Data Science en Masse

Question

Data Science en Masse

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

SSC Guru

Points: 734444
More actions
August 1, 2017 at 9:07 pm

#322923

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Data Science en Masse

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply

call.copse SSCoach Points: 17960 More actions · Answer 1

Certainly all sounds good. Realistically I'm going to say only a certain number of people can really do data and have the potential to get anywhere decent with it - I'd estimate 5-10% of the general populace. Still, knowing and understanding a bit more is a healthy start.

allinadazework SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4506 More actions · Answer 2

call.copse - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:33 AM
Certainly all sounds good. Realistically I'm going to say only a certain number of people can really do data and have the potential to get anywhere decent with it - I'd estimate 5-10% of the general populace. Still, knowing and understanding a bit more is a healthy start.

I'd say 5 to 10 percent is pretty generous and out of those 5 to 10 percent who have the potential to "get anywhere decent" how many will want to work in this area - maybe only a few percent?
I suppose cash and prestige being thrown at this area will help attract the brightest to this area.
Will these guys eat into our more traditional database roles or will it actually generate more work for the database pros setting up and maintaining the source data for the data scientists to play with? Perhaps they are more like the "Insight" layer sitting on top of the database layer?

mjh 45389 SSCertifiable Points: 5706 More actions · Answer 3

call.copse - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:33 AM
Certainly all sounds good. Realistically I'm going to say only a certain number of people can really do data and have the potential to get anywhere decent with it - I'd estimate 5-10% of the general populace. Still, knowing and understanding a bit more is a healthy start.

Totally agree! One thing that needs to be done is to improve the way we teach computer science. In our last company we employed a trainee with 'A' Level Computer Science. He didn't have a clue! His programming was more like hacking until we put a counter on each attempt to run the code. A graduate had a degree in Computer Science. Despite having done a module on databases he did not understand normalisation or indexing. To contribute in the workplace IT skills have to go beyond Google and Facebook!

Eric M Russell SSC Guru Points: 125521 More actions · Answer 4

I think there is room for at least a couple of AI or ML literate people in any large IT organization, but let's not get carried away with the idea. I do think that politicians and members of the media should become more literate about the fundamentals of statistics and how to identify classic logical fallacies if for no other reason than to debunk all the junk science (data or otherwise) that gets bandied about these days. What if in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, all public high school students were taught logical reasoning and debate?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority#False_authority
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

Rod at work SSC-Dedicated Points: 33900 More actions · Answer 5

call.copse - Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:33 AM
Certainly all sounds good. Realistically I'm going to say only a certain number of people can really do data and have the potential to get anywhere decent with it - I'd estimate 5-10% of the general populace. Still, knowing and understanding a bit more is a healthy start.

I read this article with great interest. My degree is in Math so this feels like I'm coming home. But I've not been fortunate enough to work any place where they're interested in data mining or analytics. At my previous job we had 15+ years of data that I knew could be analyzed to determine better treatments, patterns of addiction and so on. I advocated for that, but only received indifference. Doesn't matter now anyway, the place has closed.

In my current job there is so much technical debt that they don't want to go there, either. When you have hundreds of MS Access apps around, most of your time is spent trying to get your head above water to catch a breathe.

Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

xsevensinzx One Orange Chip Points: 25560 More actions · Answer 6

This is something that makes sense for the organization I work for as we are in performance marketing and the digital economy is breeding new innovations in data every day. This means many in our industry are striving to focus on data and what it means for the future.

However, it really depends on the type of business you are in. Digital marketing should be a no-brainer on why it's important. Same may be the case for businesses like GE. But, that's not to say every business has the right amount of use cases to do so. Regardless, more data exposure and getting more minds on the problem is never a bad thing. I think the worst you could do is close off your data and not help grow your team to utilize it better even if they are not data professionals.