What a data scientist really does
You build models and analyses that answer business questions, then convince people to act on them.
FieldTech and design
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Considerable preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for data scientists, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Pull, clean and reshape large data sets before any analysis can start.
- Explore data and build charts to find patterns and explain them.
- Build predictive models, then test and compare them with proper metrics.
- Turn a vague business question into something data can answer.
- Present results and recommendations to managers who are not technical.
- Write code and small tools to repeat analyses.
- Read research and keep up with new methods.
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- A large part of the work is cleaning data, not building models. Task 8, Clean and manipulate raw data using statistical software: importance 76, Core (O*NET Tasks, 15-2051.00)
- Communicating results matters as much as computing them. Presenting is a core task. Task 4, Present results of mathematical modeling and data analysis to management or other end users: importance 80, Core (O*NET Tasks, 15-2051.00)
- The field feels highly competitive. Level of Competition: 65% highly competitive (O*NET Work Context, 15-2051.00)
- You talk with colleagues about the work often, usually daily or weekly. Face-to-Face Discussions: 43% every day, 48% once a week or more (O*NET Work Context, 15-2051.00)
- Deadlines come weekly, and a good share of people work over 40 hours. Time Pressure: 52% once a week or more; Duration of Typical Work Week: 38% more than 40 hours (O*NET Work Context, 15-2051.00)
How people get into it
O*NET places Data Scientists in Job Zone 4, but advanced degrees are common: 48% of surveyed workers say a bachelor's degree is required and 44% a master's degree. Typical backgrounds are statistics, computer science, math, economics or a quantitative science, with strong Python or R and SQL skills.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Plateful, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: The trial uses a browser notebook with small prepared data sets and preinstalled libraries. It cannot show working with data at real scale, waiting on long training runs, building data pipelines with engineers, or watching a model's business impact over months.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
Other careers you can try
Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 15-2051.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.