Data Science roles? Here’s what you MUST know!

[ATTENTION: This post could be funny, at times]

Being a Tech Recruiter, I’m often asked about how to get a job in [insert_trend_here] and I’m always baffled about how little people know about their chosen subject.

Here the first post, from an article I wrote a couple of years’ ago for my ex-employer, explaining the most used job titles in Data Science and their meanings from a recruiter point of view, after having speak with a ton of engineers and scientists.

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Data Analyst: In this role you’ll need to collect, process, and perform data analysis. What technologies should you know? Well, being familiar with one of the most commonly using database platforms – R, Python or SQL is a plus – NoSQL is the icing on the cake. Oh, and of course, the good old reliable Excel (yes, spreadsheets are still very much alive and well).

Data Engineer: You are an all-rounder. You love to develop, test, and maintain data architectures. Basically you have renamed all your relatives after your skill sets, so now you have your Hadoop wife, your R sister and her husband Python, your grandpa Perl (or his name was C?). Oh, and you love hanging out with your Qlikview & Tableau twins.

Data Scientist: Yes, this is the job title. Even though recruiters usually refer to it as Unicorn, Rockstar, or Ninja. Getting serious though – this job is the most sought after, because you need to add value to product analytics, data engineering, A/B testing, and data modelling. You also need to be naturally curious and ask yourself questions like “what can I do with all this data” or “what opportunities lie hidden within this data?”

Analytics Manager: Besides being delighted with your bank statement on pay day, in this role you’ll be required to manage a team of analysts and scientists. Very often this is a hands-on role so you need to master SQL, R, Python, MatLAB, etc. Sounds like a Data Scientist skill set, right? Well, sort of, but on top of that you need to have leadership and project management skills, be a good interpersonal communicator, and be able to build solid relationships with internal (and external) stakeholders.