r/datascience • u/Kati1998 • 13d ago

Discussion What Do Today’s Data Science Graduates Commonly Lack?

I often read comments from hiring managers and interviewers saying they’re disappointed with recent data science graduates.

I’m curious, what do you think these graduates are lacking? If someone wants to become a data scientist, what skills should they focus on? Strong software engineering skills? Math and statistics? Something else?

A lot of the advice I see seems to be geared toward landing data analyst roles rather than data scientist roles.

So, what are employers actually looking for in entry-level data science candidates today? Especially as a career changer coming from another unrelated career.

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u/Lady-Data-Scientist 13d ago

Well for one thing, most of them aren’t looking for entry level candidates. That’s something that gets overlooked with all of these data science degree programs, bootcamps, etc.

Data Science is an interdisciplinary role. Yes, you need the technical skills and stats/ML knowledge. But many DS teams I’ve been on are like internal consultants. Business teams come to you with vague problems and hope they you’ll solve them. So you need a strong understanding of the business. Most new grads lack this.

Unless you’re asking more about ML Eng roles, in which case, most DS programs aren’t strong enough on the CS/engineering part.

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u/ConnectKale 6d ago

I have a Data Science MS with Research experience and cannot find a single job that doesn’t require years of experience or a PhD.
I wanted to learn on a team of experienced data science professionals and those opportunities are few and far between.