Data Science: The Fastest Growing Industry?

We are living in a world where technology and data are king. There has never been a more data-heavy time in human existence. And with this influx of data and information comes a new and exciting field: data science. And this new field isn’t just emerging; it’s exploding. According to research from LinkedIn’s 2017 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report, data science has been enjoying a boom in the last half decade. As a data scientist myself, I’m absolutely thrilled to hear that my field is growing so exponentially.

According to the report, there are 6.5 times more data science positions today than there were five years ago. What’s more, the study also shows that jobs in machine learning have expanded by 9.8 times in the last half decade; and big data developers are also seeing a rise in popularity. While this information is gathered exclusively from the U.S, I don’t doubt that similar statistics would show for the U.K.

This telling LinkedIn study also reveals some of the most common jobs within data science. According to the research, the five most popular career paths, in order are research assistant, teaching assistant, software engineer, data scientist and business analyst. Some of the most popular skills include analysis, software development and cloud computing.

The research also suggests that over 35,000 people in the United States currently have some form of data science skills, and with the rise of the industry and the demand for these skills, this poses a great opportunity for data scientists. If you’ve been holding on to a data science degree just waiting for the opportunity to make your move, now is the time. It’s abundantly clear that the industry is in high-demand. And as cloud-computing and machine learning gain more popularity, the amount of data that needs processing will continue to increase. This is where the data scientists will step in.

Again, I am incredibly excited to see just how popular my field is. Data scientists will soon become the norm for almost any company. Here’s to a bright future for a large and diverse group of outstanding analysts.