~Lc~ Posted May 15, 2015 Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 Hello all, As you may infer I am one of the ancient ones that have finished IB and multiple other higher educational challenges since. My primary current interest is in data science and analytics. It is perhaps a bit too early for you to know about where your careers will take you but it's not a bad idea to discuss a few options which may help you shape your own journey. So what is data science? essentially it's a combination of knowing statistics, how to apply it to real life (commercial, economic, social etc.) problems, and having the computing skills to be able to extract, manipulate, and analyse data. I like to think of it as the combination of being an economist, statistician and IT person. Quite demanding eh? If only someone told me about this before I started Uni! Why am I posting about this? It's an industry that's booming, and it doesn't necessarily require you to be a full time programmer. There are other functions you can operate in (such as being the person who communicates results to clients/ AKA the "consultant"). It's also an area where you can practice a lot of creativity, so if you're at a stage where you think math is all about following a process and getting 1 number, I am shattering your dreams and telling you that in reality that is not true! How do I get all these skills at once? There are some very demanding Bachelor's degrees that will combine the 3 (I believe I heard of one in Lithuania). But employers will invest in you as long as you have the right fundamentals (you're numerical, and have people skills. There is often a trade off between having either or). So what am I trying to say? Well if this is something that may be interesting to you, I hope this thread will help you make an informed decision when choosing your university course. Feel free to ask questions, I am in no way an expert yet as I am at the beginning of my career, but I'm certainly on the right track. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
King112 Posted May 15, 2015 Report Share Posted May 15, 2015 Hi,I have a general question, is data science a science as in the physics kind of thing? Or is it more along the lines of making sales to people?I didn't really understand what exactly data science means, so if you could clear that.Thanks, and all the best in your career.King112 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Lc~ Posted May 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2015 Not really like physics, don't think of the term as a classification of the areas of knowledge from TOK. The term is used loosely here. The "science" link behind it is the statistical theory you'd be using. You can read a more extensive description on wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_science Some of the terminology will be alien to you! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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