While some people love working with data, others find it boring and somewhat intimidating and even wonder how anyone could find data science interesting. The truth is that there is a lot more to data science than one might think, and these very things that create data science also make it an extremely interesting field. Individuals who are analytic, inquisitive, detail-oriented and good with numbers and figures generally make the best data scientists.
What Exactly is Data Science?
Although the term data science sounds very complex, and it can be, it can actually be broken down into a simple process. It involves little more than data and data processing. “Data” is statistics and facts while data processing is the collection and maintenance of data to provide meaningful information. Both of these things describe what data science consists of, but it goes even further than that. Data science is used to answer a question or solve a problem. The process of data science involves these steps.
• Determine what question needs to be answered.
• Determine what data or information will be used.
• Determine how the data will be collected.
• Collect and review the data.
• Look for patterns in the data.
• Store, process and analyze the data.
• Interpret the data and communicate findings to other interested parties.
How Data Science Factors Into Everyday Life?
We use data science in most areas of our lives even without realizing it. Things as simple as television ratings are determined by data science. They do surveys of different age groups, different times of day and different genres to determine television ratings. They put the data together, process it and determine what the best time is to put on a show so it will have the most viewers.
Law enforcement is another example. Policemen or detectives collect data on where the most crimes are committed, at what time of day and by what kind of individual. This helps them not just solve crimes but prevent them as well. U.S. News & World Report states that data scientists or statisticians with graduate degrees can work in various industries, including business, technology, healthcare, academia, government and more.
What Makes Data Science Such an Interesting Field?
Many things make data science an interesting field. Even an individual who gets easily bored with data and difficult questions finds it stimulating to be part of the solution. A perfect example is the famous Rubix cube. Some kids were drawn to it and spent hours trying to solve it while others give up very quickly. Even the kids who got bored and gave up on it found themselves eventually picking it up again.
Once they saw a friend solve it, it became their personal goal to solve it as well. Today, data science is used to solve much more complicated problems or to answer more serious questions, which makes it an interesting field. The thing that makes it the most interesting is that it can be used in almost every area of our lives.
Conclusion
Data science has actually been around for more than 50 years, but we now have so much more data with which to work with that’s it’s become a science and field of its own. Someone who loves analyzing things and solving problems will not only find data science to be an interesting field but also an exciting and extremely challenging field.
Related Resources:
- 20 Best Data Science Bachelor’s Degree Programs
- Do Most Data Science Careers Require an Advanced Degree?
- Do Any Careers Combine AI with Data Science?
- What Careers are Opened up by a Ph.D. in Data Science?
- Five Careers in Data Science