Data Scientists must possess a comprehensive understanding of their organization’s objectives, goals, and how they align with their work. Additionally, they should create solutions that are cost-effective and easy to implement, while ensuring high stakeholder acceptance.

How to secure a Data Scientist job?

At Works, we offer an extensive range of remote Data Scientist positions to assist you in honing your Data Scientist skills. Tackling intricate and innovative technological and business problems can aid in your rapid progression. Connect with our global network of top developers to discover long-term, full-time remote Data Scientist job opportunities with better compensation and growth potential.

Position Summary

Work Responsibilities

• Recognize business problems and opportunities for enhancing products/services.
• Create strategic or tactical recommendations grounded on your discoveries.
• Utilize your expertise in quantitative analysis, data mining, and data cleansing and wrangling.
• Gain insight into customer interactions with our products/services by analyzing metrics data.
• Working with the Product and Engineering teams is vital to identify problems and reveal trends and opportunities.
• Communicate, convince, assist, and execute our product selections and launches.
• Forecast and set objectives for the product team, as well as design and evaluate experiments.
• Track crucial product metrics and identify the fundamental reasons behind any metric fluctuations.
• Generate and evaluate dashboards and reports.
• Developing crucial datasets to aid operational and exploratory analysis.
• Evaluation and definition of metrics
• Providing recommendations for the future roadmap.
• Acquiring knowledge about ecosystems, user behaviour, and long-term trends.
• Discovering new mechanisms that aid in achieving essential KPIs.
• Establishing user behavioural models for research purposes or to drive production systems.
• Influencing product teams through data-backed recommendations.
• Conveying the present status of the company, experiment discoveries, and more to product teams.
• Instructing analytics and product teams on best practices.

Requirements

• Hold a degree in Bachelor’s/Master’s/Ph.D. in Business, Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Statistics, Science, or Engineering.
• Performing quantitative data analysis, preparing reports, and delivering findings.
• Fluency in data querying languages (such as SQL), scripting languages (such as Python), and statistical/mathematical software (such as R, SAS, MATLAB).

Preferable competencies

• Proven expertise in analytical abilities, with the ability to collect, organise, evaluate, and disseminate vast amounts of data with precision and meticulous attention to all details.
• Statistics or experimentation (e.g. A/B testing) are employed in an industrial setting.
• Transmitting analysis outcomes to product or leadership teams with the aim of influencing strategy.
• My analytical skills are formidable, encompassing the ability to gather, organise, evaluate, and share large amounts of data with precision and a meticulous eye for detail.
• Statistics or experimentation (e.g. A/B testing) are utilised in an industrial environment.
• Disseminating analysis results to product or leadership teams with the goal of influencing strategy.