According to LinkedIn, data science is one of the fastest-growing jobs in the United States. This growth can be attributed to the fact that people are starting to look into jobs of the future as automation and technology start replacing different roles. With reports and publications continuing to name data science as one of the top jobs in the United States and around the world, it is important to look at why this is the case.

The Application of Data Science Is Expanding

Data scientists are no longer only responsible for using their engineering skills to analyze and help us understand data; they are also being used in other areas. A common area is in business where data scientists are becoming an integral part of the decision-making process.

The insights they glean from the data they collect and analyze are being used by stakeholders to drive business decisions in these digital times. This is why institutions like the Merrimack College are offering Masters of Science in Data Science degrees, which you can apply for at https://onlinedsa.merrimack.edu/data-science/. These courses combine data science skills with business skills to cater to the expanding roles of data scientists and arm them with the requisite business skills required in today’s workspaces.

We Are Creating More Data Than Ever Before

Today, we are creating about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day. For each data entry point, companies need to understand it and what they can do with it. For example, they may want to know which social media posts had the most likes and shares. Due to the explosion of the amount of data we create every day, the demand for data scientists with the skills to analyze it and make it more digestible will continue to increase.

Data Is Changing the Way Businesses Operate

Machine learning, which overlaps with data science, is a type of artificial intelligence where machines and algorithms learn and evolve and can be used to make decisions. Machine learning is everywhere and more businesses are using it to make correct decisions based on past data. By doing so, they can save time and resources while making their decision-making processes a lot more efficient.

The Growth of Startups

Startups are everywhere, and with technology startups infiltrating almost all industries, data scientists are critical for the early-stages. Data scientists are not only required for the tasks that strictly fall under data science, but also in business analytics, machine learning as we saw above, and database maintenance.

For these startups, data scientists are taking over and replacing traditional roles like statistical, economic, and revenue projections.

Data Science Is Solving Some Major Challenges

Artificial intelligence, data science, and robotics are being used to solve some of the challenges we have not been able to solve with traditional tools. Data analysis, used with predictive analysis, is being used to tackle childhood obesity, food shortages, and to predict how much risk a person is at for certain diseases and conditions like cancer.

There is no doubt that data is all around us, and there is a need for data scientists who can do something with this data to make our world a better place, help businesses make better decisions, and help us take on some of the most stubborn challenges we face today.