IBM Corp. is attempting to give the data science profession a boost by championing a new certification and launching an internal apprenticeship program today that gives young people with no information technology experience a chance to become professional data scientists.

The U.S. currently has more than 150,000 unfilled data science jobs, according to last summer’s Linkedin Workforce Report. That’s a problem for companies that want to take advantage of the sprawling assortment of data analytics tools as well as for those such as IBM that have products to sell them.

IBM worked with The Open Group, a global consortium of about 625-member companies that develops open, vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications, on what the company said is a first-of-its-kind data scientist certification. It’s based on peer reviews and demonstrated practical experience, rather than standardized tests.

“It provides an objective, reliable measure of data science capabilities and qualifications,” Martin Fleming and Seth Dobrin wrote in a post published today on IBM’s Think blog. Fleming is IBM’s chief analytics officer and chief economist and Dobrin is the company’s chief data officer.

IBM will be the first company to offer the certification to its own employees, providing three levels of certification and support by its internal badge program.

Certifications are common in technical fields where virtuosity can be measured by metrics such as test scores. However, they can be controversial in professions that place a premium on “soft” skills that aren’t easily quantified. Data science demands a combination of technical skills and creativity, so the peer review process is intended to measure both.

IBM also said it has launched an internal apprenticeship program as part of its “new collar” initiative, which aims to hire young employees who lack traditional backgrounds or even college diplomas. IBM says between 10 and 15 percent of its current new hires don’t have traditional four-year degrees.

The 24-month program provides a combination of education, mentoring and practical experience with employees working toward level one certification as an Open Group-certified data scientist. The first cohort of five students was hired last week from a pool of hundreds of applicants. IBM intends to expand the program aggressively across the U.S. but wouldn’t specify any targets for the number of people who will be hired.

Rather than looking for degrees, IBM is after people “who are highly curious, have a spirit of a continuous learning and have analytics capabilities,” said Ana Echeverri, an IBM data science growth strategies lead. In contrast to remote or even classroom learning, she said, “they have the chance to be part of a great company. It’s life-changing.”

The program is a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor, which gives IBM access a variety of funding, credentialing and tax benefits. In a tight labor market, such programs also make business sense, Echeverri said.

Building skills internally is cheaper than paying for them on the open market, and graduates of the program tend to stay with the company. “We’ve found that these people are just as competent as those with advanced degrees,” said Echeverri, who holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, an MBA and a master’s in analytics.

Image: IBM