DataTau | Ask DT: Do I need a Masters?

DataTau

15 points by rsm 3655 days ago | 9 comments

Hi Datatau,

I am currently a software engineer looking to become a data scientist in the near future. I am currently working through my own variation of the Open Source Data Science masters curriculum (http://datasciencemasters.org/) but I have noticed that most of the data science positions advertised in the job market almost always require at least a Masters (with a PHD being preferable).

Coming from a software development background (mainly CRUD development) do you believe a masters is necessary or would going through something like the open source data science masters on my own as well as working on side projects and Kaggle competitions be enough for me to become a more attractive candidate? At this point I can't really do a full time masters and all the online options are beyond my budget (also I have a preference for brick and mortar),I have also considered bootcamps but at his point there are no online options and I am unable to relocate for more than 1 month.

5 points by tl25jc 3655 days ago | link

I worked as a data scientist for 3 years then left my company to get a MS in statistics. I'm currently finishing up a program at an ivy league university. Honestly, even as I'm finishing up my degree I agree with skadamat.

I learned way more about how to program (in many languages), build models, apply machine learning techniques, etc etc, on the job in 3 years than I did in my undergrad or thus far during my graduate degree. The only way to really learn data science is to do it and the fact of the matter is that school just doesn't provide enough doing. Jump on a few Kaggle comps and survey the multiple lists of online resources. If you're looking into more focused topics, Coursera is a great resource.

These online incubator programs seem to me to be sort of joke honestly. They are all basically 6-11 week survey courses of CS, Statistics, NLP, HIVE, PIG, Python programming, etc. Long enough to learn the very very basics (in some cases just the buzz words) but not long enough to learn anything really useful. Plus they are expensive in some cases.

I'm not saying that a graduate degree isn't useful. I've learned a ton about theoretical statistics and CS and it has certainly provided me with a great new prospective and augments what I learned on the job. But, if I hadn't had that prior work experience I would still be ill equipped to jump into a Data Science job.

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4 points by skadamat 3655 days ago | link

Nah you don't need a Master's, many of the data scientist positions, especially at startups, don't require a MS or PhD (even though often its preferred).

Do lots of data science projects and of course, don't forget to meet people! Find local meetups and meet other data scientists. Write blog posts about a cool analysis on some data you did. Build libraries for Python, get involved in the community.

I would also focus way less on specific roles / titles/ 'becoming a data scientist'. Many companies have software engineers doing data science work. Others have positions like 'Data Engineers' where you split your time doing analysis and doing data infrastructure work. I would also consider Data Analyst and other positions as well.

The key is to find teams / companies that have smart people and are tackling interesting problems. Teams that promote curiosity and ones that have employees that are truly passionate about their work. In these kinds of environments, the titles are just there for HR. They are much more interdisciplinary and you can learn a lot from your coworkers on a variety of topics.

The company I'm interning for right now (as a data scientist) is looking for data scientists if you're interested. I haven't even finished my Bachelor's degree yet!

If you're interested - http://radius.com/jobs/

I've been interning since January and I've learned a lot more in 3 months than I would have in any academic Master's program. I've learned more interning as a data scientist than I did in my 4.5 years of undergraduate college!

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3 points by eben13 3654 days ago | link

I posted this on a similar thread awhile ago, and I think the answer still applies. As always YMMV:

Speaking as a DS (with a PhD), we tend to look for people with PhDs not because of specific domain knowledge, but because those people have learned how to conduct large scale, long term research independently. Despite what people tell you, this is a skill that must be learned and is one of the rites of passage of grad school. Can you assess a large, open ended problem? Get the data? Do a literature search? Rapidly acquire the theory and math necessary? Apply it? Kaggle competitions and courses are nice, but a short term project with a pre-selected data set doesn't represent the reality at our company for a DS. Without a PhD, I'd need to see a portfolio with significant long term (6 months or more) real research projects to be considered.

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2 points by geringer 3655 days ago | link

It is going to depend on your geographic location and specific company. But I would say in general, you should consider a Masters in Analytics (or similar) for your longer term job market competitiveness.

Right now almost every programmer wants to be a Data Scientist. So, whenever a data science job is posted, they receive hundreds or thousands of resumes. How can they manage that? They eliminate anyone without ALL the requirements. If it says Master degree is required, they usually mean it.

Check this program. I think it is only about $15,000 and takes 20 months to complete. http://sps.cuny.edu/programs/ms_dataanalytics

Good Luck.

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2 points by geringer 3655 days ago | link

Follow up to my earlier post. I know the manager of a team who is currently hiring for a Data Scientist position. I asked him specifically if the Masters degree was a hard requirement, he replied that "the masters is a hard requirement per upper management".

So I don't think "Kaggle Master" is going to substitute for a University Master's degree, in this case.

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2 points by skadamat 3655 days ago | link

Yeah I mean I think it also depends a lot on the company. If OP mostly wants to work at big companies, having a MS is useful because corporations love credentials (not a knock against them, its generally just the truth).

Startups / medium sized companies in general are okay with lots of projects, experience, etc. They love self starters. Even if an MS is required, if you have some cool iPython notebooks / blog posts on explaining / implementing grad-student-level algorithms and concepts then often that's enough :)

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1 point by Quietlike 3654 days ago | link

So upper management assholes are now deciding what it takes to be a data scientist? Wow. I guess we can thank the HBR type magazines for that bit.

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2 points by skadamat 3653 days ago | link

Oh cmon, we are all data literate here, I wouldn't generalize about all upper management everywhere. These are probably just more traditional mega corps where credentials are important because it's a filter for them. But regardless, there's tons of companies that have dropped the graduate degree requirement, instead making it preferred, or just an 'or'

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1 point by rsm 3655 days ago | link

Interesting, thanks for that link. Do you reckon an online program such as this would still be considered competitive in the job market as opposed to a more traditional Msc in CS (With a focus on algorithms,machine learning, ai,data mining and distributed systems)?

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