3 ms·

Do you have advice for someone in the second camp? I have a master's in econ and I'm comfortable in R but I don't have good development skills. I'm wondering if

Do you have advice for someone in the second camp? I have a master's in econ and I'm comfortable in R but I don't have good development skills. I'm wondering if I need to give up on data science jobs for a bit and try and find an entry level software development job

anton_tarasenko 10y ago
Target research-intensive jobs. Job descriptions are clear about what sort of machine learning professionals the company is looking for. In most cases, they want data engineers and developers who can make big, scalable production. Not researchers. Just find who's looking for economists, specifically. Consulting firms and government agencies hire economists, but they don't call them data scientists. Investment funds may be interested, though hedge funds prefer math and physics graduates because they are easier to train.
user5994461 10y ago
Take whatever job you can... as far as it's related to the kind of things you want to do. Forget about the big companies that everyone knows, forget about the high pay that appear in the newspapers. It's not real, it's not for you. Get an entry or junior level position and get experience. There are many unknown places that will take people only because they're cheap. That's where everyone started.
- hellogoodbyeeee 10y ago
  Thanks for your comment. It has eased some of the anxiety caused by reading through this thread. My current job fits your description. I currently have an analyst role and I spend maybe 25% of my time building predictive models in R. I just haven't had any success finding a role that ups that percentage (and the pay). I know I need to be more patient, but it is difficult.
- nether 10y ago
  I'm looking to go through a DS boot camp this summer, have a master's in aerospace engineering. I'd be very content with mid-five figures (40% lower than what I made as an engineer) at a no-name company if it's in the city that I want (not SF). Are such lower-end data analyst positions in decent supply?

anton_tarasenko 10y ago

Target research-intensive jobs. Job descriptions are clear about what sort of machine learning professionals the company is looking for. In most cases, they want data engineers and developers who can make big, scalable production. Not researchers. Just find who's looking for economists, specifically. Consulting firms and government agencies hire economists, but they don't call them data scientists. Investment funds may be interested, though hedge funds prefer math and physics graduates because they are easier to train.

user5994461 10y ago

Take whatever job you can... as far as it's related to the kind of things you want to do. Forget about the big companies that everyone knows, forget about the high pay that appear in the newspapers. It's not real, it's not for you. Get an entry or junior level position and get experience. There are many unknown places that will take people only because they're cheap. That's where everyone started.

hellogoodbyeeee 10y ago
Thanks for your comment. It has eased some of the anxiety caused by reading through this thread. My current job fits your description. I currently have an analyst role and I spend maybe 25% of my time building predictive models in R. I just haven't had any success finding a role that ups that percentage (and the pay). I know I need to be more patient, but it is difficult.
nether 10y ago
I'm looking to go through a DS boot camp this summer, have a master's in aerospace engineering. I'd be very content with mid-five figures (40% lower than what I made as an engineer) at a no-name company if it's in the city that I want (not SF). Are such lower-end data analyst positions in decent supply?