The sexiest job of the 21st century

The term “data scientist” has only been around since 2008, but already there are tens of thousands of these big data analysts working for start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and government agencies. The trend is only going to continue growing, which is why Harvard Business Review calls data scientists “the sexiest job of the 21st century.”

Just take a look at the stats from careers website Indeed.com, which notes that the search term “data scientist” has skyrocketed in just the past two years. But data analysis isn’t exactly a new field, so what’s driving all this attention?

What’s making data scientists suddenly sexy?

Like so many other industries, data science owes a lot to the exponential growth of the Internet. As Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, pointed out in 2010, “Between the birth of the world and 2003, there were five exabytes of information created. We [now] create five exabytes every two days.” There is now data in everything, and the reality for businesses big and small is that if they don’t make the best use of that data, the competition will.

Unfortunately for those businesses, the amount of data coming in far surpasses the number of qualified analysts who can interpret what it all means and help drive decisions and change. And that is what’s behind the recent job surge for these highly specialized analysts.

Who is the data scientist?

Because a large part of interpreting the mountains of data is developing solutions to use the information more effectively, a data scientist isn’t just someone who can pore over the minute details. “Think of him or her as a hybrid of data hacker, analyst, communicator, and trusted adviser,” writes HBR’s Thomas H. Davenport and D.J. Patil. “The combination is extremely powerful — and rare.”

It takes more than just coding skills or a quick quantitative mind to excel; the data scientists of the next decade and beyond have to speak a language his or her teams can understand and get behind.

How do you prepare?

The W. P. Carey School of Business is among the first business schools in the U.S. to recognize this growing need for data scientists, offering a nine-month Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS-BA) and a 16-month Online MS-BA, meeting the urgent worldwide demand. You’ll gain the deep analytical skills necessary for improving business decision making, for deriving value from big data, and for leading data-driven strategies to innovate and improve strategic execution.

The MS-BA curriculum concludes with an applied project, a culmination of all you’ve learned throughout the program. The project gives you invaluable real-world experience, as well as a chance to showcase your leadership and collaborative skills by working in a team of your peers.

And because the MS-BA is delivered top to bottom by the Departments of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management — both ranked Top 15 by U.S. News & World Report, you’ll learn from faculty who consult with global companies and continually research the latest trends and technology, better preparing you for the digital world ahead.