The Hyper Blog

Read the latest news and insights from the world of life science!
Category

HRS Press Releases

View Our Latest News
Will Data Science Jobs Be Automated?

Data science

Data scientists take copious amounts of data and turn it into meaningful, easy-to-digest information for organisations to use. These skilled professionals can be found across a huge range of industries, and they have a huge influence over the way in which businesses operate.

As things stand, data scientists are in high demand because they're able to analyse customer behaviours, purchasing trends, and scientific research and turn it into actionable outcomes. However, with automation on the rise, some data scientists are starting to worry that their jobs may be in jeopardy.

But is this really the case? Today, we're going to take a look at the different factors that may tell us whether data science jobs will be automated.

 

 

History

Lots of jobs have been replaced by machinery over the past few centuries. Industries like agriculture and manufacturing were changed forever during the Industrial Revolution when the workforce of 100+ people was replaced by machines that could do their jobs more efficiently. Farmers and factory owners realised that paying hundreds of workers to do the job of one machine was neither time- nor cost-effective, and so many jobs were lost to automation.

Which jobs are most likely to be automated?

Some jobs are far easier to automate than others. The most automation-prone jobs...

  • Are based on repetitive manual labour
  • Don't require human interaction
  • Do not involve creativity or persuasion

Looking at these criteria, it becomes fairly obvious that data science job automation is not at immediate risk. Data science is a very highly skilled job that requires a deep understanding of very complex data sets - and every data set is completely different. Data scientists have to work creatively to show different kinds of data in appropriate formats, and they are often asked to present their findings so that questions can be answered accurately.

A computer may be able to process large amounts of data quickly, but can it interpret the findings into real, actionable results. Not yet! Perhaps as AI develops over the next few years, we'll see more and more intelligent technology that could make the automation of data science jobs more feasible - but we really don't see this as an immediate risk. We're a long way off replacing data scientists for good!

SEE ALSO: Jobs Least Likely to Be Automated

So, to answer the question 'Will data science jobs be automated?' - our gut feeling is no. At least, not any time soon; data science is the kind of job that benefits from the creativity and understanding of the human on the other side of the screen. An futuristic AI or automated approach to data science may produce accurate results, but will they be user-friendly? That's another question.

 

Finding a data science job

Finding a data science job is not as hard as you may think. There is still a high demand for professional data scientists who can translate swathes of data into user-friendly insights. As such, there are data science job vacancies in lots of different industries. Financial businesses, healthcare services and research companies are just some of the employers who rely on data scientists. So, don't worry about data science automation, there's still plenty to be learnt and explored in this exciting field.

More on Data Science   Browse Data Science Jobs