A data scientist is responsible for analyzing and searching for data in order to then identify and answer business questions to provide an organization with a competitive advantage or improvement. Job responsibilities of a data scientist include searching for data relevant to industry trends, developing and implementing data infrastructures for the company, communicating data findings through presentations and written reports, ensuring that work is completed ethically, integrating numerous data sets and systems while linking data sets to identify new insights for the company, and interpreting the findings from product experiments.
For most positions, a master's degree in a relevant technical field is necessary to become a data scientist. Helpful job skills include very strong communication skills (both verbal and written), ability to work in a fast-paced environment, great research ability, attention to detail, a strong business background combined with technical knowledge, ability to work individually, great critical thinking skills, self-motivation, and strong problem-solving skills. The future job market outlook for a data scientist is very strong and increasing.
