Sometimes networking doesn't get the publicity of "in vogue" tech topics such as mobility, cloud computing or big data, "but we continue to see that it's critical for organizations, and finding highly skilled people to fill those roles is a struggle,” says John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology.
Data scientists have the hottest job in America
A report released today by Glassdoor says that data scientists have the best jobs in the U.S., according to that company’s analysis of its outsized database of job information.
With a median base salary of $116,840, more than 1,700 job openings on Glassdoor’s site, and a user-provided career opportunities rating of 4.1, “data scientist” took the prize for most highly rated job title in America, ahead of “tax manager,” “solutions architect,” “engagement manager” and “mobile developer.”
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Glassdoor highlighted that 10 of the top 25 were jobs in the technology industry, more than any other vertical. Data scientists reached the top after finishing ninth in last year’s report, the first that Glassdoor has issued.
What makes data science such a rewarding field? According to the data scientists we contacted for this article, it has a lot to do with the thrill of discovery.
“I like the ability to solve real world problems and make a difference for people with creative applications of math and programming,” said Ben Greco, a marketing director at security startup Soteria and a former data scientist at the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. “Believe it or not, that is the stuff I love.”
It’s much the same for Debbie Berebichez, chief data scientist for Metis, a data science education firm. (She also co-hosts the Discovery Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science program.)
“I always enjoyed learning about the world around me,” she told Network World. “By asking questions about why things happen the way they do, I'm able to gain insights into nature.”
It’s not a completely cloudless prospect, of course – like people with any other job, data scientists have their share of daily headaches.
Jeff Baumes is assistant director of scientific computing at Kitware, an open-source HPC and research software company. He said that manicuring data into a fit state for analysis is often annoying.
With a median base salary of $116,840, more than 1,700 job openings on Glassdoor’s site, and a user-provided career opportunities rating of 4.1, “data scientist” took the prize for most highly rated job title in America, ahead of “tax manager,” “solutions architect,” “engagement manager” and “mobile developer.”
+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Authentication startup brings on ‘Catch Me If You Can’ ID thief as adviser | Can agile scale and does it matter? +
Glassdoor highlighted that 10 of the top 25 were jobs in the technology industry, more than any other vertical. Data scientists reached the top after finishing ninth in last year’s report, the first that Glassdoor has issued.
What makes data science such a rewarding field? According to the data scientists we contacted for this article, it has a lot to do with the thrill of discovery.
“I like the ability to solve real world problems and make a difference for people with creative applications of math and programming,” said Ben Greco, a marketing director at security startup Soteria and a former data scientist at the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. “Believe it or not, that is the stuff I love.”
It’s much the same for Debbie Berebichez, chief data scientist for Metis, a data science education firm. (She also co-hosts the Discovery Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science program.)
“I always enjoyed learning about the world around me,” she told Network World. “By asking questions about why things happen the way they do, I'm able to gain insights into nature.”
It’s not a completely cloudless prospect, of course – like people with any other job, data scientists have their share of daily headaches.
Jeff Baumes is assistant director of scientific computing at Kitware, an open-source HPC and research software company. He said that manicuring data into a fit state for analysis is often annoying.
INSIDER: Network jobs are hot: Salaries expected to rise in 2016
“At times, munging [parsing] through data can get tedious,” Baumes said. “The worst times are when I realize the quality, quantity, or other aspect of the data simply prevents me from gaining the level of insight that I hoped to gain from the data.”Still, data science is attracting a lot of top talent – munging or no munging – and doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.
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Every quarter, Robert Half Technology surveys CIOs on the state of hiring, and as part of its survey, CIOs are asked which IT positions are the hardest to fill. “For about 20 straight quarters – I think it's pretty close to that -- the No. 1 role has been network administrator,” Reed says.
“If you're in networking, that continues to bode very well for you.”
Compensation increases attest to the value of skilled networking pros. “We are seeing continued growth in salaries in networking overall, which maintains a pretty solid pattern we've seen over last few years,” Reed says.
Robert Half Technology (RHT) recently released its annual guide to U.S. tech salaries, which finds IT workers can expect bigger pay bumps than many other professionals are getting. Across all fields – including areas such as legal, accounting and finance -- U.S. starting salaries for professional occupations are projected to increase 4.1% in 2016. The largest expected gains are in tech, where starting salaries for newly hired IT workers are forecast to climb 5.3%.
