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Goodness gracious. I certainly have not seen that. Most of the data scientists I know are white, about half male and half female (I'm a woman so maybe I know more women?), with a substantial number of Asian-Americans. Oh right, and at least two Latinos.
Sadly while I know a couple of black people in analytics I don't know any black people in data science, but then, there aren't a lot of black people in my city.
There's definitely more of a variety in smaller tech companies and universities.
It's likely not at a Fortune 100 employer or at one of the TBTF banks. I looked at a few of our data science department heads and the org chart. It's exclusively Indian.
I'd say, with 15+ years of experience, you should stay where you are. You can get side certifications (EdX/ Udemy/ Coursera), and if an opportunity comes up, take it. But, i don't think you should switch course and move, considering there are many unseen bias(es) at all stages of hiring (including not hiring for lack of degree, etc).
Also, if you are bored what you are working on currently, perhaps move to a technical + managerial role (technical program manager/ director)? That would also help you climb you the $$ ladder sufficiently.
To give some background - I'm also currently working in Cloud / infrastructure. Like you, wanted to move to data science. (I do have Bachelors/ Masters degrees though). Also have few friends who are data scientists (all of them have PhD) and infosec experts (no PhD, but relevant work ex/education).
After thinking for weeks however - I don't believe that field gives me any sense of 'happiness' or 'belonging'; basically, not interesting enough for me. Maybe this will change and I may take more data science courses / certifications etc, but not now.
I do, however, have started taking free courses on InfoSec and related topics - which I personally think is going to be there forever. So would Cloud, and more related fields. Other fields I would probably start dabbling on the side would be health care informatics. I have very minimal background on both these fields, but - we have to start somewhere! :-)
On a side note, even if 'everything' moves to the cloud, the actual stuff is there 'somewhere' (physical) - so anything related to infrastructure/ cloud/ managed service providers, etc, are here to stay for few more decades at least.
Last edited by kach1947; 03-02-2018 at 07:35 PM..
Reason: <typo-not a couple, just one>
Before someone swoop in and say "Go to school and get your education". I just want to say that I'm 38 years old and I am 100% DEBT FREE. It will take 10 years to get a PhD, at that point I'll be 48 years old. And by 48 years old, I hope to be retired. I know a lot of companies have the title "data science" though they use it as fancy names for their DBAs. But I would love to know how to get into a proper data science role. And taking out debt and going to school for 10 years seems very excessive and unnecessary.
I'm not sure how 38 is too old to go to college, and it might not be necessary to get a PhD.
Yeah...you need a more than a "little math" and while many don't have a PhD you don't even have a bachelors. Sorry - but you are not just a little way from hitting the requirements but a couple degrees and no experience either in data science. At least if you're talking actual DATA and data manipulation rather than IT and systems work. It is a lot different stuff...you don't just casually poke around at data and wait for something to pop out. You need to know sophisticated software and analysis techniques and some of the mathematical bases behind it all.
Start by getting a degree in math or statistics, and see if it interests you and if you have any aptitude for it - that'll take 4 years, not 10. BTW, you won't be retired at 48 unless you're putting away a third of your salary and live on nothing.
The OP should really just stay where he is. Unfortunately while in the past he might have been able to get in the field a little more easily, he doesn’t have any degree at all now. I know a lot of people who have been degreed out of their fields with a bachelor’s degree because it was a fine degree to have when they started, but now those same jobs require a PhD and CV. While they can get work in their current field, switching is nearly impossible. These people are within the same age range as the OP (late 30s/early 40s). If the OP has no debt, I really see no reason why he’d pursue them now and go into debt. I think at some point, many of us often think there are other careers we’d like to try, but it’s generally not worth it in your mid-30s or later if you already have a pretty good career unless it’s something you simply can’t do anymore.
There's a lot of discrimination in data science. You will be lucky to be hired for your first data science job, if you are not Indian. I see entire data science depts that are all Indian at my large employer.
Stick to the cloud.
Data science orgs around here are almost 100% Indian and there's no real "data science" actually going on, it's just heavy querying/data slicing on some variety of big data platform (usually Teradata or Hadoop). No R or calculus-based statistics involved. Definitely no Ph.D.s involved.
I.T. in DFW is getting to the point where you have to be under 35 and south Asian to even get an interview. I'm feeling the pinch of age discrimination at this point since I'm over 40 and female.
Data science orgs around here are almost 100% Indian and there's no real "data science" actually going on, it's just heavy querying/data slicing on some variety of big data platform (usually Teradata or Hadoop). No R or calculus-based statistics involved. Definitely no Ph.D.s involved.
I.T. in DFW is getting to the point where you have to be under 35 and south Asian to even get an interview. I'm feeling the pinch of age discrimination at this point since I'm over 40 and female.
Totally depends on the company - many use very sophisticated modeling techniques that require good knowledge of statistical principles (and of course the software [SAS, R, etc.]) as well as data manipulation skills to pull together the necessary data.
There's a lot of discrimination in data science. You will be lucky to be hired for your first data science job, if you are not Indian. I see entire data science depts that are all Indian at my large employer.
Stick to the cloud.
Hopefully you are being sarcastic.
I personally know 6 Data Scientists - 3 of them are American (white), 1 Ukrainian, 1 is Sri Lankan, 1 is Indian. The only common thread I know of is - they ALL have PhDs - 2 in Physics, 2 in Computer Science, 1 in Electrical Engineering, 1 has two PhDs and a PostDoc. They all work in different industries, (2 of them work for same company)
I read this thread with great interest and would like to get your opinions on the feasibility of a career in some aspect of "data science" for a 45 year old career changer. Here are some specific areas of interest:
1) Pricing analyst
2) Business analyst
3) Accounting analytics
4) Market research analyst
Basically, I'm interested in business-centric data analysis. I have a degree in economics, so I wouldn't be completely reinventing the wheel.
Try some of the newer companies like Yahoo, or Amazon, Google....you likely know many more.....which are places where the working atmosphere and culture is more relaxed and I think that your years of hands on experience may be highly valued.
Be creative with your resume/CV make the fact that you've actively earned your experience hands on....work for you.
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