Why Is There High Demand for Data Scientists?

The future is data-driven.

This post is presented in partnership with Monash University.

We’re now living in an era where information is key to any organisation. Everything we do online, anything we sign up to is collecting our data to shape strategies and inform decisions. 

Streaming services, social media, hospitals, radio stations, sports teams—pretty much every workplace—is collecting data of some kind. 

It's all part of the 'information economy' where data is now the most important resource globally. But this information collected is pointless if no one knows how to find it, organise it and interpret it.

Enter data scientists. These are professionals who are trained to analyse and process data and turn it into a plan for an organisation and let me tell you, demand for them is booming.

Here’s why.

Companies have heaps of data but need someone to organise it.

Nearly every organisation today is sitting on massive amounts of data with stats revealing that in 2020 there were around 44 zettabytes (that's enormous) of data in the world. Also known as 'Big Data', this information is being collected every day by businesses all over the world.

With so much information available, employers are looking for data scientists to help sort, clean, analyse, process and manage it for them.

Why? Because this data can be used to inform decisions like, ‘Do people want the product we’re selling?’, ‘What demographic of users are engaging in our content?’, and even ‘How much stock should we order based on consumer spending habits?’

Without a data scientist’s help, all these strategies will never be realised.

Data gets results.

Unsurprisingly, companies that use data scientists are getting better results.

In fact, companies that use data to drive their decisions were, on average, five per cent more productive and six per cent more profitable than their competitors.

Basically, a data-driven strategy = better results. You can’t argue with that.

Every industry needs data scientists.

You name the industry, and the chances are they need data scientists to help. From medicine, IT and banking to travel, charities and sports teams, each industry wants data scientists to help improve what they’re doing.

This is great news if you’re a data scientist or thinking about studying the discipline ‘cos it means there are so many employment opportunities out there. You can also work across a range of industries you'd like to explore in your career. Variety is the spice of data science—I think that's how the saying goes?

If you want to study data science after high school or think you might change into data science, check out the courses Monash University offer.

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