Data scientists

In August 2006, in a small high school in Colorado, a teacher named Karl Fisch created a simple PowerPoint presentation entitled “Did You Know?” Within six months, it was uploaded on the Web. Viewers loved it, showed it live in various classrooms and conference rooms, and did their own versions of it. Since then, “Did You Know?” (also known as “Shift Happens”) has been seen by an estimated 80 million people around the world.

One sequence of slides in “Did You Know?” says: “Many of today’s college majors didn’t exist 10 years ago, [such as] New Media, Organic Agriculture, e-business, Nanotechnology, Homeland Security. What will they study 10 years from now?”

The key to successful education today is educating for the future, rather than for the present. During teacher training sessions I conduct for C&E Foundation, Inc. (CEFI), I always tell Grade 1 teachers that, since the children they are teaching now will join the world of work in 12 years at the earliest, they should not teach as though the world we now live in will be like the world the children will live in in 2026. Teachers should then not focus on skills useful only today, but on what will be useful forever (such as critical thinking and creative thinking).

One job that started to exist just a few years ago and will be tremendously important and popular in only a few more years is that of a “Data Scientist.”

Fortunately for us and thanks to IBM Philippines (which first advocated focusing on this field), the government has recognized the importance of data scientists for our national development. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has come out with two CHED Memorandum Orders that allow today’s college students to specialize in data science. The Department of Education (DepEd) has included data science as an elective in the Accountancy Business Management (ABM) strand of the Academic Track of Senior High School.

What is a Data Scientist?

The term “data science” is not new. It has been around since 1960 as a synonym of “computer science.” Columbia University’s “The Journal of Data Science Journal” started in 2003. Its use outside the field of computer science, however, is more recent.

Basically, a Data Scientist uses a tool called Analytics (often used as a synonym for Data Science), a computer-enhanced version of a very old business skill. In pre-digital days, one used one’s memory and intelligence, with help from observations and conversations, to see the interrelationships of events. Today, Analytics uses data taken from mobile phones and social networks, as well as research data from governments and academic institutions, to identify and predict trends.

In the field of business, a Data Scientist typically works in business analysis, business intelligence, economic analysis, finance analysis, healthcare services, human resources management, market intelligence, market research, operations research, process analysis, product development, productivity analysis, public safety and security, sales and customer analysis, and social services.

In other fields, Analytics is crucial in weather forecasting, e-agriculture, terrorism prevention, clinical trials, military campaigns, experimental physics, investigative journalism, even literary criticism (such as scientifically resolving the question of whether it was really William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon who wrote all those plays).

CHED Memorandum Order No. 11, s. 2013, lists the entry level jobs for students finishing a specialization track in Business Analytics: Junior Business Analyst, Executive Operations Assistant, Marketing Representative, Operations Analyst, Human Resource Associate, Training Associate, Quality Assurance Associate, Insurance Analyst, Accounts Payable Analyst, and General Accounting Analyst. (There are 15 entry-level jobs for all sectors and 6 entry-level jobs specifically for the Business Process Outsourcing sector.)

The same order lists competencies or learning outcomes that these students will possess after taking Business Analytics, such as being able to: “define business requirements, understand data management concepts and criticality of data availability in order to make reliable business decisions, participate actively in business discussions with various departments and create common reports or specific/unique reports with regard to predictive and prescriptive analytics, and convey results of data analysis to organizational stakeholders at various levels.” (There are 13 of these competencies, and a lot more for each of the subjects.)

The Analytics track or minor consists of six subjects: Fundamentals of Business Analytics, Fundamentals of Data Warehousing, Fundamentals of Descriptive Analytics, Fundamentals of Predictive Analytics, Fundamentals of Prescriptive Analytics, and Analytics Internship. The last subject includes Industry Immersion. (“Immersion” is also the term used in the Senior High School curriculum; it is like but not exactly the same as OJT or apprenticeship.)

CHED Memorandum No. 12, s. 2013, is similar. It allows students taking up Information Technology programs to take Business Analytics and lists an additional 7 entry-level jobs in IT.

Why the government interest in Analytics?

The government talks of the job opportunities for Filipinos: “The growing demand of leaders to make better and faster business decisions makes Business Analytics and Optimization a huge market opportunity. By 2015, the global market opportunity for Analytics is estimated at $212 billion. [There will be] a global shortage of about 3 million people by 2018.” (To be continued)