It is hard to say if it had occurred to any one, ten years ago, that the whole world will see a shortage, of skilled employees, which will amount up to more than 100,000 and that too in an apparently closely knit area – data science and analytics. Now we are here. A data science certificate can really render you precious.
An ample amount of words have been spent over last few years on the ‘big data buzz’ or ‘data science taking the world by storm’, let us try to look at it from a different angle before it all becomes boring and repetitive. What if it the sudden (or not that sudden) rise in the importance of data science was just a predestined, romantic revival of the ‘vacancies outnumbering talents’ idea? Well, the fact is the business world woke up to the incredible possibilities that data science can bring into reality and the talent pool was just not ready.
A subject as vast and complex as deep analytics or data science needs time to be mastered; it has taken that time and we are looking at companies offering a data scientist almost double the salary of a regular programmer.
The advent of distributed data storage systems like Hadoop has enabled companies to store the data they would otherwise have thrown away. With the examples set by Google, Facebook or say flipkart, we all know what can be achieved from that data. But it is hard to find people who can actually make sense out of it. Buying the tools and software does not get the job done, trained people with great analytical minds, keen interest for statistics and programming and a quick learning brain, are what the need of the hour. It is quite a package of top notch skills in a person that companies are looking for around the world.
If you have a data science certificate and with luck, some experience, they will fly you across continents, not to mention pay you highly.
The online academies have responded well to the skill shortage scenario by making it possible for professionals to acquire well targeted data science training in flexible shifts. You do not necessarily need to go to or return to the university to get a data science certificate. If you have a solid background in programming you can get the requisite training from an online facility or an offline academy if you wish, and get certified.
Accenture found in 2014 that 90% of their clients wanted to hire people with data science skills but more than 40% of them complained about a lack of talent. A study by McKinsey in 2011 put that by 2017 the demand for data science employees will outrun the supply by 60%. This makes it just about time that you thought about getting a data science certificate and fitting in one of those numerous vacant seats.
