{"id":1493,"date":"2016-05-06T11:24:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T15:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2016-10-05T10:24:54","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T14:24:54","slug":"what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mad<\/p>\n

By Mark Schwarz<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0a Data Scientist do?<\/p>\n

For starters, Data Scientists don\u2019t spend our days in white lab coats running novel algorithms and looking at charts. Contrarily, a Data Scientist spends most of their time (casually dressed) communicating; fine\u00a0tuning models and metrics to tell a story that can then drive real action. To be successful in the career requires more than an affinity for numbers — you must be curious, creative, and a skilled technologist with a knack for clear communications.<\/p>\n

At Square Root, most of my work revolves around turning information into actionable next steps – whether a forecast, a cleaner classification, or a statement of fact in a new metric – Data Science goes beyond analytics; driving change requires compelling conversations and insightful iterations on the results. There\u2019s an inarguable amount of artistry within the Data Science world, too. The heavy volumes of information, large data sets, and identifiable problems beg to be solved and structured in creative and concise action items. For example, our store relationship (SRM) platform, CoEFFICIENT, collects data from more than 100 sources, couples the data with recommend action plans, and provides our retail and auto clients with insights on what\u2019s driving the most impact within their organization.<\/p>\n

It seems simple, but one of the biggest challenges in Data Science is determining exactly how the data collected can drive change. Data certainly has the power to change perspectives, but in order to prove effective, it needs to\u00a0change behavior<\/em>. While measuring how much a specific data set has changed behavior can be difficult and challenging, it\u2019s one of the most interesting aspects of my work. I spend about 80% of my time cleaning and preparing large data sets in order to maximize impact. It\u2019s not the most glamorous part of the job, but that upfront work allows me to be much more creative and, ultimately, effective the other 20% of my time, by using the information to drive business forward through effective modeling. The key to setting up a data science project for success is desiring less specificity and more flexibility. Data Science projects are wildly successful when the objective is clear, more than one stakeholder is part of the creative process, and the methods shift as the project matures.\u00a0 Successful Data Scientists embrace that ambiguity.<\/p>\n

Glassdoor\u2019s\u00a0high ranking for Data Scientists<\/a> as one of today\u2019s best jobs wasn\u2019t a mistake. As more companies require new and more advanced technology, the demand for data-based research and analyses will only continue to grow, and the human need to interpret data and play counterpart to scientific results will remain strong.<\/p>\n

In the next 10 years, as data preparation becomes more structured industry-wide, Data Science work will become more specialized, fracturing more clearly across technical and business domain specialties.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Schwarz is VP of Data Science at\u00a0Square Root Inc<\/a>., an Austin, Texas-based SaaS company whose Store Relationship Management (SRM) software powers data-driven decision making for leading automotive and retail enterprises. Mark has more than 12 years of experience optimizing business and technical processes around services, revenue, sales pricing and forecasting data.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Widget not in any sidebars
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Schwarz The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0a Data Scientist do? For starters, Data Scientists don\u2019t spend our days in white lab coats running novel algorithms and looking at charts. Contrarily, a Data Scientist spends most of their time (casually dressed) communicating; fine\u00a0tuning models and metrics to tell a story that can then drive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":1343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[209,313],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0a Data Scientist do?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tim King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tim King\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/154e152a275103e373e24ada7f2feb5c\"},\"headline\":\"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-06T15:24:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-05T14:24:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\"},\"wordCount\":540,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Data Science\",\"Square Root\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best Practices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\",\"name\":\"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-06T15:24:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-05T14:24:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0a Data Scientist do?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/\",\"name\":\"Best Data Integration Vendors, News & Reviews for Big Data, Applications, ETL and Hadoop\",\"description\":\"Data Integration Buyers Guide and Best Practices\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Solutions Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2016\/02\/Solutions_Review_Header_Data_Integration_225.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2016\/02\/Solutions_Review_Header_Data_Integration_225.png\",\"width\":225,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Solutions Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/154e152a275103e373e24ada7f2feb5c\",\"name\":\"Tim King\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2023\/12\/tk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2023\/12\/tk.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Tim King\"},\"description\":\"Tim is Solutions Review's Executive Editor and leads coverage on data management and analytics. A 2017 and 2018 Most Influential Business Journalist and 2021 \\\"Who's Who\\\" in Data Management, Tim is a recognized industry thought leader and changemaker. Story? Reach him via email at tking@solutionsreview.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/author\/timking\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?","description":"The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0a Data Scientist do?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tim King","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/"},"author":{"name":"Tim King","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/154e152a275103e373e24ada7f2feb5c"},"headline":"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?","datePublished":"2016-05-06T15:24:14+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-05T14:24:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/"},"wordCount":540,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg","keywords":["Data Science","Square Root"],"articleSection":["Best Practices"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/","name":"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-06T15:24:14+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-05T14:24:54+00:00","description":"The real question here is, what\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0a Data Scientist do?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2015\/10\/oie_12171919WIPeA3tS.jpg","width":800,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/what-does-a-data-scientist-actually-do\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#website","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/","name":"Best Data Integration Vendors, News & Reviews for Big Data, Applications, ETL and Hadoop","description":"Data Integration Buyers Guide and Best Practices","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#organization","name":"Solutions Review","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2016\/02\/Solutions_Review_Header_Data_Integration_225.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2016\/02\/Solutions_Review_Header_Data_Integration_225.png","width":225,"height":90,"caption":"Solutions Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/154e152a275103e373e24ada7f2feb5c","name":"Tim King","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2023\/12\/tk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/files\/2023\/12\/tk.jpg","caption":"Tim King"},"description":"Tim is Solutions Review's Executive Editor and leads coverage on data management and analytics. A 2017 and 2018 Most Influential Business Journalist and 2021 \"Who's Who\" in Data Management, Tim is a recognized industry thought leader and changemaker. Story? Reach him via email at tking@solutionsreview.com.","url":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/author\/timking\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/data-integration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}