Bordey, Jansen A. Mr.

Vincent Torre Bongolan

BSMA 2-2 Statistical Analysis with Software Applications

Data Science

Data science continues to evolve as one of the most promising and in-demand
career paths for skilled professionals. But, let us know first what data science is.

Data science is a multidisciplinary blend of data inference, algorithm

development, and technology in order to solve analytically complex problems. It is
about using data in creative ways to generate business value. Data science is all about
unveiling findings from data, surfacing hidden insights that can help companies to make
better business decisions through diving in at a granular level to mine and do
understand complex behaviors, trends, and inferences. For example, Netflix data mines
movie viewing patterns to understand what drives user interest, and uses that to make
decisions on which Netflix original series to produce.

How do data scientists mine out insights?

Data scientists are big data wranglers. They use their formidable skills in math,
statistics and programming to clean, manage an organize data. Then they apply all their
analytic powers – industry knowledge, contextual understanding, skepticism of existing
assumptions – to uncover hidden solutions to business challenges.

It starts with data exploration in which it requires a big dose of analytical

creativity to understand the pattern or characteristics within the data. In this, data
scientists become detectives when given a challenging question.

Then as needed, data scientists may apply quantitative technique in order to get
a level deeper – e.g. inferential models, segmentation analysis, time series forecasting,
synthetic control experiments, etc. The intent is to scientifically piece together a
forensic view of what the data is really want to imply.
 This data-driven insight will be used in providing strategic guidance wherein data
scientists act as a consultants, guiding business stakeholders on how to act on findings.

Data Science – the requisite skill set

Data science is a blend of skills in three major areas:

 Mathematics Expertise

At the heart of mining data insight and building data product is the ability to view
the data through a quantitative lens. There are textures, dimensions, and correlations in
data that can be expressed mathematically. Finding solutions utilizing data becomes a
brain teaser of heuristic and quantitative technique. Solutions to many business
problems involve building analytic models grounded in the hard math, where being able
to understand the underlying mechanics of those models is key to success in building
them.

 Technology and Hacking

We’re referring to the tech programmer subculture meaning of hacking which is

creativity and ingenuity in using technical skills to build things and find clever solutions
to problems. Hacking is important because data scientists utilize technology in order to
wrangle enormous data sets. They need to be able to code – prototype quick solutions,
as well as integrate with complex data systems. Core languages associated with data
science include SQL, Python, R, and SAS. On the periphery are Java, Scala, Julia, and
others. But it is not just knowing language fundamentals. A hacker is a technical ninja,
able to creatively navigate their way through technical challenges in order to make their
code work.

 Strong Business Acumen

It is important for a data scientist to be a tactical business consultant. Working so

closely with data, data scientists are positioned to learn from data in ways no one else
can. That creates the responsibility to translate observations to shared knowledge, and
contribute to strategy on how to solve core business problems. This means a core
competency of data science is using data to cogently tell a story. No data-puking –
rather, present a cohesive narrative of problem and solution, using data insights as
supporting pillars, that lead to guidance.

Areas of Data Science

Data Engineering and Data Warehousing

Data engineering refers to transforming data into useful format analysis. This often
involves managing the source, structure, quality, storage, and accessibility of the data
so that it can be queried and analyzed by other analysts. The related jobs for these are
Data Engineer, Database Developer and Data Analyst.

Data Mining and Statistical Analysis

Data mining refers to the application of statistics in the form of exploratory data
analysis and predictive models to reveal patterns and trends in data from existing data
sources. This person will be able to look at a business problem and translate it to a data
question, create predictive models to answer the question and story tell about the
findings. Data Scientist, Business Analyst and Statistician are example of related jobs for
these.

Cloud and Distributed Computing

Cloud and System Architecture refers to designing and implementing enterprise

infrastructure and platforms required for cloud and distributed computing. The role also
analyzes system requirements and ensures that systems will be securely integrated with
current applications and business uses. Related jobs for these are Cloud Architect,
Cloud Engineer and Platform Engineer.
Database Management and Architecture

This role is responsible for designing, deploying, and maintaining databases in

support of high volume, complex data transactions for specific services or groups of
services.

Business Intelligence and Strategy

Some of the key responsibilities in BI include improving back-end data sources for
increased accuracy and simplicity, building tailored analytics solutions, managing
dashboards, reporting to stakeholders, identifying opportunities and recognizing best
practices in reporting and analysis: data integrity, test design, analysis, validation, and
documentation.

ML / Cognitive Computing Development

This is what most people associate with data science: “making robots”. This is a
larger, more complex version of data mining and statistical analysis. These people focus
more on getting all the input you need to feed the model; building data pipelines,
convenient data sources, A/B testing and bench marking infrastructure. When/if this is
done you might focus on building the actual algorithms/models, but this part more
often than not involves well known, industry standard tools and statistical techniques.
These focus area has become a buzzword in many organizations though, so I
encourage looking into sub-fields within it in order to truly identify what you like.

Data Visualization and Presentation

Being able to present data in a visually appealing way has become part of almost
every business analyst and data scientist role. When these focus area becomes an
actual role in a company, their main responsibility includes creating BI solutions for
teams and customers based on specific business requirements and use cases. In other
instances, it can be more graphic design oriented.
Operations-Related Data Analytics

If you don’t consider yourself to be very technical yet have a passion for a problem
solving and processes, these might be the right path for you. These type of role focus
on leveraging the tools and data provided by the other members of the data science
team in order to find opportunities of improvement within the operations of the
business. These can either be focused on logistics, technology, financials, human
resources, etc.

Market-Related Data Analytics

These role has different levels of technical expertise depending on the level of
analysis and company. These people tend to focus on more external data related to
customers, sales and marketing, yet their purpose is similar to those in operations:
track performance and find opportunities.

Sector-Specific Data Analytics (Healthcare, Finance, Insurance, etc.)

Lastly, if you studied Healthcare, Finance or something that requires domain-

knowledge expertise to analyze, you might opt to look into simple analyst positions
within organizations in these industries. Again, the technical expertise of these roles will
depend on the expectations of the company hiring and the tools they use.

Application of Data Science

Banking

Banking is one of the biggest applications of data science. Big data and data science
have enabled banks to keep up with the competition. With data science, banks can
manage their resources efficiently, furthermore, banks can make smarter decisions
through fraud detection, management of customer data, risk modeling, real-time
predictive analytics, customer segmentation, etc.
Finance

Financial industries need to automate risk analytics in order to carry out strategic
decisions for the company. Using machine learning, they identify, monitor and prioritize
risks. These machine learning algorithms enhance cost efficiency and model
sustainability through training on the massively available customer data. Similarly,
financial institutions use machine learning for predictive analytics. It allows the
companies to predict customer lifetime value and their stock market moves.

Manufacturing

In the 21st century, Data Scientists are the new factory workers. That means that
data scientists have acquired a key position in the manufacturing industries. Data
science is being extensively used in manufacturing industries for optimizing production,
reducing costs and boosting the profits. Furthermore, with the addition of technologies
like the Internet of Things (IoT), data science has enabled the companies to predict
potential problems, monitor systems and analyze the continuous stream of data.

Transport

Another important application of data science is transport. In the transportation

sector, data science is actively making its mark in making safer driving environments for
the drivers. It is also playing a key role in optimizing vehicle performance and adding
greater autonomy to the drivers. Furthermore, in the transport sector, data science has
actively increased its manifold with the introduction of self-driving cars.

Healthcare

In the health-care industry, data science is making great leaps. The various
industries in health-care making use of data science are medical image analysis,
genetics and genomics, drug discovery, predictive modeling for diagnosis, and health
bots or virtual assistants.
E-Commerce

E-commerce and retail industries have been hugely benefitted by data science.
Some of the ways in which data science has transformed the e-commerce industries are
the following:

 For identifying a potential customer base, data science is being heavily utilized.

 Usage of predictive analytics for forecasting the goods and services.

 Data science is also used for identifying styles of popular products and predicting
their trends.

 With data science, companies are optimizing their pricing structures for their
consumers.

References

data-flair.training/blogs/data-science-applications/

datajobs.com/what-is-data-science

medium.com/@melodyucros/interested-in-data-science-heres-a-ist-of-of-10-
specializations-to-choose-from-cd342c53b673

datascience.berkeley.edu/about/what-is-data-science/