What Is Data Scientist? Salary, Qualifications & Career Roadmap (2024)

What Is Data Scientist? Salary, Qualifications & Career Roadmap (1)

In today’s time data is the most important norm in any kind of business. From collecting information on the product to finding patterns to satisfy consumer needs, data plays a vital role in understanding demand and producing appropriate supply.  Keeping giants like Netflix and Amazon in mind, predictive analysis and data science are the reasons they are prominent in providing tailored and personalized experiences.

With rising numbers of users and everything becoming slowly digital, it is hard to imagine a world without data. This is where Data Science comes into the picture. Have you ever wondered how once you tap into one type of product it helps you to find similar products ahead? It’s all a combination of calculating your data and predicting what can help you to choose better providing a tailored and customized experience for you.

In this blog we will explore what data science is all about and what does a data scientist do? What should one pursue to become a data scientist, and what are the required qualifications and path? Last but not least, is focusing on becoming a data scientist even relevant in 2025? If yes, then how important is it, and what will it change for you? Now, without delay, let’s find answers to all the above questions. Please note there is a FAQ section at the end of the blog for you to find quick answers.

Table of Contents

What is Data Science?

As we learned earlier, data science is an integral part of an organization, irrespective of the industry. It majorly focuses on bringing the data together in the form of separate fieldwork that involves processing and managing it. Carrying out this process requires professional tools that further bring important and meaningful information into the bigger picture.

In simple terms, data science combines specialized programming, machine learning and, in today’s time, AI as well. Starting with designed ways to collect data to including it as a whole to produce effective measures, data science involves various steps.

The major life cycle of filtering data consists of several steps given below:

  • Data Collection
  • Data Cleaning
  • Exploratory Data Analysis
  • Model Building
  • Model Development

Completing this process builds an in-depth understanding of data and further helps in making decisions that improve the quality of the product and user experience.

Why is Data Science Important?

Numbers and data are the new currency for any kind of successful business. Knowing everything in and out of the data makes an organization function and perform better. Thus, data science plays a big role in providing effective insights and works better in guiding an organization in the right direction.

Data Science is also an excruciating figure when it comes to enhancing both the company and its consumer’s experience. Let’s dive into different angles and see how data science helps an organization directly in its growth.

Data Science Benefits

Companies always pay keen attention to designing and finding ways to deliver the best of their capability. Data science helps crucially in the same. Here are some benefits data sciences adds to the success:

  1. Innovation and Exploration: In today’s competitive world, the dynamics of providing services are changing rapidly. Knowing your target audience and exploring the ways to deliver the best is one of the ways to uncover countless opportunities.
  2. Guidance in decision making: Using methods like data analysis and predictive predicting data helps organizations explore the risk in advance. Doing so also elevates business difficulties on initial levels as processed data showcases the required statistics.
  3. Improved Productivity: Data science helps in knowing the risk factors and other aspects of explored issues prior. It brings them into the light to measure the required solutions, and this, in return, helps in being productive and eliminating the problems in the initial stages.
  4. Efficient Consumer Experience: A major part of data science revolves around collecting data patterns from consumers so one can deliver premium levels of services. This certainly becomes possible with an efficient amount of data being processed by data scientists and professionals to deliver customized services.
  5. Measuring Performance: One of the ideal qualities of being aware of the patterns in data is the capability to see the before and after. Data science and its statistics give a window for keeping track of the activities and further measuring the right steps taken.

          Who is a Data Scientist?

          Data Scientists are professionals who are trained to find meaning in the collected data and further interpret them to make better decisions. A data scientist’s role combines dealing with numbers and statistics and also knowing advanced techniques like data visualization, predictive analysis, anomaly detection, clustering and analytics.

          An ideal data scientist works with large amounts of data to develop patterns and deliver results on consumer, market trends, cybersecurity threats and risks. They are professionals in identifying pain points and navigating the slightest differences and chances to interpret and make better use of the information to make better decisions.

          What Does a Data Scientist Actually Do?

          Being a data scientist, one indulges in activities that actively involve some kind of information. This information is constantly in the circle of the entire process and is further refined at different stages by data scientists to be read and understood easily in the future. Once this is refined to its finest, it is then run through various programs and applications to spot patterns and find solutions for problems or future ones.

          Everything is digital nowadays, data has become a sensitive and powerful tool to help businesses perform efficiently and further find ways to deliver the best services in the market. Top companies invest huge amounts of money in hiring for these roles and are very particular about finding talent in this specific domain.

          Moreover, here are a few of the things that are part of the job description for a data scientist:

          • Fluent in extracting data from multiple sources
          • Persuasive in using machine learning tools like Tableau, Apache Hadoop and Python
          • Ability to analyse the data and further spot patterns and other necessary details to find a solution
          • Use creative applications to present the given data in an easy and digestible form, like Power BI
          • Make adjustments after the feedback and keep repeating the process until one finds a solution
          • Being an excellent professional in different processes of data refining and understanding the importance of integration and storing the data.

          What are the Qualifications One Needs to Become a Data Scientist?

          Data Science is a booming field and is declared as one of the sexiest jobs in the 21st century by Harvard Business Review. Given the complexity of dealing with data and learning everything concerning it; data science revolves much around the skillset one has rather than an organized degree.

          The very first and primary requirement that this field holds is a degree in a technical field. One can also pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science and other fields that are closely related to the skillset required.

          Apart from this, data science laser focuses on skillsets. Thus, one needs to gain a certain amount of confidence in areas like data wrangling, building predictive models, neural networks, and statistical computing.

          There are several platforms like Microtek Learning that provide detailed guided courses on becoming a data scientist.

          Apart from this, there are courses like Google Data Analytics, Deep Learning, Certified Analytics Professional, Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate and Business Intelligence that can enhance your portfolio and help you land your dream job.

          What is the salary of a Data Scientist in 2025?

          Without a doubt, Data Science is one of the most popular job roles in 2025. From handling raw data to refining, it is to find active solutions. Data Scientists are known for their hold on numbers and to predict the upcoming threats. This job role is indeed a valuable asset to the company.

          According to Glassdoor, the average salary per year of a data scientist based in the US is around $1,16,182 per year.

          Conclusion

          Data Science, together is a booming industry with an estimation of 2.7 million job openings. Although it is one of the most valuable jobs in the tech industry, it does come with challenges.

          Serving in the data domain requires continuous learning and thus needs one to be on their toes in the spectrum of learning new technologies and applications all the time.

          Overall, if you are someone with a definitive interest in numbers and are willing to brush their skills as the trends in the industry, Data Scientist is an ideal position for you.

          If you are someone who is looking to excel in the data science domain and is looking for courses to create a strong portfolio, we at Microtek Learning provide expertise-guided program certification on the same. For more, visit here.

          FAQ

          What is Data Science?

          Data Science is a field that involves statistics and data. This data is collected from different sources and is further cleaned and analysed for extracting insights that are useful for tailored user experience.

          What does a Data Scientist do?

          Data Scientists are professionals who have expertise in collecting data and analysing it for further predictions to spot potential threats and depict current trends with the help of data.

          What is the average salary of a Data Scientist in the US?

          The average salary of a Data Scientist in the US area is approximately $1,16,182 per year.

          What type of qualifications does one need to become a Data Scientist?

          One needs to have a bachelor’s degree in a technical field like mathematics and statistics to become a Data Scientist. Apart from the technical background, there are several professional certifications and courses that can help you to upskill and land your dream job.

          What are the different types of job roles one can land in the field of data science?

          There are several positions that are technical part of data science apart from data scientist. They are data engineer, business intelligence analysts, data architects, data strategists and data product managers.

          Is coding required for data science?

          The answer is yes! There are several aspects of the job profile that deal with calculations and need one to dab into coding. Although it might be slightly different people who are non-coders can also become a data scientist after acquiring the required skills from high resources. A major part of the job role is to understand and work with data.

          What type of essential applications does a data scientist need to know?

          Some of the popular tools used by data scientists are Microsoft Power BI, TensorFlow, Snowflake and Tableau.

          Are data analysts and data scientists the same?

          The top priority of a data analyst is to go through existing data, clean it and study it to create reports. In comparison, data analyst works on predicting trends and manipulating the data to capture threats and solve business problems.

          Can a data scientist become a data analyst?

          Yes, one can switch to data analysis as both works are closely related yet slightly different.

          Is data science still in demand in 2025?

          The answer is yes! This industry is booming and is predicted to have countless job openings in the upcoming time.

          What Is Data Scientist? Salary, Qualifications & Career Roadmap (2024)
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