Be creative. Be curious. Understand people.
These are the top three responsibilities of a data scientist, says David Logan, principal consultant at PBT Group. At the upcoming ITWeb Business Intelligence 2015 Summit, to be held at Vodacom World, in Midrand, from 17 to 19, March Logan will discuss whether data scientists add value to business.
"It may seem counter-intuitive to not list the 'hard' skills first, but maximising the value of the 'hard skills' is often achieved through these three things," he says. "The soft skills for a data scientist are integral to both creating the value and the realisation of the value. If we consider the deep and broad range of skills necessary and the relative scarcity, it stands to reason, in most cases, the actual biggest challenge may be effectively communicating the value of the work being done.
"The question of whether data scientists add value can be flipped on its head. If you're not adding value, are you a data scientist? Arguably the only characteristic of a data scientist is the ability to realise measurable value from data."
Logan adds; despite the current hype around data science and, to an extent, big data, data scientists will never be in a position to add real value if they don't have the right amount of quality data in the first place. "Just like an iceberg, while the most visible part of a data scientist's work may be the infographic or presentation, 90% of the grunt work required to create the deliverable lies in the data layer. Not glamorous, not flashy, but absolutely integral to the quality of the end result."
During his presentation at ITWeb's 10th annual BI summit, Logan will discuss, using examples, where companies may already have some of the skills required within their current teams, and expand on how to tap into these.
C-level executives and other senior business and IT decision-makers will gather at the summit in March for two days of intensive debate and networking, followed by half-day workshops on the third day. Click here to find out more.
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