Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:43:24 -0500
Reply-To: Talbot Michael Katz <topkatz@MSN.COM>
Sender: "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From: Talbot Michael Katz <topkatz@MSN.COM>
Subject: Data Science, Data Scientists, and SAS
Hi!
This past June, SAS invited some large Enterprise Miner users to Cary for
a "free workshop." Attendance was sparse because, well, how likely is it
that your employer would pay your travel expenses these days to go receive
a two-day marketing blitz? Thought so... Anyway, during a presentation
on SAS' new in-database analytics initiative, the speaker asked whether
anyone was using Hadoop. When no hands went up, the response was a
relieved "That's good!" As usual, I'm late to the party, that was the
first time I heard the term "Hadoop." My friends, it has not been the
last time...
Over the summer I started to receive job postings from recruiters with the
job title of "Data Scientist." This was also new to me. I must have seen
more than half a dozen separate places seeking these data scientists. It
certainly trumped the number of places I saw seeking data miners and / or
statisticians. So, what is a data scientist? http://semanticweb.com/what-
is-a-data-scientist_b24193 Whether or not you have the job title of "data
scientist" you may recognize yourself in the description. But when the
specific data science skills are listed, you're way more likely to see
Hadoop mentioned than SAS. (Hadoop is not a competitor to SAS the way R
is, but it's part of the new open source big data landscape.)
Now, I'm not presently seeking a job (although, given current economic
conditions and my spotty employment history, who knows how soon that could
change?), but this has drawn my attention, because certain kinds of
analytic positions (outside of financial engineering) have long been
firmly inside the SAS realm, and that appears to be changing. At least
SAS is not oblivious to this development -- hence their high-performance
computing / in-database analytics initiatives, and their attempt at
peaceful coexistence with R.
So, do any of you SAS-Lers now carry the title of "data scientist?"
-- TMK --
"The Macro Klutz"
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