by Angela Guess
Bob Hayes recently analyzed the top ten skills needed by Data Science professionals in Business2Community. He writes, “In our ongoing study of data scientists, we ask data professionals to indicate their proficiency in 25 different data science skills. The 25 skills, listed in Figure 1 (above), reflect the set of skills that are commonly associated with data scientists… I used the ‘intermediate’ proficiency level as the criterion for the data professional for possessing the skill. The proficiency level of “intermediate” indicates that a data professional is able to complete tasks as requested and can usually perform the skill without help from others.”
Hayes goes on, “I ranked the list of these 25 skills based on the percentage of data professionals who possessed each skill… The top 10 data science skills were: S – Communication (87% possess skill); T – Managing Structured data (75%); M – Math (71%); B – Project management (71%); S – Data Mining and Viz Tools (71%); S – Science/Scientific Method (65%); S – Data Management (65%); B – Product design and development (59%); S – Statistics and statistical modeling (59%); B – Business development (53%).”
Hayes adds, “Many of the top data science skills fall into the areas of Statistics; all five statistics skills appear in the top 10 list, including Communication, Data Mining and Viz Tools, Science/Scientific Method and Statistics and statistical modeling. Additionally, three skills related to Business acumen appear in the top 10, including Project management and Product design and development. No Programming skills appear in the top 10 list.”
photo credit: Business2Community