Data Scientist Named “Sexiest Job of the 21st Century”; Important Characteristics for the Position

Current and future data scientists may be excited to know that their position has been named the “sexiest job of the 21st Century.”  The following post has more information and features an infographic, which includes important characteristics for being a data scientist.

FICO, a leading predictive analytics and decision management software company, recently released an infographic showing the characteristics of a good data scientist — what a Harvard Business Review article called the “sexiest job of the 21st century.”

The rise of Big Data has fueled demand for data scientists. Indeed.com reported that job postings for analytic scientists jumped 15,000 percent between the summer of 2011 and 2012. McKinsey & Company predicted the U.S. will see a 50- to 60-percent shortfall in analytic scientists by 2018.

Dr. Andrew N. Jennings, Senior Vice President, Chief Analytics Officer at FICO

“There’s more demand than ever for data scientists, but at the same time we demand more from job candidates,” said Dr. Andrew Jennings, chief analytics officer at FICO and head of FICO Labs. “FICO has been hiring data scientists — or analysts, as we used to call them — since 1956. We’ve learned that excellent math skills alone just aren’t enough. We want someone who can solve problems for businesses, and explain their insights to people who don’t have a Ph.D. in operations research.”

The FICO infographic identifies eight characteristics of a good data scientist. These include the ability to tease out insights from data, communicate with business users and focus on the practical applications of their work.

“When we hire a data scientist, we look for someone who wants to speak to our clients,” said John Tobin, who leads hiring for FICO, and who previously co-founded an agency focused on hiring analysts and credit risk experts. “Data scientists generally are abstract thinkers — the rarest ones are those who can easily communicate to a business audience. That’s the sweet spot.”

Demand to fill the talent gap with good data scientists is pushing up salaries for the right candidates. “We’re entering a new age of analytic competition,” Jennings said. “This is a great time to be a data scientist, but only companies offering the chance to do interesting and meaningful work are succeeding in hiring them.”

Source: FICO