Many would agree that data scientists are currently the most in-demand profession in the job market. As the industry is maturing with new-age technologies and solutions, demand for data science skills is expected to continue rising. This is because regardless of a business’ size, everyone is looking to leverage big data to drive efficiencies. Therefore, companies are continually looking to hire people who can collect, analyse and translate data into business goals. However, the supply is not matching the demands of the industry. Ever wondered why? Here are 3 reasons which possible leads to the constant shortage of data science professionals in the market.

More Companies Working With Data

Businesses regardless of its size are now leveraging the value of big data in order to make an informed business decision. This in return acts as one of the main contributor for the shortage of data scientists in the industry. Furthermore, the number of STEM graduates every year isn’t in sync with the market requirement of data scientists in the industry. Small companies may be able to make do with one software engineer and an analyst who can analyse data to maintain the businesses. However, larger corporation like Amazon, or even Enterprise Singapore, requires a team of data experts. Therefore, as data science enthusiast, you should take this opportunity to re-skill or up-skill with data science boot camps to gain the necessary knowledge to leverage on this demand!

Up-skilling Required At A Rapid Pace

Considering technology is rapidly evolving, the need for an organisation to hire a data scientist is also evolving. With the increasing demand for emerging technologies, businesses are looking for data scientists to be skilled with new-age technologies rather than older programming languages. At present, companies are looking for newer skills like data visualisation and machine learning to make a more informed decision in this competitive landscape. Data scientists should also possess advanced statistical tools and quantitative methods along with ways of integrating large data sets. Today, it’s perfectly ok to not graduate with an Information Science or Computing Science degree. Instead, companies are hiring based on projects and portfolios rather than degrees. Thus, data science enthusiasts looking for a career in this field should create personal projects in order to enhance their portfolio.

Lack of Guidance

Another reason for the shortage of data scientists in the industry is the lack of guidance. Data science covers a vast variety of subjects. Thus, if you try to learn everything, it only makes you a jack of all trades but master of none – which isn’t something business are currently looking for. Many companies have a specific requirement related to data. So, learn to understand the industry or role you want to be in and identify what should you be proficient in. Pro tip: Instead of picking up fanciful deep learning techniques, you should instead take a step back and build strong fundamentals.