Data Scientist vs Data Analyst | Which Is Right For You?

Alex The Analyst
10 Jun 202007:47
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThe video compares data scientists versus data analysts, analyzing their responsibilities, qualifications, skills, and salaries. It explains how data scientists focus on discovering future opportunities and trends to help guide business strategy, while analysts solve immediate business problems. Data scientists typically need a master's degree or higher in a STEM field, while analysts only require a bachelor's. Both use data tools like Python, SQL, Tableau and statistical software, but data scientists also work on machine learning models. With higher salaries, data science may seem more lucrative but requires advanced technical skills; data analysts provide an accessible career path for many.

Takeaways
  • πŸ˜€ Data scientists focus on discovering opportunities and trends to affect future business, while data analysts solve current business problems.
  • πŸ“Š Data scientists develop analytical methods and machine learning models, while data analysts create reports and dashboards.
  • 🧹 Data scientists spend a lot of time on data cleaning to prepare data for models.
  • πŸ‘©β€πŸ« Data scientists often need a master's degree or higher, while data analysts only need a bachelor's degree.
  • πŸ€– Data scientists need skills in machine learning, Python, R, etc. while data analysts use more Excel, SQL, visualization tools.
  • πŸ’° Data scientist salaries range from $85K to $150K, while data analyst salaries range from $45K to $110K.
  • 😎 Both careers have strong outlooks for job growth and demand over the next 10 years.
  • πŸ€” You should choose based on your skills, interests, qualifications and the work you want to do.
  • πŸ† Data scientists pursue advanced degrees and specialize in machine learning models.
  • πŸ‘ Data analytics may be easier to get into and fit more people's backgrounds.
Q & A
  • What percentage of a data scientist's time is typically spent developing new machine learning models versus data cleaning and processing?

    -Only about 5-10% of a data scientist's time is typically spent developing new machine learning models. The majority of their time is spent on data cleaning and processing to prepare the data for existing models they use over and over.

  • What are some of the main responsibilities of a data analyst?

    -A data analyst's main responsibilities include using data to solve current business problems, creating reports and dashboards, helping gather new data from various sources, and more.

  • What kind of degree is usually required for a data scientist role?

    -Most data scientist roles require at least a Master's degree, often in a STEM field like computer science, mathematics, physics, or similar.

  • What data visualization tools might a data analyst need to know?

    -Common data visualization tools a data analyst may need to know include Tableau, Power BI, Excel, and Python libraries like Matplotlib.

  • What machine learning libraries is a data scientist expected to know in Python?

    -Some key Python machine learning libraries a data scientist should know include Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-Learn, and TensorFlow.

  • What is the difference between structured and unstructured data in data science?

    -Structured data has a predefined format and schema, while unstructured data has no defined format and can include things like images, videos, and text.

  • What cloud platforms may a data analyst work with?

    -A data analyst may work with cloud platforms like AWS (Amazon Web Services) or Azure.

  • What is an example entry-level salary range for a data analyst?

    -An entry-level data analyst can expect to make between $45,000-$60,000 annually.

  • What factors should you consider when deciding between a data scientist or data analyst role?

    -You should consider your skills and interests, required qualifications and education level, and the actual job responsibilities to determine which role is the best fit.

  • Why does the presenter recommend doing your own specific research for salary information?

    -Salaries can vary greatly based on location and industry, so the presenter recommends doing additional specific research to get salary ranges tailored to your situation.

Outlines
00:00
🎀 Responsibilities: Data Scientists vs Data Analysts

The paragraph compares the responsibilities between data scientists and data analysts. Data scientists use data to discover future opportunities and trends, develop machine learning models, do extensive data cleaning, and A/B testing. Data analysts use data to solve current business problems, create reports and dashboards, and help gather incremental data from different sources.

05:01
πŸŽ“ Qualifications and Skills

The paragraph discusses the qualifications and skills needed for data scientists and data analysts. Data scientists often require a Masters or PhD in a STEM field, while data analysts need a Bachelors or above. Both need skills in Python, statistics, data visualization, etc. but data scientists focus more on machine learning while analysts use more business intelligence tools.

Mindmap
Keywords
πŸ’‘data scientist
A data scientist is someone who uses data to discover opportunities and trends that will affect future business. They develop analytical methods and machine learning models. However, most of their time is spent on data cleaning rather than actually developing new models. Data scientists need strong technical and analytical skills to work with machine learning and statistical models.
πŸ’‘data analyst
A data analyst focuses more on solving current business problems by analyzing data. Their responsibilities include creating reports and dashboards to provide insights, as well as gathering data from different sources. The qualifications to become a data analyst are lower than for a data scientist. A bachelor's degree and an analytical mindset can be enough.
πŸ’‘responsibilities
The video compares the typical job responsibilities between data scientists and data analysts. Data scientists tend to work more on predictive analytics while analysts focus on descriptive and diagnostic analytics to solve real-time business issues.
πŸ’‘qualifications
Data scientists often need at least a master's degree in a technical field like computer science or statistics. Data analysts can get by with just a bachelor's degree and some analysts are even self-taught. The barrier to entry is lower for a data analyst role.
πŸ’‘skills
Data scientists need skills in machine learning, programming (Python, R), statistics and tools like Spark. Data analysts rely more on SQL, data visualization (Tableau), Excel, programming (Python, R) and statistics.
πŸ’‘salary
Data scientists earn significantly higher salaries at all experience levels compared to data analysts. However, factors like location and industry can affect these ranges. More specialized data science skills also lead to higher pay.
πŸ’‘reports
Creating reports from data is a core responsibility of data analysts. Reports help provide insights and answers to business questions. Data analysts use SQL, Excel, Python and other tools to build reports.
πŸ’‘dashboards
Dashboards allow data visualization for sharing insights from data. Data analysts often create interactive dashboards using Business Intelligence tools like Tableau or Power BI.
πŸ’‘data cleaning
Data cleaning refers to fixing inconsistencies, errors, missing values in data before analysis. The video states that data scientists spend much more time on intensive data cleaning compared to data analysts.
πŸ’‘machine learning models
Machine learning models like regression, random forests and neural networks spot patterns and make predictions from data. Data scientists develop, fine-tune and maintain these models as a primary responsibility.
Highlights

Data scientists use data to discover opportunities and find trends that will affect future business.

Data scientists spend a lot of time cleaning data so it's good and usable for their models.

Data analysts use data to solve current problems and have an immediate impact.

Data analysts create reports and dashboards using various tools like SQL, Power BI, or Tableau.

Data analysts help gather incremental data from different sources.

Most data scientist positions require a master's degree or above.

Data analyst positions usually require a bachelor's degree or above.

Data scientists need skills in Python, R, visualization tools, NLP, Apache Spark, statistical tools.

Data analysts need skills in Python, visualization tools, data modeling, statistical tools, Excel.

Entry-level data scientist salaries range from $85k - $95k.

Senior data scientist salaries range from $120k - $150k.

Entry-level data analyst salaries range from $45k - $60k.

Senior data analyst salaries range from $85k to $110k.

Consider your skills, education, and interests when deciding between careers.

Both careers have great long-term potential and popularity.

Transcripts
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