There is too much hype, solving data-related problems requires many different skills and it depends on the problem. In general you need background in quite a fe

There is too much hype, solving data-related problems requires many different skills and it depends on the problem. In general you need background in quite a few of these areas linear algebra, probability, statistical modeling, stochastic processes, computer science, programming, signal processing, etc. We used to call this electrical/computer engineering :-)