Среди специалистов по анализу данных есть люди с разными квалификациями и багажом инструментов — одни ориентируются на статистику и связанные с ней средства обработки данных, другие делают упор на интерпретации результатов (после обработки), нахождении закономерностей и пользы для бизнеса (которое приводит к росту прибыли).

Давайте посмотрим условное разделение дата-учёных (дата-специалистов, data scientist) на 2 типа (источник: Type I and Type II Data Scientists).

The Type I Data Scientist

This is perhaps to most common type of Data Scientist we see around, or the most common type of person who is calling themselves a Data Scientist. These are people who know a lot about and are really good at a technique or technology that is associated with Data Science. Some of these would be the “old school” type of people and include:

The people in each of these have a deep knowledge of their topic and can tell/show you lots of detail about how best to explore data in their given field.

Yes you don’t have to have a Stats background to call yourself a Data Scientist, but some knowledge of Stats would be useful (you don’t need a PhD or Master)

The Type II Data Scientist

A Type II Data Scientist is a slightly different breed of person. They would have a little bit of knowledge of some or all of the areas listed under the Type I Data Scientist, but would not have the depth of knowledge of a topic that a Type I Data Scientist would have.

The Type II Data Scientist approaches the types of problems that organisations are facing in a different way. They will concentrate on the business goals and business problems that the organisation are facing. Based on these they will identify what the data scientist project will focus on, ensuring that there is a measurable outcome and business goal. The Type II Data Scientist will be a good communicator, being able to translate between the business problem and the technical environment necessary to deliver what is needed. During the project the data science team will discovery various insight about the data. The Type II Data Scientist will prioritise these and feed them back to the various business units. Some of these insights can range from something new, verifying business knowledge beliefs, areas where better data capture is needed, improvements in applications, etc.

The Type II Data Scientist would be the Data Science team leader within the organisation that manages the Type I Data Scientists, keeping them focused on the key deliverables of delivering measurable business benefits.