Any Business Analysts/Data Scientists?

[Galway Eagle]

Looking for some career path advice and was wondering if anyone works in these fields and might be able to offer some advice?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Not in the field, but everyone is looking for that area of study/expertise.

(Insurance industry, or in 4ever's mind, bottled water delivery industry. )

[Efficient Frontier]

Looking for some career path advice and was wondering if anyone works in these fields and might be able to offer some advice?

Started my career in that area, happy to share my experiences if it’s of use.

[Eldon]

I overlap with these fields.  What are you looking to know?

As a start, if you're looking to break into the field, a degree is the best option.  Aren't you in school right now?

[D'Lo Brown]

I overlap with these fields.  What are you looking to know?

As a start, if you're looking to break into the field, a degree is the best option.  Aren't you in school right now?

I disagree on generalizing this, but purely my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I have worked in this field in the healthcare sector for 7 years now. I have colleagues with doctorates all the way down to community college. Probably running the full list of majors, too. I studied biochem and have friends who studied poli sci, psychology, computer science, communications. Anything really. A colleague of mine literally was an EMT. He is absolutely raking it in as a consultant right now. Nobody has ever asked him about what he studied.

More than anything you have to show that you are adaptable, in order to get your foot in the door. Getting your foot in the door is the extremely hard/luck part, IMO. Once you have some niche experience, then you can make a career based on that.

My advice on making it easiest (since I assume you are a student currently at MU) is to study something known for being a bit difficult, and/or just get As. Work on your interpersonal communication skills, your interviewing, and continually polish your resume and field feedback from a wide range of people. Try to get a summer internship, unpaid even. Accomplish SOMETHING difficult and complex in this time, then learn how to relate it to others so that anyone can understand. This can be a research project, or a website you built, some technical training you received, anything at all. It will come in handy later on (interviews) because it shows that not only can you achieve excellence on something complicated but you are able to relate it to others.

Get your LinkedIn going in earnest, now. Get as many connections as you can and make it look professional. Add to your skills whenever you learn something new.

Then cast as wide of a net as possible when you are applying for jobs. Be dogged about it. Find no shame in applying for 100+ jobs. Spend all day applying for jobs, go through the processes, interview, sound dumb in the interview and take your lumps. That is how you will learn to master selling yourself in an interview and in your resume... Constantly tweaking and adapting yourself.

My opinion is that you will help your career if you are open to moving around, that has just been my experience.

I used to be involved with hiring junior analysts at college fairs, a few years back. I hired poli sci majors, comms majors and the like for analyst positions. The world we live in today cares very little for college degrees that become obsolete almost immediately following graduation... The interpersonal skills, proof of prior excellence, etc is what matters when hiring people without experience. Once you have that niche, marketable experience, anything that came before it (like your degree) pretty much goes out the window.

I am way oversimplifying... Everyone will have their $0.02 on this. You can PM me any time if you found it helpful.

PS: I also meant to add. You may be interested in pursuing a technical certification outside of school. In my specific field it isn't necessary but I know that people who work on the business intelligence side (reporting, etc) did pursue some of these and it probably was important in order to get their foot in the door the first time.

[Galway Eagle]

I disagree on generalizing this, but purely my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I have worked in this field in the healthcare sector for 7 years now. I have colleagues with doctorates all the way down to community college. Probably running the full list of majors, too. I studied biochem and have friends who studied poli sci, psychology, computer science, communications. Anything really. A colleague of mine literally was an EMT. He is absolutely raking it in as a consultant right now. Nobody has ever asked him about what he studied.

More than anything you have to show that you are adaptable, in order to get your foot in the door. Getting your foot in the door is the extremely hard/luck part, IMO. Once you have some niche experience, then you can make a career based on that.

My advice on making it easiest (since I assume you are a student currently at MU) is to study something known for being a bit difficult, and/or just get As. Work on your interpersonal communication skills, your interviewing, and continually polish your resume and field feedback from a wide range of people. Try to get a summer internship, unpaid even. Accomplish SOMETHING difficult and complex in this time, then learn how to relate it to others so that anyone can understand. This can be a research project, or a website you built, some technical training you received, anything at all. It will come in handy later on (interviews) because it shows that not only can you achieve excellence on something complicated but you are able to relate it to others.

Get your LinkedIn going in earnest, now. Get as many connections as you can and make it look professional. Add to your skills whenever you learn something new.

Then cast as wide of a net as possible when you are applying for jobs. Be dogged about it. Find no shame in applying for 100+ jobs. Spend all day applying for jobs, go through the processes, interview, sound dumb in the interview and take your lumps. That is how you will learn to master selling yourself in an interview and in your resume... Constantly tweaking and adapting yourself.

My opinion is that you will help your career if you are open to moving around, that has just been my experience.

I used to be involved with hiring junior analysts at college fairs, a few years back. I hired poli sci majors, comms majors and the like for analyst positions. The world we live in today cares very little for college degrees that become obsolete almost immediately following graduation... The interpersonal skills, proof of prior excellence, etc is what matters when hiring people without experience. Once you have that niche, marketable experience, anything that came before it (like your degree) pretty much goes out the window.

I am way oversimplifying... Everyone will have their $0.02 on this. You can PM me any time if you found it helpful.

PS: I also meant to add. You may be interested in pursuing a technical certification outside of school. In my specific field it isn't necessary but I know that people who work on the business intelligence side (reporting, etc) did pursue some of these and it probably was important in order to get their foot in the door the first time.

Thanks for the advise and it would've been helpful if I was graduating from undergrad. I'm in my late 20s with 5yrs of sales experience finishing my masters in information systems management so the LinkedIn and interviewing skills are all set.

I'm trying to figure out which languages are most vital to know, seems most jobs want me to be proficient in R and Python and we haven't covered those here.

Also I am looking for advice on if it is usually a better start at smaller companies or larger companies.

[Galway Eagle]

I overlap with these fields.  What are you looking to know?

As a start, if you're looking to break into the field, a degree is the best option.  Aren't you in school right now?

My masters program is just a year, I finish my thesis in June so it's getting to be apply for jobs time.

As I said to D'Lo I am looking for which languages I need to hone my skills in as we focused on C# for programming and CSS & HTML for web design. Also technologies to be proficient in, like one of my professors thinks that we're screwed if we aren't SAP certified but i haven't seen that listed once on a job skills requirement or preference.

Finally, looking for starting path advice, size of company, job Sector to start in, should i go for Jr analyst roles that only require a bachelors or does a masters make up for lack of experience, etc.

[Eldon]

I disagree on generalizing this, but purely my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I have worked in this field in the healthcare sector for 7 years now. I have colleagues with doctorates all the way down to community college. Probably running the full list of majors, too. I studied biochem and have friends who studied poli sci, psychology, computer science, communications. Anything really. A colleague of mine literally was an EMT. He is absolutely raking it in as a consultant right now. Nobody has ever asked him about what he studied.

More than anything you have to show that you are adaptable, in order to get your foot in the door. Getting your foot in the door is the extremely hard/luck part, IMO. Once you have some niche experience, then you can make a career based on that.

My advice on making it easiest (since I assume you are a student currently at MU) is to study something known for being a bit difficult, and/or just get As. Work on your interpersonal communication skills, your interviewing, and continually polish your resume and field feedback from a wide range of people. Try to get a summer internship, unpaid even. Accomplish SOMETHING difficult and complex in this time, then learn how to relate it to others so that anyone can understand. This can be a research project, or a website you built, some technical training you received, anything at all. It will come in handy later on (interviews) because it shows that not only can you achieve excellence on something complicated but you are able to relate it to others.

Get your LinkedIn going in earnest, now. Get as many connections as you can and make it look professional. Add to your skills whenever you learn something new.

Then cast as wide of a net as possible when you are applying for jobs. Be dogged about it. Find no shame in applying for 100+ jobs. Spend all day applying for jobs, go through the processes, interview, sound dumb in the interview and take your lumps. That is how you will learn to master selling yourself in an interview and in your resume... Constantly tweaking and adapting yourself.

My opinion is that you will help your career if you are open to moving around, that has just been my experience.

I used to be involved with hiring junior analysts at college fairs, a few years back. I hired poli sci majors, comms majors and the like for analyst positions. The world we live in today cares very little for college degrees that become obsolete almost immediately following graduation... The interpersonal skills, proof of prior excellence, etc is what matters when hiring people without experience. Once you have that niche, marketable experience, anything that came before it (like your degree) pretty much goes out the window.

I am way oversimplifying... Everyone will have their $0.02 on this. You can PM me any time if you found it helpful.

PS: I also meant to add. You may be interested in pursuing a technical certification outside of school. In my specific field it isn't necessary but I know that people who work on the business intelligence side (reporting, etc) did pursue some of these and it probably was important in order to get their foot in the door the first time.

That's what I meant by getting a degree in this field or a related field is the best option.  If a firm needs a data analyst who understands statistical modeling, can code in R, navigate through a huge database, etc., they're likely not going to hire a poli sci major and retrain them.  MU offers an undergrad degree in data science.  MU also offers an econometrics-heavy masters program through the economics department.  These degrees are well-suited for data analyst/scientist jobs.

[Eldon]

My masters program is just a year, I finish my thesis in June so it's getting to be apply for jobs time.

As I said to D'Lo I am looking for which languages I need to hone my skills in as we focused on C# for programming and CSS & HTML for web design. Also technologies to be proficient in, like one of my professors thinks that we're screwed if we aren't SAP certified but i haven't seen that listed once on a job skills requirement or preference.

Finally, looking for starting path advice, size of company, job Sector to start in, should i go for Jr analyst roles that only require a bachelors or does a masters make up for lack of experience, etc.

You haven't graduated yet, which is good.  Do you have a thesis topic yet? 

If you are looking to tap into this job market, employers are going to want to know that you know R/Python, are comfortable coding and analyzing data, etc.  This is why I said a degree is the best way.  If a potential employer says, "do you know Python?" and your best response is "well, I played around with it a little bit online...I took a Coursera class..."  You aren't going to get the job.  With a degree in data science, you can say "well, I took Classes X, Y, and Z, all of which required Python..." or "I wrote my masters thesis and relied on Python heavily," you have a much better shot at getting the job.

Here's my recommendation for you specifically.  Use your thesis as an opportunity to learn Python.  It seems like the specialty within your masters program is web-focused.  Pick some thesis topic where you have to scrape data from the web.  Python is great at scraping data (R is too, but has a much steeper learning curve).  Your knowledge of HTML will help you.

As somewhat of an aside, I strongly dislike the term 'data scientist' because it has different connotations to different people.  Two people could have the job title of 'data scientist' but have completely different jobs. 

I would also recommend asking this comment on the Holyland.  A long time ago, there was a dude on there from Seton Hall who did data science.

[vogue65]

Go to www.usajobs.gov

[dgies9156]

One place to look is banking.

During the next two years, more than 5,000 banks and 6,000 credit unions will be implementing the Current Estimate of Credit Loss ("CECL") accounting standard. It is a huge change and will require significant investments by banks in data scientists/analysts to ensure the Allowance for Loan Loss ("ALLL") is accurate.

The way it works is this. Every financial institution establishes a reserve for loan loss on the assumption that a portion of their loans will go bad. In the past, banks set up an ALLL based on historical experience of loss within a given period of time. Now, banks will have to project life of loan losses based on the relationship between external economic environments and their impact on loan loss. It's a huge task and most banks are struggling to keep up with the issue. Publicly held banks have to implement next year and non-public the year after.

What's required is the ability to mine data, understand loss factors, develop panels and pick the right economic environments that fits the characteristics of a bank's loans. Good data scientists will be in strong demand!

[D'Lo Brown]

My masters program is just a year, I finish my thesis in June so it's getting to be apply for jobs time.

As I said to D'Lo I am looking for which languages I need to hone my skills in as we focused on C# for programming and CSS & HTML for web design. Also technologies to be proficient in, like one of my professors thinks that we're screwed if we aren't SAP certified but i haven't seen that listed once on a job skills requirement or preference.

Finally, looking for starting path advice, size of company, job Sector to start in, should i go for Jr analyst roles that only require a bachelors or does a masters make up for lack of experience, etc.

What is your masters in? What are your interests? Do you want to be in a more technical role (seems so)?

My experience totally biases me here, but if you are open to working in the healthcare field I could lend you some potential pathways to get in from where you'll be at when you graduate. I as well as the people that I hired years ago started out pretty small, perhaps less than what you intend to make. There were a lot of 70 hr weeks, traveling, and working like a dog. But in about 5 years my pay quadrupled and I now work as a consultant. For the next year I will actually be 100% remote.

My advice is to get into a space that has wide appeal. My own biased opinion is that healthcare is the place to be. Your job will never be impacted by recessions, healthcare is everywhere, and it is always becoming more complicated (therefore, the demand will continue to grow).

[Galway Eagle]

You haven't graduated yet, which is good.  Do you have a thesis topic yet? 

If you are looking to tap into this job market, employers are going to want to know that you know R/Python, are comfortable coding and analyzing data, etc.  This is why I said a degree is the best way.  If a potential employer says, "do you know Python?" and your best response is "well, I played around with it a little bit online...I took a Coursera class..."  You aren't going to get the job.  With a degree in data science, you can say "well, I took Classes X, Y, and Z, all of which required Python..." or "I wrote my masters thesis and relied on Python heavily," you have a much better shot at getting the job.

Here's my recommendation for you specifically.  Use your thesis as an opportunity to learn Python.  It seems like the specialty within your masters program is web-focused.  Pick some thesis topic where you have to scrape data from the web.  Python is great at scraping data (R is too, but has a much steeper learning curve).  Your knowledge of HTML will help you.

As somewhat of an aside, I strongly dislike the term 'data scientist' because it has different connotations to different people.  Two people could have the job title of 'data scientist' but have completely different jobs. 

I would also recommend asking this comment on the Holyland.  A long time ago, there was a dude on there from Seton Hall who did data science.

Yes, we don't have a thesis paper as much as a thesis project where we've developed a ticket portal and marketing database for a theatre company.

I have a lot of experience using SQL and PostgresSQL. We haven't covered R or Python though we used Python in our thesis project.

I feel like now that it's the postseason Holyland won't get much traffic but I'll check it out.

What is your masters in? What are your interests? Do you want to be in a more technical role (seems so)?

My experience totally biases me here, but if you are open to working in the healthcare field I could lend you some potential pathways to get in from where you'll be at when you graduate. I as well as the people that I hired years ago started out pretty small, perhaps less than what you intend to make. There were a lot of 70 hr weeks, traveling, and working like a dog. But in about 5 years my pay quadrupled and I now work as a consultant. For the next year I will actually be 100% remote.

My advice is to get into a space that has wide appeal. My own biased opinion is that healthcare is the place to be. Your job will never be impacted by recessions, healthcare is everywhere, and it is always becoming more complicated (therefore, the demand will continue to grow).

The program is Information Systems Management. I'd honestly be most happy be client facing and doing requirement gathering than the actual programming etc.

I have experience in the healthcare field from sales and come from a nursing family so that would actually be easy for me to adapt to. Actually the only job I've applied for before posting this for advice was at Rush Hospital in Chicago.

[mu03eng]

I work in the space from a product management space (think Tom Sybikowski from Office Space....I HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS!). In my experience there is becoming a bifurcation of the "data science" role. There are the pure data scientists who are building algorithms, taking raw data and applying R evaluation tools to draw a conclusion from them, kind of what everyone thinks of when they think data science. The emerging role is that of a data engineer, you are not inventing algos, but rather looking at a diverse set of ML/AI tool sets the company has or the market has available and figuring out which is the right one to apply for the problem you are solving or outcome you are trying to accomplish. Yes this includes basic data cleansing and an understanding of how the tools work but is not active coding of any kind. It requires you to be able to understand the problem you are solving, what data you have available, and how you can use single variate and multi-variate ML tools to draw a conclusion from that data.

I'd recommend a working knowledge of R and a surface level of Python with a good understanding of the various single variate/multi-variate tools in the market place. Understand how to go from "I've got data and a problem" to "here's the actionable information" with minimal direction/guidance from the person who says the first thing.

[Jay Bee]

Make a lotta $$ before bots takeover ur jobs

[mu03eng]

Make a lotta $$ before bots takeover ur jobs

#FakeNews

[Galway Eagle]

thanks eng thats really helpful

[Buzzed]

Find you dream job/company posting and work your way back on the software/language skills they want.  It is a broad field with simple spreadsheets to full blown predictive modeling.  Know SQL as larger and older companies have data everywhere.  That is about the only standard.  I have worked in companies that ran both SAP and Oracle with different departments like marketing using even different software.  Data is data and if you know coding it's not that hard to hack some line together in a language you barely know.  Sounds like you have more than enough base knowledge to be successful.

[Eldon]

https://www.burtchworks.com/2015/06/29/10-key-tips-for-entry-level-analytics-professionals/

Check out the webpage for BurtchWorks.  They're a Chicago headhunting firm that specializes in analytics.  If you navigate their site, you will come upon a page where you can submit your information and a recruiter will reach out to you.