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One of the main aspect of Data Science is... Science. I know some people who I would qualify as scientist without a PhD, but they are extremely rare. On the ot
by emmanuel_1234 10y ago
One of the main aspect of Data Science is... Science.
I know some people who I would qualify as scientist without a PhD, but they are extremely rare. On the other hand, I've seen countless unqualified people apply and get (lousy) data science job because the "title" itself is very vague. I'd be more inclined to hire a PhD (who's been through a fairly painful scientific training) in, say, material science, then train her to data/programming, than get a good programmer and train her for science.
I'm not for a "Data Scientist Association"[0], but I'm not for diluting the value of all the effort I made to effectively become a data expert AND a trained scientist.
[0]Rant: there is a world outside America.
- nerdponx 10y agoI have the opposite problem: I constantly feel inadequately prepared for my job as a data scientist because I never got a PhD. I know mid-career doctorates are considered risky but I still have my mind made up to get one.
- battlebot 10y agoThe PhD is irrelevant. What is relevant is the experience of doing science in a rigorous fashion. Today's "data scientist in a box" lessons don't give people the basic understanding of how to approach a problem or even what a null hypothesis is. Some of the videos on Youtube make it seem like any correlation is relevant when they don't even know what they don't know.
- emmanuel_1234 10y agoI can't agree more: PhD shows that you went through the pain of scientific training, you can however train yourself to science in different manners. Start from the start though: epistemology is grossly underrated, but the scientific method (aka: calling bullshit) is my most valuable tool.