Data scientists find themselves severely stressed due to the nature of their roles and companies short-staffed as there are not enough individuals with the required skills, according to a recent report.
US Software vendor SAS carried out a study to analyse the work conditions of data scientists which included 600 employees. A quarter of the male respondents said that they were ‘severely stressed’ while one third of the female respondents said that they were ‘heavily stressed.’ 27 percent of the males and 28 percent of the female respondents believed they were mildly stressed.
The psychometric test also defined the personality expected of a data scientist and compared that against the requirements of an organization. The analysis of the responses of the participants showed that there are 10 types of profiles in the data scientist community. Technical, analytical and logical skills are regarded as the priority while there is also a need for strong management, creativity and communication skills.
Managing director at SAS UK & Ireland, Peter Robertshaw said that the companies must better define the roles of data scientists in order to avoid talent burn outs. He also added that gaining insights from data to address issues is the biggest challenge and organizations must create teams that are proficient in it. He noted that data scientists must evaluate themselves and develop the skills they might lack in order to keep up with the requirements of their job definition.
The report also says that many of the data scientists have under 10 years of experience with most of them having under 3 years of exposure to data science. It also listed out 4 elements that cause a burn-out including lack of authority, skills, communication hindrances and improper job definition.
