One question I get asked a lot are what are the best skills to master for Data Science & Analytics (DSA) jobs right now?
Another question is what skills will be in demand five years from now.
With both questions, most of the ones asking are looking for specific applications or tools to learn. Often my reply is that it really doesn’t matter which tool or application you use as much as you get practical experience working with data.
My point is that job titles and technical skill sets come and go as technology evolves… what you really need to do is be in a place where your curiosity and critical thinking are continuously challenged. It helps to also be somewhere that encourages new solutions and has a culture that fosters innovation.
Not easy to find, but thats more important to me then what you learn now. That said, I still have to answer the questions with some sense of what to learn and master so…
Here are some of the top DSA skills needed right now:
- Management Reporting
- Advanced Excel
- Familiarity with Business Intelligence Tools
- SQL Coding for Teradata Databases
- Transforming Data Warehouses into Data Lakes
- Business Dashboards and Data Visualization with Tableau
- Predictive Analytics with R and Azure
- Predictive Model Building with SPSS
- Data Storytelling
By no means a exclusive list… if you do a quick search of job posting for DSA professionals you will not find two job posts with the exact same requirements. From where I sit, these are just the ones I see a lot.
When it comes to the future, I did a quick search and came up with this list…
Here are some of the top DSA skills likely needed over the next 5 years.
- Natural Language Generation and Text Analytics
- Human/BioMetric Analytics
- Machine Learning
- Prescriptive Analytics
- Chat Bot Design and Maintenance
- AI Virtual Assistants Design and Programming
- IoT Sensor Analytics
Again… not even close to a complete list, but you can get a sense of where things are going.
Assuming most companies mature past the basic analytics phase and that we continue moving towards AI solutions at the current pace, there will be a lot of new analyst jobs out there with new titles. Data Scientists will be busy solving a wide range of data challenges that currently still seem like Science Fiction today.
At least that’s my take as of now.
It will change.
The Augment BPO Data Science and Analytics Advocacy Project (Augment BPO) is empowering BPO Companies, Executives, and Workers in the Philippines to prepare for and address the clear and present danger posed by Artificial Intelligence Chatbots (AI Chatbots) to BPO revenue growth and jobs through Data Science and Analytics strategy planning, awareness building and upskill training.
Decision-Making, Analytics & Intelligence > Philippines 