Big Data Analytics - Data Scientist

The role of a data scientist is normally associated with tasks such as predictive modeling, developing segmentation algorithms, recommender systems, A/B testing frameworks and often working with raw unstructured data.

The nature of their work demands a deep understanding of mathematics, applied statistics and programming. There are a few skills common between a data analyst and a data scientist, for example, the ability to query databases. Both analyze data, but the decision of a data scientist can have a greater impact in an organization.

Here is a set of skills a data scientist normally need to have −

• Programming in a statistical package such as: R, Python, SAS, SPSS, or Julia
• Able to clean, extract, and explore data from different sources
• Research, design, and implementation of statistical models
• Deep statistical, mathematical, and computer science knowledge

In big data analytics, people normally confuse the role of a data scientist with that of a data architect. In reality, the difference is quite simple. A data architect defines the tools and the architecture the data would be stored at, whereas a data scientist uses this architecture. Of course, a data scientist should be able to set up new tools if needed for ad-hoc projects, but the infrastructure definition and design should not be a part of his task.