Data scientists collect data, analyze it, and glean insights for a wide range of purposes. They use various technology tools, processes, algorithms to extract knowledge from data and identify meaningful patterns. This could be as basic as identifying anomalies in time-series data or complex as predicting future events and making recommendations. The primary qualifications expected of a data scientist are:
- Advanced degree in statistics, mathematics, computer science, etc.
- Understanding of unstructured data and statistical analysis
- Experience with cloud tools like Amazon S3 and the Hadoop platform
- Programming skills with Python, Perl, Scala, SQL, etc.
- Working knowledge of Hive, Hadoop, MapReduce, Pig, Spark, etc.
The average salary of a data scientist is $105,000. With experience, this can go up to $200,000 for a director of data science position.