well, wrote:
zizek wrote:
Mine. Data Scientist in corporate America. I get paid well into the six-figures to do made-up math, which is presented as 'evidence' in support of decisions that would have been made anyways.
The whole thing is pointless and ritualistic.
Very curious to hear more! I am interested in data science, and have been playing around on pet projects.
I really like messing around with the programming and the math. It's just that the business world has a way of taking really smart and dynamic people and sticking them in a dead-end like you describe, where their creativity and passion is worthless.
Is there any slice of the data science profession that allows people to feel like more than a cog in some business machine? I am just looking for some hope that there might be a path forward for me.
Your best bets are academia, Wall Street, or an early stage (but well-funded) start-up. The issue in corporate America is that the decision-makers are not data scientists - they are typically bankers or MBAs. Really the answer to most business questions is to cut costs and increase productivity, there are only so many ways to repackage that answer with data.
If you need to enter corporate America enter a non-revenue team (think UX, UI, or HR) less interaction with revenue leaders and can build some interesting models.
To the other poster start with R and SQL first. Do them every day for half-an-hour and you'll be more qualified than 90% of data scientists.