Campus Review Vol 29. Issue 6 June 2019 | Seite 19

industry & research
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the skills to develop artificial intelligence and machine learning
technology and the algorithms to capture and organise data and
data sets.
They also typically need a full knowledge of mathematics
and advanced statistics, including distribution theory, statistical
inference, Bayesian statistics and techniques widely used to analyse
relationships between variables such as regression analysis.
On the other hand, analytics professionals may use a broad
set of strategic decision making and analytical skills to produce
evidence-based insights from data. Analytics experts need to
understand how to design and implement application systems
to support evidence-based decision-making in organisational
contexts. They often adopt a big-picture, more managerial
perspective and consider the ‘people’ side of the organisation as
well as the data side. Tertiary courses may include the study of
analytics solutions based on online analytical processing (OLAP)
models and technologies.
Expertise in the use of analytics tools, including Python, R,
Tableau, AWS, Google Cloud Solutions and NoSQL systems is
also necessary.
According to the IAPA 2017 Skills & Salary Survey, the most
sought-after analytics professionals have the skills and knowledge
to work with HDFS, NoSQL, Hive, Pig/MapReduce and Spark, text
analysis, Tableau and R.
Professionals with these skills can command salaries $30,000
to $45,000 above the median salary.
Postgraduate study in the data science or analytics area can
build on individuals’ core technical competencies as well as
help to prepare them for more senior management roles, which
command higher salaries. Completing a higher degree signals to
an employer a professional’s greater competency in their field and
readiness for promotion. As the ‘big data’ boom rolls on, we will
see more demand for postgraduate study from data experts keen
to realise the benefits of further study. For people still deciding on
their careers, data science and analytics offer great employment
opportunities and salary potential.
Reflecting that, LinkedIn put ‘data scientist’ first on its list of
Most Promising Jobs of 2019. Data scientist positions “come with
high salaries, a significant number of job openings and year-over-
year growth, and are more likely to lead to a promotion”.
US job openings for data scientists posted year-on-year growth
of 56 per cent to 4000-plus openings, according to LinkedIn. In
Australia, the growth in data science and analytics jobs is similarly
great as the digital age gains momentum.  ■
Tracey Wilcox is the academic director (postgraduate programs)
at the UNSW Business School. Professor Bruce Henry is the
head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW.
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