Data Scientist: 'The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century'

Data science will probably be the key Thailand 4.0 job & miraculously you can teach yourself to be a data scientist for free using online learning resources, no teachers or expensive courses needed.

TECHNOLOGY & WORK

Data Scientist: 'The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century'

4/04/2017
Suchit Leesa-nguansuk

Big data and data analytics is expected to continue double-digit growth in 2017.

The continued upwards growth trend in data science (or statistics) is driven by the widespread availability of data, a new generation of technology and a cultural shift toward data-driven decision-making.

The Harvard Business Review called the job of 'data scientist' the sexiest job of the 21st century' that we are currently in (read here).

Data science as a job and profession is poised to boom in Thailand, so get ready.

This article discusses one of the biggest American players in the industry and at the end tells you how can you can become a data scientist for free, no teachers or expensive courses needed, just your own hard work and initiative.

US-BASED TERADATA CORPORATION

Teradata Thailand, the local enterprise software unit of US- based Teradata Corporation, expects double-digit revenue growth this year in line with the overall growth of the big data and analytics industry.

"The digital transformation of organisations and intense competition in businesses are forcing companies to embrace big data and analytics technologies," said Jeerapa Kongswangwongsa, managing director of Teradata Thailand.

To capitalise on this growth opportunity, she said Teradata has increased its local staff in Thailand by 20% this year to support the company's growth plans, especially in the rising-star sectors of:

1. Energy,

2. Retail,

3. Utilities important basic services provided for the public such as electricity, water and gas, and...

4. Transport, such as Uber or Grab Taxi.

The banking and telecom sectors spent the most on Teradata's advanced technology services last year.

THAILAND 4.0 WAKEUP CALL

The introduction of Thailand 4.0 has been a wake-up call for Thai industries to transform in order to thrive in the digital era, according to Mrs Jeerapa.

The Internet of Things, for example, enhances overall efficiency and productivity in the operations of a company or organization with minimal disruption and adds or creates value through the usage of data and analytics.

WORKING WITH TOP COMPANIES & UNIVERSITIES IN THAILAND

She also said Thailand is an important market for Teradata thanks to a slew of high-profile customers using its products and services such as PTT Plc and two mobile operators.

Teradata is also working with local universities to increase the number of data scientists locally to support the development of the country's digital-driven economy.

The company is in talks with five leading universities in Thailand to provide curricula for learning data science, after providing similar services in Malaysia and Singapore, she added.

The course is aimed at producing more data scientists in the country to accommodate the proliferation of big data analytics and address shortages.

SHORTAGE OF DATA SCIENTISTS

Mrs Jeerapa said the shortage of data scientists is becoming a serious constraint, with a deficit of around 1 million in Asia-Pacific.

There are only 300-400 data scientists in Thailand, she added.

Mrs Jeerapa said Teradata Corporation has allocated data scientists to its local office to support its data science consulting services.

HOW TO BECOME AN EXPERT IN DATA SCIENCE FOR FREE

If you want to teach yourself to be a data scientist, the computer programming language you want to learn is known as R.

R can be used to create maps and incredibly gorgeous graphics.

Innovative newspapers such as the New York Times use R in information visualisation to keep their readers informed.

You can download and install R for free on your computer (see here).

There are many free online learning resources you can use to learn the language, starting with the free courses (MOOC) on data science for beginners at Coursera (see here & here).

The R bloggers Facebook page will keep you informed about what's happening in R (see here).

There are enough learning resources available on the internet for free that any resourceful person can probably become an expert in just about anything with just a good internet connection.

R is widely used at universities and companies and add-on packages that allow one to do any conceivable form of data analysis and data visualization are also available for free.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/local-news/1226624/data-science-poised-to-boom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_science

https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teradata
http://www.teradata.com/history/
https://developer.teradata.com/blog/odbcteam/2016/02/r-with-teradata-odbc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_(programming_language)
https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/

https://www.coursera.org/browse/data-science
https://www.coursera.org/learn/r-programming
https://www.facebook.com/rbloggers/

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