Hello! My name is Stephanie and I am a sophomore in college. I am going to be transferring to a four-year-university and I am in the process of figuring out what my major is going to be.
I’m considering data science as a career path, but my interest in it hinges on the assumption that I’ll be able to apply what I learn to any discipline that I want. For instance, if I develop an interest in human behavior, would I be able to find a job that will allow me to apply mathematics to the study of human behavior? And if I develop an interest in business later on, would I feasibly be able to find another job that will allow my to apply math to that area?
I imagine marketing research uses data science to study human behavior as it applies to business
I’d say data science is hot right now and can be applied to many areas, but of course not necessarily to every single one possible.
There are a lot of jobs in every sector in data science right now, but the vast, vast majority is in marketing. Just look at where the Insight data science fellows end up. It’s places like LinkedIn, Netflix, AirBnB, Target, where vast quantities of data are easily collected and need to be made into meaning and profit.
However, a lot of other places need data scientists too. My friend works in academia (staff, not faculty) to apply data science to large experiments from any research group on campus. Data science is increasingly important in genomics, so you’ll find a good number of jobs at biotech/pharma companies. And of course, there are a lot of data scientists in government.
Data science is huge and can lead to other careers as well. The numerical ability you learn from data science can be used in IT, supply chain management among other fields
