INFORMS Open Forum

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

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Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
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Soft skills! 

In my experience hiring team members in the past, I received a lot of resumes every single day. About 90% has similar skill sets that data scientist/data analyst usually has: Python, R, Database, SQL, advanced methods etc. In the interviews, almost everyone said, "I used Neural Networks to do xxx analysis, and used yyy method to do zzz analysis." 

However, not many people mentioned why he/she used that method to do a certain analysis, plus almost none of them has mentioned what methods would be the best for our specific business model. It's ok if you don't know much about the business, and that would be a great question to ask! 

Just an example, I work for a manufacruing company and many of our products have a long lead time with customizations, which requries our customers to place order in advance so that we can prepare for it. Some customers are usually very good at providing us their forecast rather than us using any predictive methods. For us, we adopt a combination methods of using prediction models, and forecast override provided by customers. 

Not every company adopts the most advanced, latest, fancy methods or softwares. Companies tend to use the "best-fit" methods/softwares considering company size, scale, business model, cost, etc. 

I just read an article called "Soft Skills Beat Technical Skills in Data Analytics" by Matthew Gazzano and I highly recommend you to read. 

https://towardsdatascience.com/soft-skills-beat-technical-skills-in-data-analytics-57f56ca91361

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Shannon (Xiaonan) Shang
Manager, Data Analytics
Enovation Controls
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2023 09:40
From: Jill Capello
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

------------------------------
Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
------------------------------

Thank you, Shannon, for sharing this article. As I continue to progress into a senior role at my company, the bottom line is I have been successful as a Data Analyst because I understand the intricacies of our business lines and our subsidiaries. I know the operations people, our call center people, our accounting people, and our executive team. I love getting to know my colleagues. Makes my Data Analyst role "easier" and effective. So, to bring this back, soft skills do matter. 

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Alberto Aparicio
Data Analyst
Charitable Adult Rides & Services, Inc.
CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-27-2023 10:29
From: Shannon (Xiaonan) Shang
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Soft skills! 

In my experience hiring team members in the past, I received a lot of resumes every single day. About 90% has similar skill sets that data scientist/data analyst usually has: Python, R, Database, SQL, advanced methods etc. In the interviews, almost everyone said, "I used Neural Networks to do xxx analysis, and used yyy method to do zzz analysis." 

However, not many people mentioned why he/she used that method to do a certain analysis, plus almost none of them has mentioned what methods would be the best for our specific business model. It's ok if you don't know much about the business, and that would be a great question to ask! 

Just an example, I work for a manufacruing company and many of our products have a long lead time with customizations, which requries our customers to place order in advance so that we can prepare for it. Some customers are usually very good at providing us their forecast rather than us using any predictive methods. For us, we adopt a combination methods of using prediction models, and forecast override provided by customers. 

Not every company adopts the most advanced, latest, fancy methods or softwares. Companies tend to use the "best-fit" methods/softwares considering company size, scale, business model, cost, etc. 

I just read an article called "Soft Skills Beat Technical Skills in Data Analytics" by Matthew Gazzano and I highly recommend you to read. 

https://towardsdatascience.com/soft-skills-beat-technical-skills-in-data-analytics-57f56ca91361

------------------------------
Shannon (Xiaonan) Shang
Manager, Data Analytics
Enovation Controls

Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2023 09:40
From: Jill Capello
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

------------------------------
Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
------------------------------

At age 70, after 50 years at analytics without borders, (AWB) I am not certain what a data scientist is.   Going with AWB, any successful team has to have the following skills

Strong knowledge of your programming tools of choice - Assembler, PL1.... C-Sharp, Python ... which includes data base systems.  In today's world, good working knowledge of Excel is critical - even if just to understand what the user is doing.

Basic programming constructs - what is memory, how data is stored, data types, 

The ability to use the analytics methods of choice - it might be LP, regression, neural nets, Exact Fisher Test

How the methods work, the underlying concepts - just be able to execute a package in Python regression package is not knowledge of the method

The ability understand the application area as well as those who have day to day responsibility

Identifying a path to use AWD to improve organization performance

Navigating the organizational structures and relationships to get the application into the status - can not imagine life without it

The ability to work with a team without losing your individuality

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Ken Fordyce
director analytics without borders
Arkieva
Wilmington DE
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2023 09:40
From: Jill Capello
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

------------------------------
Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
------------------------------

I think previous posts capture the essence of what employers require.

I just want to add some important technical skill - strong knowledge of probability theory, numerical and categorical data analysis, general statistical tests and formulation of experiments with given data are also very important. I do more work in the ML Space but colleagues in DS do these things listed above a lot.

Thanks,

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Izuwa Ahanor
The University of Tennessee
Knoxville TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2023 09:40
From: Jill Capello
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

------------------------------
Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
------------------------------

I gave the answer to "skills we look for when hiring" in this article on LinkedIn in 2018: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-explore-starting-career-analytics-rahul-saxena/

My answer:
1. You find subjects to analyze, dig out the data, and answer the questions you raised. 
2. You use Excel (plus any other tool) to do analyses ... to build your logical thinking skills and the analytics knowledge to answer questions that you find interesting.
3. Instead of just sending your resume, you send your analysis. Improve the hiring decision by providing the data for it.

This answer is pretty congruent with these responses: 
* Shannon: not many people mentioned why he/she used that method to do a certain analysis => #2, about choosing the method for the question
* Alberto: understand the intricacies of our business => #1, find subjects to analyze
* Ken: Excel is critical, other tools of choice, programming, analytics methods, understand the application area, improve organization performance => #1 and #2

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Rahul Saxena
FrogData.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-26-2023 09:40
From: Jill Capello
Subject: What skills do data science employers look for?

Since many of our members are graduating and looking for new positions, we thought it would help if you could share what skills data science employers wish new hires had. Is there anything that would set them apart from other applicants? What are the things that are must-haves? Are there any skills you look for that may not be obvious? 

------------------------------
Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
------------------------------