Sequencing genes. Analyzing Twitter posts. Researching what seeds grow best in which soils. Cataloging stars. Data scientists are at work in all these scenarios, collecting data and finding the meaning in it — helping organizations discover relationships between genes and disease, determine how to target products to customers’ interests, yield more crops, map the universe.
“There's something beautiful about making data tell a story,” says Roger Barga, vice president and general manager for Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL. “It's like solving a riddle or finding the treasure in a treasure hunt.”
What Does a Data Scientist Do?
Mining knowledge from data is easier said than done. Data sets can be unimaginably large (you’ve heard of big data) and difficult to store and process. As a data scientist, you might need to integrate data from various sources — smartphones, sensors, the web, etc. — or grapple with unstructured data. And that’s just the beginning.
Projected Growth
U.S. (2022-2032): 35%
Washington state (2020-2030): 36%
Median Annual salary
U.S. (2023): $108,020
Washington state (2023): $132,620
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET OnLine
In this role, you’ll need to use a range of techniques and tools, such as statistics, algorithms, machine learning, text retrieval and natural language processing, to analyze data and interpret the results. And there’s one more crucial thing a data scientist needs: curiosity.
“Data scientists have to be curious about the data. Explore the data. Ask questions and combine different data sets together,” explains Barga, who is on the advisory board for UW Professional & Continuing Education's UW Certificate in Data Science. “It’s that end-to-end thinking that differentiates an effective data scientist.”
Are Data Scientists in Demand?
With the value these professionals bring in transforming raw data into decision-making insights, it’s clear that data science skills are in high demand today. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for data scientists is expected to grow nationally by 35% by 2032 (and by 36% in Washington state by 2030).
This booming job market does not surprise Mohamed Mneimneh, head of incubation operations at software giant SAP and an instructor in the UW Certificate in Data Science program.
“The demand for data skills continues to grow,” he says. “We’re always hiring people in this field, whether it’s as data scientists, data engineers, data analysts, data architects or related roles.”
Mneimneh sees students hailing from many different industries and walks of life, a testament to the broad impact that data science is having on society.
“No two students have the same story,” he says. “There are those seeking typical data scientist roles, but there are also project managers who want to work on data science projects. There are land surveyors who want to use geospatial data in their work. Or they work at Boeing in quality engineering, and they have large amounts of data they want to analyze. Or they’re a doctor who wants to apply data science to the medical field.”
Furthering Your Education in Data Science
Interested in data science? If you’re completely new to the field or need a technical refresher, you might consider the Data Science Foundations course. For more in-depth training, check out the UW Certificate in Data Science or other related programs: