(Photo : Luke Chesser)

It's no secret that in today's technologically driven market environment, having access to and the ability to interpret data is one of the best advantages a company can have.

In a world that has been and will be increasingly dominated by the digital, transitioning away from more traditional modes of business, the value of data continues to increase. It's widely acknowledged by economists and scientists alike that we now live in a world of "big data," or a world where data is becoming more and more available at even lower costs. 

This is because today's digital environments encourage consumers to constantly share information about themselves, giving them spaces to post demographic information and recently purchased products on places like Facebook, Instagram, and the like: all of that data is aggregated into a large historical dataset, to be parsed out by people willing to pay a pretty penny. That data is extremely important for many marketing departments, allowing them to target their audience with ads, customize their marketing plan according to what the data shows will be most successful, and more.

If that is, they are able to interpret this data. 

And here's the thing about that: not everybody can parse through a massive chunk of data, and some smaller businesses, believing in more traditional methods of marketing and eschewing the digital, have made the mistake of not even trying. Unfortunately, to be competitive in today's market, you need to have someone on deck who can take large lumps of data aggregated from various sources, parse out the useful information, and tell you (based on that information) what your next move needs to be. Such officials aren't exactly a dime a dozen, and among those corporations that have become wise to how things work nowadays, there's fierce competition to hire one of these officials onto their teams, making the profession of data science one of the most lucrative and secure professions out there.

Fortunately, if you're looking to switch professions, there's never been a better time than now. Read on to find out what data scientists do and how you can become one without spending years and thousands of dollars on a new college degree.

The Profession of Data Science: A Crash Course

The role of a data scientist is, as described above, to take mass amounts of data from various sources, to identify patterns in that data through common analytics and machine learning strategies, and then to translate those patterns into a useful model. Unlike data analysts, which often gets confused with data scientists, they don't simply come to the data with a prearranged list of queries, ask their questions, and leave the data alone; By using the patterns they've discovered to develop testable models, they can run several hypotheses using their model, narrowing down marketing avenues that will be more and less successful. They are then responsible for translating their findings into language that their parent company's marketing department will understand, transforming the apocryphal into the practical and giving marketing companies an actionable list of suggestions. 

The conclusions of data scientists are typically highly valued because of the level and frequency of testing used to derive those conclusions. Without a data scientist, the marketing department of any company is essentially rudderless, unable to chart a course toward lucrative waters and stuck guessing which compass direction to head in.

Data Science Bootcamps: An Easy Way to Join the Profession

If you've been reading everything above and what you've read has piqued your interest, you may be wondering what the best way to join the profession is. Surely not to go back to a four-year university program, where to get the fundamentals and the credentials needed to jump into a job, you'll have to spend thousands on useless classes meant to "round out your education." And that's not even taking into account the extra fees many of them charge just to exist on campus.

Fortunately, there are other options for those who want to jump from their current profession to a new one as quickly as possible. Data science bootcamps are intensive educational programs dedicated entirely to getting you ready for a job, giving you all the fundamentals with none of the fluff. Typically lasting anywhere from 10 to 36 weeks, various providers offer data science bootcamps, meaning that there's one out there to suit your every scheduling need. If you're looking to become a data scientist as quickly as possible without spending too much money, data science bootcamps may be the solution you're looking for.

As the world continues to change around us, some professions will be more lucrative and more secure than others. Data science is one such profession. If you doubt your future at your current job, or if you're just looking to switch to something that will likely have more longevity than your current profession, you can't do better than becoming one of the most coveted operatives working today.