candidates living out on
the West Coast and a
higher predominance
of Ph.D.s among data
scientists than the general analytics population
or the big data professionals, as I call them.
It all pretty much made
sense to me. It was interesting because it was
actually quantified.
data scientists. Data
storage has become so
much cheaper, computing power has become
much faster, nanotechnology and sensors are
now becoming ubiquitous. Self-driving cars,
traffic sensors, the energy grid. The list goes
on and on and on.
Right now the obvious stuff is happenWeren’t you a little
ing with understanding
Linda Burtch, founder and managing
partner of Burtch Works.
surprised by the extent
digital streams of data
of the concentration of
in applications related
data scientists – nearly 50 percent –
to social media. That’s pretty straighton the West Coast?
forward stuff, but wait until it hits the
That’s for the moment, for now, but healthcare industry, for example. Selfwatch and see what happens. Analytdriving cars are going to be a huge,
ics has been around for a long time, yet
huge deal. While a lot of it is being done
some people still ask me, “Are you sure
out in California now, over the next five
this isn’t a fad?” It’s not.
years we are going to see it scattered
Analytics has become a hugely profitall over the United States.
able specialty area within organizations
as they try to optimize their operations,
When it comes to recruiting canor target their marketing or look at redidates and job placement, who are
turn on investment issues, and that has
you talking to?
been around for years and years.
I recruit in analytics – people who
I would argue that those issues are
have master’s degrees in statistics, opsort of the humdrum stuff of analytics.
erations research, econometrics, people
Data-driven decision-making is really
who are out there working in business
going to explode, and that’s what we are
appli