First Blog Post!
Prompt:
- What do you think being a data scientist is about?
- What do you see as the major duties and/or knowledge areas?
- What differences/similarities do you see between data scientists and statisticians?
- How do you view yourself in relation to these two areas?
Response:
- I think being a data scientist is about being knowledgeable in both statistics and programming languages in a way that allows you to explain and deliever results that others can easily understand. I think the position assumes the responsibility of having the skill to work with massive amounts of data while being able to deliever clear and concise results/decisions. Personally, I think one of the most important parts is the latter, where you, as a data scientist, are able to communicate the results of your analysis in a way that allows others to make informative decisions.
- I think the major duties and/or knowledge areas are, similar to the previous answer, (1) being able to work with large amounts of data and physically large datasets (some datasets can have millions of rows!), (2) having considerable knowledge of statistics and analysis techniques, and (3) having knowledge of computer science and programming languages.
- I think the two are very similar, and compliment each other wonderfully. In the first article titled “Data Scientists Versus Statisticians,” the author said that “it’s clear that both fields can exist separately, each is weak without the other. Statisticians need to understand the modeling and structure of data, while data scientists need to understand applied statistics.” However, after reading these articles it is clear that some people don’t see a difference in the two fields at all, claiming that data science is simply applied statistics and that data scientists are doing what statisitcians have been doing for decades. I tend to slightly disagree. I think the two fields have a lot of similarities, but that perhaps a data scientist is just a modern statistician. Of course, in some fields and companies there is a need for theoretical statisitcal research, but most companies today need someone who can use their knowledge of statistics and computer science to give them their desired results.
- To be completely honest, I find myself smack in the middle of these two areas. I enjoy broadening my horizons and learning programming languages that I could never have imagined when I was first starting out in my college career, but I also enjoy the mathematics behind the scenes that is sometimes theoretical. I really enjoy how closely these two subjects are tied in together, allowing me to one day pursue a career where I can enjoy both sides!