tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1434839778543250613.post1498836664918189693..comments2023-12-01T21:54:50.997-08:00Comments on Jess Kirkpatrick's Ramblings: So You Want to Be a Data Scientist?berkeleyjesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255252868558666987noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1434839778543250613.post-162740014111282082015-03-18T15:01:00.320-07:002015-03-18T15:01:00.320-07:00Haw,
Larger companies tend to have the resources t...Haw,<br />Larger companies tend to have the resources to train people on their specific technology stacks whereas smaller companies tend to need people to already have certain technical skills (like SQL, R, Python). If you want to know which companies are open to hiring people straight from academia, I suggest looking at the places where the <a href="http://www.insightdatascience.com/fellows.htm" rel="nofollow">Insight Data Fellows</a> are employed as these people came directly from academia.<br /><br />It is hard to tell from the job description what is actually a "required" skill versus "nice to have." I don't think I've ever had all the "required" skills for any of my industry jobs. Ultimately, there is no harm in applying for jobs, even if you don't have all the required skills, just be honest and let the hiring manager make the call.berkeleyjesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00255252868558666987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1434839778543250613.post-32970588559147348802015-03-12T14:59:46.018-07:002015-03-12T14:59:46.018-07:00Great blog posts! I have found them most enlighten...Great blog posts! I have found them most enlightening. They do leave me with some important questions, however.<br /><br />I have recently received my Ph.D. in astrophysics, and am now looking to transition to data science. In your "Astronomer to Data Scientist" post, you listed specific skills that one will need as a data scientist (familiarity with C++, Python, Hadoop, etc.), and I find that indeed, these are typically listed as requirements in data scientist job postings. I have very few of these, however, having been trained as an astronomer - for goodness' sake, many of us (me!) still program in Fortran!<br /><br />I have heard that companies are willing to hire people such as myself who are capable of performing quantitative thinking but who lack these specific skills, and then train us in these skills. If that's true, however, I'm not seeing it reflected in the job postings I've combed through, as they all seem to require that I already possess these skills.<br /><br />Is it the case that even though these postings state that these skills are "required", they often aren't actually required, and that the company will hire and train me in these skills? In which case I should apply for these jobs? Or am I performing my search incorrectly? How do I find the jobs where companies are willing to train me?<br /><br />You've stated in your posts that the biggest hurdle in this transition is how to convince a company that you can do this job. Can I convince a company without having these skills already, or do I need to develop some of these skills first in my spare time before appying?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05158882430570495235noreply@blogger.com