Speaking Clearly About Data Scientists: A Survey and Clustering Analysis

• Activity Number: 92
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 4, 2013 : 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM
• Sponsor: Section for Statistical Programmers and Analysts
• Author(s): Harlan D. Harris*+ and Marck Vaisman and Sean P. Murphy
• Companies: Data Community DC and Data Community DC and Data Community DC
• Keywords: data science ; survey ; careers ; clustering

Abstract

The new buzzwords -- data science, big data, advanced analytics -- are inadequately precise for communicating about statistical professionals. Seeing too many examples of opaque communication leading to lost opportunities, we surveyed practitioners in this broad field with the goal of better understanding the variations among skills and career paths. We performed a factor analysis on the results of self-identification rating and skills ranking questions, yielding novel, informative categories. We labeled the latent Self-ID Groups as: Data Businessperson, Data Creative, Data Developer, and Data Researcher. These groups partially correlate with five inferred Skill Groups (Programming, Statistics, ML/Big Data, Math/OR, and Business), and along with results from education and experience questions, provide new clarity into the variety of data-related professionals and how they think about and talk about their careers. We put these results into the "T-Shaped Professionals" framework, and consider implications for career development, hiring, and team-building.