Jobs: Data Scientist versus Data Analyst

If you’re thinking of becoming a data scientist or a data analyst, here is an article that will help you decide which job you might be a fit for. In this article, we will talk about responsibilities, qualifications, skills and salary.

Data Scientist

Responsibilities

As a data scientist, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Identify opportunities by leveraging company data to drive business solutions
• Collect and determine the correct data sets that could stem from structured and unstructured data from various sources
• Ensure accuracy and completeness of data by cleaning and validating it
• Apply and develop models and algorithms using internal data sets
• Develop A/B testing framework
• Mine and conduct analysis of data to optimize and improve product development, marketing techniques and business strategies

Skills

As a data scientist, you will need to have the following skills to be successful:

• Statistical analysis and data mining skills (regression, statistical tests, random forest, text mining, properties of distributions, etc.) are useful to identify patterns in your company data or detect anomalies

• Knowing machine learning is a plus, your future employer will ask you to implement algorithms and statistical models using this technology

• Being able to write code with different languages such as Java, R, Python or SQL

• Having data storytelling skills to communicate and explain your actionable insights for a non-technical audience

• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) to be able to work with different stakeholders (engineering, product, business, leadership, etc.)

Qualifications

Usually data scientists have the following qualifications:

• Master Degree or higher is preferred

• PhD required for some positions

• Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or Physics

Salary

The salary for a data scientist depends usually on your location, but usually the average salary is quite high. Below, you will find the salary you can expect.

• San Francisco: $122,380

• Seattle: $109,259

• New York: $102,595

• Boston: $101,301

• Los Angeles: $99,094

• Austin: $97,651

Data Analyst

Responsibilities

As a data analyst, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Work with business leaders to identify opportunities

• Create reports and dashboards internally and sometimes for external clients

• Manipulate, analyze and interpret complex data sets

• Acquire data from primary and secondary data sources

• Sift through business numbers and data to build a story from a hidden information

Skills

As a data analyst, you will need to have the following skills to be successful:

• Having coding skills in languages such as SQL, Python and/or R

• Being experienced with tools such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets

• Having analytical and problem-solving skills

• Being able to build reports and data visualizations using tools such as Tableau, Power BI or Looker

• Understanding of data warehousing and ETL techniques

• Knowledge of data cleaning and transforming techniques

• Having excellent written/verbal communication skills

Qualifications

Usually data analysts have the following qualifications:

• Bachelor Degree or higher is preferred

• Master required for some positions

• Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or Physics

Salary

The salary for a data analyst depends also usually on your location, but usually the average salary is a bit lower than the one for a data scientist. Below, you will find the salary you can expect.

• San Francisco: $80,905

• Seattle: $65,988

• New York: $66,396

• Boston: $65,104

• Los Angeles: $63,877

• Austin: $60,557

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