UPDATED 12:25 EDT / SEPTEMBER 12 2013

5 Top Data Jobs of the Future : $marts for Hire

As we move forward into the age wherein everything is connected to the Internet and the cloud is everyone’s go-to, this era is opening up a set of new jobs that will be vital to support this new ecosystem.

In an infographic created by ClickSoftware (full graphic below), it was pointed out that there will be five new data jobs that would help support this new ecosystem: Data Scientists, Pervasive Mediatricians, Virtual Environment Managers, Data Ecologists, and Digital Citizeneers.

But what are these jobs, and what exactly do they do?

5 Data Jobs of the Future

 

Data Scientists

Data Scientist is a term coined by DJ Patil and Jeff Hammerbacher that defines a person that deals with Big Data, whose functions aren’t limited by job titles like business analyst or research scientist.

Becoming a Data Scientist requires skills such as having a handle on diverse technologies like Hadoop, Java, Python, C++, ECL; expertise in computer science as well as other scientific and mathematical disciplines; have strong business skills including communication, planning, organizing, and managing; be able to visualize data; and be able to think creative and innovate.  Another skill that comes quite handy in this field is predictive analytics.

Different outfits already have predictive analytics in place to help Data Scientists project when populations are at risk such as in cases of volcano eruptions.

Pervasive Mediatricians

The term sounds like it’s referring to a doctor and it may as well be, because Pervasive Mediatricians are people who make sure that the gadgets you use at work are the best gadgets; that they are portable, give employees flexibility; and secured.  So they’re like doctors prescribing employees what devices they should use for work and see if the device they are using fit their workload best.

Virtual Environment Managers

Virtual Environment Managers oversee virtual environments such as Facebook and Google. IT is their task, determining if these environments are helping workers become productive or if it’s the source of their laziness.  Is internet access being used wisely or abused for personal gain?

Data Ecologists

As more files are being moved to the cloud, the need for someone to manage them is becoming tantamount.  Data Ecologists create and manage data in private and public clouds.  They are the people responsible for making your files easily accessible wherever you are and no matter what device you are on.  They make things easier for people.

Digital Citizeneer

There are people hired who inconspicuously monitor the behavior of employees to know what they are complaining about or if they are smack-talking the company.  The Digital Citizeneer generally gains insight into the well-being of employees in the workplace.

Now with workplaces allowing their employees to access various Internet sites, the need to monitor their activity has become paramount.  And that’s the job of Digital Citizeneers.  Are employees gossiping about the company on Facebook?  Are they Tweeting embarrassing office moments?  Are they defacing the company across social sites?  Digital Citizeneers manage online ethics for online and other activities.

Experts wanted

 

The need for such experts has been identified by many in the enterprise, some organizations already carving out a place for these new gigs.  InMobi recently acquired Overlay Media which Context Engine which developed an analytical software solution specifically designed to track trends among smartphone and tablets owners.  But the acquisition has been labeled as a talent buy based on the official release, which emphasized the the data scientists that comprises Overlay’s team.

Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, stated that we should expect Black Hat data scientists to come sooner than later, as he sees this sector as quite transformative and people are finding more areas where you can do interesting things with data.

  • Data Scientist-as-a-Service

Not all companies have the resources to hire and employ Big Data Scientists, so the next best thing is to outsource.  MasterCard Advisors, the credit company’s services subsidiary, injected an undisclosed sum into a Chicago-based analytics provider called Mu Sigma to help retail clients make sense of consumer purchasing trends.

Aside from these five jobs, it is expected that more jobs related to virtualization, cloud computing, Big Data, and even flash storage, to be in demand by year 2016.  The question now is, is our education system equipped with the right courses to deliver experts in these fields?

  • Breeding and Grooming Experts

Syracuse and the University of Washington are just two schools to offer degrees in data science.  The degree focuses on molding students to professionals equipped with the skills and knowledge to analyze, problem solve and deal with “big data” issues as well as use data science techniques to analyze and find meaning in data sets.

Some other schools offer graduate programs to help you become a data scientist, but that requires the participants to already have a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics, science, computer science, engineering, or another related field.

  • Good pay

But why would you want to become a Data Scientist?  Well, for one, the industry is just going to need more of them as technology becomes more advanced and more data points are generated, and the pay is quite good.

The average American Data Scientist earns $64,000.  But if you’re a foreign Data Scientist that lands a job in the US, you’d likely earn more, an average of $68,500 at the junior level.  If you’re wondering why foreign Data Scientists earn more, it’s simply because  they are usually among the best and brightest from their home countries, and they tend to be more flexible geographically.

Here’s the aforementioned infographic in its entirety:


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