2014-04-23

Who can predict which customer is going to cancel a newspaper subscription before it actually happens? A soothsayer, right? Wrong! It’s a Data Scientist.

The New York Times recently hired a Chief Data Scientist for this very purpose in order to save the publication from its dwindling position in the industry. The new Data Science Training team in the company is working to create a data model that will predict which customer is going to cancel subscription based on insights about what makes customers stay and how to retain them. Not just New York Times, but a whole lot of companies who are looking to manage Big Data are now hunting for data scientists to rescue them from this vast ocean of information.

What is Data Science?

Data Scientists are experts who possess multifarious skills to design and develop complex algorithms,  models, and visualizations that allow enterprises to extract useful insights from large amounts of data.

Data Science is a discipline that incorporates theories and studies from various fields including:

Mathematics

Statistics

Probability

Computer Programming

Data Warehousing

Data Engineering

Pattern Recognition

Machine Learning

Also, it’s not just data crunching, this field entails deep understanding of business challenges, uncovering valuable insights and communicating these to management for appropriate action.

Hottest Career Options 2014

This career option is gaining popularity and is listed as one of the most wanted skills for 2014. According to a study, 80% of open data scientist positions created in the past two years have not yet been filled. Koenig Solutions offers a one of its kind course on this subject for those who wish to expand their professional horizons. Since it is a relatively new field, training boot camps offering a conventional curriculum are not readily available. However, Koenig has specifically designed this course to include all essential skills requisite of a seasoned data scientist.

So, get set to take up the challenge and step forward on the path of an exciting career ahead.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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