what is a data scientist

#DataTalk What is a Data Scientist?

LIVE TWEETCHAT

FEATURING:Dr. Michael Wu

Chief Scientist, Lithium@mich8elwu

Join our #DataTalk on Thursdays at 5 p.m. ETThis week, we tweeted with Dr. Michael Wu, the Chief Scientist at Lithium, where he applies data-driven methodologies to investigate the complex dynamics of the social web.

Check out all tweets from this Twitter chat:

ex.pn/scientist

What type of work doesa data scientist do?

Dr. Michael WuChief Scientist, Lithium@mich8elwu

“A data scientist’s work includes everything from data infrastructure (capture, store,

process) to data service (retrieval).

#DataTalkex.pn/datatalk

Shanji XiongGlobal Chief Scientist, Experian@ShanjiXiong

“A data scientist converts data into business intelligence.

“ A data scientist’s work includes: decision science, business intelligence, customer

analytics, marketing analytics, fraud, security, etc.

What are attributes of agood data scientist?

To be a data scientist, you need the technical expertise in computer science,

statistics, and knowledge/experience with large data sets.

Data scientists should have good intuition, strong coding capability, solid training in statistics & machine learning.

“Shanji XiongGlobal Chief Scientist, Experian@ShanjiXiong

Educational background for data scientists can be computational genomics, astrophysicists, fluid dynamics, chemistry,

biophysics (like me) ...

To be a good data scientist, you need more than tech expertise. You must be

a good communicator to explain complex data/analysis.

Good data scientists also need to be passionate about data. I’d highly value curiosity, creativity and perseverance

when hiring one.

What kinds of companies have (or need) data scientists?

Any company that already is investedin modern big data infrastructure

will need data scientists to crunch the data.“

ex.pn/datatalk#DataTalk

All companies need to havedata scientists to stay competitive.“

All businesses use data, and data willgrow so big that our brain and databaseseventually can’t handle … they all need

data scientists eventually.

“ex.pn/datatalk

#DataTalk

What types of teams do data scientists work with?

It all depends how the data organizationis structured within the enterprise:independent team, hub & spoke,

or silo in dept.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

Data scientists can work in R&D, product development and support

business operations.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

SMBs use hub and spoke data teamswhere they report to different departments,

but collaborate and work together,so data expertise is shared.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

Large companies typically have entire teams of data scientists

within each department and they usually don’t collaborate.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

Personally, I work internally withengineering, product, marketing,best practice, service, consulting,

strategy, even sales and human resources.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

I process data, build models, engagewith clients, and facilitate collaboration

among Experian Data Labs.

ex.pn/datatalk

“#DataTalk

What are some big challenges that data scientists face?

One of the biggest challenges fordata scientists is communication.

Many data scientists speak tech & stats,but they don’t speak business.

“ex.pn/datatalk

#DataTalk

Challenges for data scientists: data governance and what

data can be used for“

Other challenges for data scientists:Data access, data integration, and motivation.“

If a company is starting a data scienceinitiative, their data scientist may not

have access to all data due to securityand compliance.

“ex.pn/datatalk

#DataTalk

Is there an art and science toworking with big data?

Absolutely! Good intuition and domain knowledge are the keys for

successful big data projects.“

There’s definitely science to workingwith big data… there are rigorous

stats and implementation details youlearn from statistics and computer science.

“#DataTalkex.pn/datatalk

There’s also art in working with big data,and this only comes with years

of experience on working with big data.“

Picking a good problem is sort of an art,choosing right features from an infinite

number of features, too (feature engineering).“

Exploratory data analysis (EDA): getting a feel or a hunch for how the

data behaves is definitely an art.“

How can data scientists make a big impact in their business?

First, data scientists need to learnabout the business, so they have the

context to interpret the data andresult of models/analyses.

“#DataTalkex.pn/datatalk

Second, they need to pick a goodproblem: the most impactful

problem that can be addressed withdata they have access to.

Third, they must communicateeffectively and make businesses

understand the analysis and businessimplication of the insight they found.

To be impactful, data scientists needto keep an open mind and concentrate

efforts on most impactful problems.“

A good data scientist must bea good communicator, storyteller,

teacher, etc. who can simplifycomplex data science for business.

What are some big data trends?

Big data will be embraced by moreand more businesses. More decisionswill be driven by data and analytics.

In past 5 years, most of the big datatech operate at the infrastructure layer.Now more people are focused on the

algorithm layer.

If there’s a big data trend, it’s theshift from infrastructure to analytics/

algorithms on people’s big data asset.

It used to be that data scientists can doeverything about any data, now there is data

engineering, algorithm, decision science.

Now there’s experts in natural languageprocessing, image analysis, video/audio

processing, streaming data, etc.

Why should companies invest more in data science?

Businesses invested in big data wiselywill have a huge competitive advantage

over their peers.“

Companies should invest more in datascience. They will need to eventually anyway.“

Any final tips for those whowant to work in data science?

Tips for new data scientists:Keep an open mind, think outside the

box, and work hard. The future is bright.

Final Tips: Learn the tech and stats,learn the business context, learn to

communicate the tech/stats to businessto bridge the gap

Be patient, follow your passion (which should be data), and pick a good

problem to solve.

Join our #DataTalk on Twitter on Thursdays at 5 p.m. ET.

experian.com/datatalk

what is a data scientist

shanjixionga data scientist

michael wuchief scientist

data expertise

data teamswhere

data willgrow

data organizationis

datatalk data scientists

mich8elwugood data scientists

Data & Analytics

the new data scientist · sponsored by fall 2016 1 the new...

data scientist skills

data scientist career pathway · 2019-10-02 · data...

what is a scientist

becoming a data scientist carolina analytics and data...

1 what does a scientist look like?. 2 scientist? what leads...

data scientist vccorp_aug_2016_vnu

what makes a data scientist great? · pdf filewhat makes a...

what kind of data scientist do you need?

bd_ebook big data data scientist

how to hire a data scientist link 1 · 2019-08-23 · how...

data scientist (analytics)

what is a data scientist - a presentation i made to the...

what is a scientist?

engineering data scientist

data scientist start now!

what is a scientist?. brainstorm and record: what does a...

what is a data scientist

data scientist - human resources

what is a data scientist? (…data scientists in the …...a...