How do you stand out in today’s data science market?
You’ve put in the time and energy to develop the hard technical skills. Now you want to become an even more valuable “whole package” data professional… someone who can interact with business partners and colleagues to build valuable personal relationships by developing those soft skills.
Like every field, “soft skills” are important in growing your data professional career. Data scientists must fit into the organizational culture, interact in meetings, and contribute ideas to help the organization be successful. Without effective interpersonal and communication skills, you could be mistakenly perceived as not being a team player, damaging the career of even the most talented data professional.
Important soft sills for data scientists…
Over the course my career, I have found three areas really difficult to navigate. I was a mix of the classic socially awkward programmer and overly-concise statistician. To overcome these issues, I’ve taken trainings, studied books, and (importantly) have tried and tested solutions to see what has worked well, what needed tweaking, and what didn’t work at all. I continue to learn and work on these skills to improve.
Interpersonal Communication
Do you get tongue-tied talking to people? Learn key communication skills to manage projects, navigate conflict, and build long-lasting, mutually-beneficial relationships that create career success.
Requirements Gathering
The key to a successful project begins with meeting the desired outcome. That means successfully gathering requirements. Ask the right questions, get buy in from the beginning, and deliver a product that’s a hit.
Data-Focused Presentations
Communicate the information in your data with clarity and focus. Be that unicorn who can not only wrangle data, analyze it… then present the results that even a lay audience can understand and appreciate.
I created this website to keep a record of my learnings and help others by sharing my knowledge and experiences.
Start by reading a few articles…
I hope you get value from what you read. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I may or may not have an answer, but I would like to know others’ experiences and issues.
P.S.
If you’re wondering, yes I do draw all the cartoons on this site. It’s one of my hobbies and I think adds enjoyment to reading. That love of visuals is why I got into data visualization and cartography over 20 years ago, long before it was ever popular and easy to do with all the new software available.