The way I've heard it from others in this forum, is that a DS is a combination of three jobs. They are analysts, in that they can work with data and squeeze ins

The way I've heard it from others in this forum, is that a DS is a combination of three jobs. They are analysts, in that they can work with data and squeeze insights out of it and they know enough about the business to know that the numbers mean and what differences matter. They are software developers, in that they can build actual software solutions to access and manipulate data, rather than relying purely on shake-n-bake existing tools. This helps them deal with very large data sets that are beyond conventional analyst tools such as spreadsheets. And finally they are experts in stats/ai/math who can build and evaluate sophisticated mathematical models. It seems to me that's an awful lot to fit between one pair of ears.