When we think of tech jobs, data science is among the top preferences among students and professionals. Indeed, it should be. Because of the rate at which it is growing, there will a huge job opportunities in the future. It is expected that the demand for data science professionals will grow by 35% by 2032 as reported by US BLS. So, if you are looking to get into a data science career, then you probably might be thinking of making your core technical skills stronger. But here’s the catch. According to LinkedIn, 75% of hiring managers think that soft skills are more important than hard skills. And it is true for the data science domain as well. In this article let us explore the top 10 soft skills you must have to advance in your data science career.
Must have soft skills for data science professionals
- Communication
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
- Adaptability
- Collaboration
- Time management
- Project management
- Leadership
- Presentation skill
- Cultural Awareness
- Ethical Awareness
1. Communication Skill
Data Science professionals often deal with complex data and their analysis. However, their findings must be easy to understand by the non-technical stakeholders. Therefore, communication skill becomes one of the most important soft skill for these professionals. Moreover, if they are good at communication, they can ask better questions to understand the business problem clearly and concisely which will lead to better data science projects.
2. Critical thinking and Problem Solving
Data Science is all about solving complex business problems. So, critical thinking is a must-have soft data science skill. The professionals must be able to approach problems logically, analyze information, and evaluate them in order to find the perfect option. Critical thinking helps them identify the pattern easily. Also, be it optimizing marketing campaigns or predicting future trends, data scientists need strong problem-solving skills.
3. Adaptability
Though the data science industry has existed for quite some time, it has been evolving rapidly in the last few years. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, data science tools and technologies are getting advanced and better. Therefore, data science professionals must be adaptable to the ever-changing landscape in the field of data science. They should familiarize themselves with the latest data science tools quickly to get going with their tasks.
4. Collaboration
Data Science is a field of work that requires teamwork and is not an individual’s chore. Data scientists have to work with cross-functional teams including engineers, analysts, business experts, etc. So, they must be able to collaborate with them effectively to get the best results out of their projects. According to Glassdoor, 95% of employers agree that collaboration is essential for success in the workplace.
5. Time management
Since data science projects are complex and working on them can be time-consuming. Therefore data science professionals working on these complex projects must be able to manage their time effectively and must meet the deadline. It may include prioritizing tasks and the ability to work independently.
6. Project management
Project management is an important data science skill for data scientists. A data science project involves a lot of tasks, from identifying business problems to sourcing the right data, and analyzing, visualizing, and communicating back the results. For this, they have to collaborate with several people and check the status of work at each unit. Project management thus becomes very important.
7. Leadership
Data Scientists have to take up a leadership role in their team. They need to motivate others, they have to make decisions promptly, as well as train new professionals. Data Scientists work in teams, to manage the project, and team efficiently, leadership quality is a must.
8. Presentation skill
Presentation skill in a data science career is as important as other technical skills in data science. For example, let us consider an efficient data scientist who worked hard to draw the best data science model to solve a business problem, but wasn’t able to present it properly to the decision-makers. Then can we expect the model to be effective? No. Therefore to ensure the model is well utilized, the data science professionals must be able to present it clearly and concisely.
9. Cultural Awareness
As data science professionals have to work with different clients from different cultural backgrounds, they should be respectful of the cultural differences.
10. Ethical Awareness
Similarly, as data science is increasingly impacting society, some ethical considerations need to be taken care of. Data Scientists must have ethical awareness while working on any impactful data science projects.
That’s it
These are some of the most important and must-have data science skills that every data science professional must possess. Apart from these should be willing to upgrade themselves regularly, they should be go-getters, and they must have good emotional intelligence as well. Together with strong core technical skills, reinforced by effective soft- skills, you can easily ace your data science career.