Are Data Scientist Hipsters? When will the meme die?

It will end if and when companies determine they aren't getting a return on their investment in their data scientists. Until such a time, the meme lives on...

>>7996642
>wearing chuck taylor's and a tie
Is this a smear campaign against data science? I don't want to be associated with these nerds.

Look at his smug goddamn face.

>>7996642
lol also why is relational algebra a bullet point? Relational algebra can be taught to anybody with half a brain in 20 mins.

>>7996709
probably cause whoever wrote it forgot or thought it'd be included in "databases SQL"

"Data" is not inherently valuable.

Just because you have collected terabytes of names, addresses and penis sizes does not mean you are doing something productive.

Statistics are dull and creating buzzwords for something that already exists is not clever.

The number of big name tech companies who have fallen for this meme is disgusting, and promoting false jobs in this "new" area of faggotry is damaging for technology and society

>>7996642
Too distracted by "21th" to read the rest of it. I'm a terrible person.

>>7996751
Data is the new oil. Data is the new currency. Big Data, Data Analytics Data Sanitation, Data Wrangling, Data Warehouse, DATA, DATA, DATA.

P-VALUES!

>>7996751
Sorry, but I don'the think you really know what a data scientist does. It is all about extracting meaningful and valuable knowledge from the data. If there is no value in this, companies will figure this out in a hurry. But, there is value here and that is why data science will continue to be a hot field in coming years. Get over it.

>>7996768
yeah what he said. it's the sexiest job of the 21th century.

>>7996772
I'm fine with MS/PhD statisticians, mathematicians, computer scientistic, physicist, biologist or whatever doing data science. But now it's being created into its own field where they train students less rigorous versions of statistics, mathematics, etc and how to program it on a computer and get a result without understanding the machinery of what they're doing. They get a hodgepodge of courses and get branded "data scientist".

>>7996768
Looking for trends in an ocean of meaningless shit data is the worst excuse for a "scientist" I have ever heard.

At best they are just a market analyst/statistician, at worst they are basically those cold-callers who managed to get hold of your contact details and then spam you with useless restaurant fliers because they joined the dots between your address and the local McDonalds.

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>>7996767
S-stop. You're reminding me of my professors and giving me PTSD.

>>7996777
I'll concede this point. I am a PhD mathematician and computer scientist who worked in this field and, due to current demand, have witnessed a dramatic influx of underqualified people flooding the field.

>>7996777
You mean exactly what happened to computer science?

Well, what did you expect? Big companies that give huge donations to universities need cheap data monkeys and a PhD isn't going to work for peanuts. But these trained monkeys will.

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>>7996642
It's not really a meme because there is a mass proliferation and aggregation of data that's occurred over the last 6 years that people can't figure out wtf to do with and want to monetize it somehow.

>>7996751
yeah because knowing everything about a potential customer isn't an advertiser's wet dream amirite?

Data is so worthless man, you're right, anonymous loser #7996751 has convinced me that there's no money in data collection, better let Google and their 500 billion market capitalization know, some anonymous contrarian faggot has said that the emperor wears no clothes!

>>7996887
Why did you stop? Sounds like it's the good moment to get a huge rise

>>7996777
Simple economics. There's a lot of data being created and statisticians are rare compared to data producers (internet, healthcare, government programs, scientists.)

It's only natural that they lower the bar a bit to meet the demand. It's not like most of these guys are going into academia anyways, they just need the training to do what needs to be done in government and the private sector.

What's a good statistics book? I think I also need one about stochastic processes

>>7997115
I made enough money to retire comfortably and decided it was time to get out of the game. I still do a bit of consulting when I get bored, so I guess I'm not completely out.

I am considering getting a Msc in Survey Statistics, is it worth it?

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>>7996642
>STORYTELLING

>>7997341
Yes, if you are honestly interested in the work. The MS can help separate you from the crowd.

>>7996642
Data and statistics both should never be trusted.

>>7997023
Everyone in the west has been bombarded with advertising since they were children now. There is only so much a consumer can consume, so much advertising they can digest.

People will sell their personal information for peanuts now, it may only be worth peanuts. In fact the only difference is that info is digitized data, but it was always there. Credit card corps really own the important info, not only that but they can collect 30% interest on top of selling data.

>>7997379
what? don't tell me youre one of those 'data can be manipulated' etc people

>>7997378
I am, but I am not sure what kind of masters program I should take. The university I am currently doing my bachelors degree offers a Survey Methodology Master of arts. That one is more about the sampling and methods and only secondarily about statistical analysis, but I am already working for my statistics prof. here and could probably get into a PhD program much easier afterwards.

On the other hand the Statistics Msc offers more math.. I just can't decide

Statistics master race reporting in.
Pro tip: If someone mentions "Big Data" think fraud and run away.

>>7996777
well consider the following:

someone has to do the grunt work and creating a diploma mill process for these skills helps close the demand gap so that people with actual ability can continue working on the less mundane side of the job.

Imagine yourself as someone in this ""field"" employed in industry and you have limited resources and time. Creating a bunch of monkeys helps free up some of those resources enabling you to work on larger and more complex problems, pushing the meme attracts the idiots who would be doing marketing or some other meme tier job into doing something slightly more productive

>>7997702
God damn it this is the new "computer science" software development scam isn't it?

>>7997786

any emerging field will have need for more grunts than taskmasters anon

at least most of these fields reward the grunts with cushy living conditions unlike the past where they'd be doing backbreaking work

>>7997418
Well it can

>>7996642
Big data is like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it.

>>7996642
Here's my two cents.
Database administrators, statisticians, machine learning experts and software developers have existed for a long time. We can all see why these disciplines are useful, and don't really question why it would bring value to businesses. Data science is the intersection of those fields and so, understandably, there are very few people who could honestly call themselves "Data Scientists".
I think it's too much for companies to expect to find these kinds of people in bulk, and they will eventually find themselves recruiting "Data Science" teams composed of statisticians/software engineers/etc, or recruiting actual data scientists on contracts, because there will never be enough data scientists to go around. A lot of the people billing themselves as "Data Scientists" are opportunists who are motivated almost entirely by money, and they will be incapable of giving businesses the return they've been promised. As a result, the demand will drop, and the role will become better defined, weeding out the bullshitters. Actual data scientists will continue to be paid well for what they do, and will be employed mostly by large companies.
Due to the rise of vast quantities of stuctured and unstructured data that is both publicly available and generated by businesses, smaller companies will still want to (or even have to) extract value from their data in order to remain competitive, but there will be a significant increase in the number of APIs and tools that will allow any monkey at their company to do most of the job of a data scientist. Actual data scientists will be brought on as consultants.
The "Data Scientist" name will stick around for years in the same way "Computer Scientist" has.

>>7996642
Whoever made that image should be shot

Why aren't theses guys being spit on regularly as they walk to class or work?

why aren't these guys treated like the injury lawyers, tax agents, or mormons?

>>7998422
I was fucking your mother when I was 13, sucker

>>7996789
>Looking for trends in an ocean of meaningless shit data

You just described most research positions you dumb undergrad

>>7997441
Don't know much about the program but check out the analytics program at nc state university. Had about a 10% acceptance rate last time I saw.

>>7996642
>hacker mindset

Didn't read the rest, this just sprung into my eye. Stupid shit.

>>7997379
>>>/pol/

>>7996777
I agree, but I don't know why you aren't fine with it. A statistician or mathematician might know more about the machinery of what they're doing but that does not confer any benefit to the company. All they need is the work done. And they need people who do the work to be able to explain the results to others in a non-autistic way.

>>7998513
Well stated. You get it.

>>7998513
Great response.