Fevered demand for data scientists highlights industry's rush for actionable insights

Dive Brief:

The data science sector is pivoting and jobs no longer demand solely data cleaning and curation. The role is morphing into a more AI-based undertaking and 40% of respondents said a majority of their work informs AI projects, according to a Figure Eight survey of 240 data scientists. And 90% of data scientists' work informs some type of ML project, according to the survey
There is a buoyant market for data scientists, and survey respondents reported receiving contact for new job opportunities frequently, with half receiving contacts each week, according to the report. Almost one-third of respondents said they were contacted multiple times a week.
Even as roles have changed, the type of data experts work with has remained largely unchanged. Data scientists are still predominantly working with text, time-series data and product or SKU information, according to the report. More than 70% of data scientists work with structured data.

Dive Insight:

Even amid all the industry scrutiny on data collection and integrity, nine in 10 data scientists are happy with their job. Demand helps and so do high salaries as data scientists regularly bring in six-figures.

What has changed most about data science over the years is the quantity of data available. An estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is created every day, and data scientists are tasked with deriving some actionable insights from it.

Some organizations, like UPS, understand that data that is unactionable is just trivia. But industrywide, data often goes overcollected and underused. A recent SnapLogic study found only half of organizations use the data they collect.

Bandwidth is a concern because some companies don't have the staff required to sift through and analyze data. There is also a cultural problem when it comes to data, which has created privacy concerns. Rather than strategic collection, some organizations collect in bulk without a strategy in place to use it.

Organizations often make assumptions when it comes to what could and could not be considered personal data. And without curators to monitor its collection and use, high-profile incidents could continue to damage corporate reputations.