Jobs in Data Science/Data Analytics

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • See the about page.
    • "the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy."
    • Mission: collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision making.
  • A long time group of data scientists.
• This is a great source for data.
  • Go to the consumers page
    • Look at the CPI report.
    • Download the Income and the Higher income worksheets.
    • Combine by copying the ranges from one sheet to another.
    • Draw a line graph showing a comparison of the amount spent on food and food at home.
• Go to the jobseekers page
  • We sort of looked at some of this data in the vlookup exercise.
  • The Economy at a Glance page allows you to explore the economy down to a city level.
    • Select PA
    • Select Erie (at the bottom of the page)
    • This might be helpful
  • I found this report which is quite interesting.
• Let's try to find Data Science
  • Start looking at Occupations by Education Level and Projected Growth.
    • Search for data in Occupation Title
      • Not much luck here.
    • Search for statistics
      • At least we have a result or two.
      • Statisticians
        • + Good growth projection
        • + Good median wage
        • - Masters
      • Statistical Assistants
        • Not too bad.
    • Take a moment and search for your interests.
  • Let's look for Statistical Assistants other places
    • Search for the title or 43-9111 in the search bar at the top right hand corner of the page.
    • This should take you here
    • Notice the breakdown of hourly wages.
    • Looking down the page, look at where these people are needed.
      • I think the graph by area, about half way down the page is the most informative.
      • I wish cities were displayed on this chart but ...
  • Looking at the occupational handbook
    • I got to this page
    • Explore the tabs
    • Especially: What they do, Work Environment, How to Become One
  • One more try at BLS
    • BLS is using Big Data
    • Search for Data Science, Data Analytics in the main search box.
    • Note BLS puts Big Data in Statistics, but also in CS
    • Scan through Working With Big Data
      • Page 8 starts the discussion of breaking into this field.
      • I like the "Skills" section of this document.
• Let's try something more practical.
  • go to Glasdoor.com
    • Look in Edinboro
    • Search for Data Science
    • Not much.
    • Try Cleveland Ohio
      • Here is An Entry Level Job.
        • Look at Responsibilities and Duties
    • Here is Something is Pittsburgh
  • Look for jobs in other areas.
  • Look for jobs you are interested in.
• Less reliable, blogs, articles, ...
  • A key qualification is curiosity
    • Are you interested in exploring data and finding information?
    • Do you get lost in your data?
  • Working with numbers
    • This seems silly to mention
    • But it is an essential skill.
    • Perhaps not algebra, calculus, ...
    • But relationships, outliers, ...
  • Willingness to work with technology
    • Excel
    • And other tools (R, python, ...). More on this in a bit.
  • Willingness to continue learning
    • This is not a static field.
    • New tools will be developed for a long time.
  • The ability to effectively communicate
    • This shows up everywhere.
  • Domain Knowledge.
• Top Data Analytics Skills Required to Become a Data Analyst is interesting
• 10 Skills You Need to Become an Analytics Professional has a list.
• Monster has The top data skills you need to get hired.
  • Interesting but seems to be pushing udemy courses.
• I liked How to Become a Data Analyst
  • The first paragraph is good.
  • Move down to Data Analyst Responsibilities
• Here is a Data Science Project describing skills needed
  • The data source information is interesting.
  • Take a look at the skills they are looking for.
    • Note Excel is in this table, but low.
• Some further software
  • R: a programming language
    • A specialized programming language
    • Primary focus on statistics.
    • Many built in functions for data scraping, cleaning and analysis
  • Python: a programming language
    • Scripting lanugage
    • General purpose
    • Many add on packages for data analysis.
  • SQL: Structured Query Language
    • Used to interact with many databases.
    • Special purpose language.
• A shameless plug for the data analytics program.