“I’m interested in jobs related to big data and AI, which are hot topics right now.”
For those who have such concerns, I would like to recommend the job of a data engineer, who can be engaged with training and some experience. This time, I would like to explain in an easy-to-understand manner the demand, prospects, and career paths for data engineers, who have received a lot of attention in the IT industry in recent years.
Environment Surrounding Data Scientists and Data Engineers
Data scientists and data engineers are becoming more and more important as the use of big data is required.
There is an inseparable relationship between a data scientist who analyzes vast amounts of data that can be used for business strategies and a data engineer who manages, organizes, and provides the data necessary for such analysis. Data scientists can concentrate on analysis and consulting because data engineers summarize and visualize individual data in an easy-to-understand manner.
The roles of the two are separated, and they are indispensable to modern business operations.
Are data scientists and data engineers in high demand? low?
The demand for data scientists and data engineers is considered very high for the following reasons:
Demand due to the expansion of the big data market
In recent years, many companies have turned their attention to big data to take on the challenge of “aggressive marketing” and “aggressive IT” that bring about a virtuous circle in their business. And it is an urgent need for companies to develop and hire human resources who can build and utilize big data.
Against this background, the demand for data scientists who analyze and utilize big data is increasing, and data engineers who play a supporting role are naturally sought after by various companies.
Data Scientist is the #1 Most Promising Job in the U.S.
In the United States, data scientists have been named the number one job of the future, and demand is already high. In addition, the increased demand for data scientists means that there are more opportunities for data engineers to play an active role.
Data scientists, who require 5 to 10 years of experience to train, are a profession that is said to be in short supply worldwide. At present, it is difficult to quickly solve the resource shortage in the data science field, so data engineers who are behind the scenes support a few data scientists.
State support for data science
To develop human resources in the AI era, the government is considering an educational system for experts with data science skills. The ultimate goal is for everyone to acquire knowledge of AI and data science. To that end, we aim to develop AI, mathematics, and data science education at all universities.
We are also considering implementing an educational program according to the level, such as aiming to acquire basic AI utilization skills after graduating from high school. In addition to certifying qualifications and setting up training programs, we are working with the Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) to ensure that excellent human resources can work with peace of mind.
Now that we are about to enter a new era, there is a movement for the entire country to respond.
Some universities have newly established data science departments
As the country shows new moves to respond to the AI era, some universities have already established departments for becoming data scientists.
Shiga University was the first to establish a data scientist faculty in Japan. We are trying to develop human resources who can extract and analyze valuable information from data and use it in decision-making.
In addition, Yokohama City University, which established the first data science department in the Tokyo metropolitan area, provides practical learning opportunities to develop human resources who can create new value from vast amounts of data.
In addition to these universities, departments related to data science have been established one after another, and are trying to respond to the trend of the world.
The future of data scientists and data engineers
Data engineers, who have gained a lot of attention in the last few years, have the following background, so they are a profession with great potential in the future.
2020 problem in the IT industry
It is said that the IT industry after 2019 will fall into the so-called 2020 problem, where the number of retirees will exceed the number of new graduates, causing a serious labor shortage. In particular, the following fields, which have shown rapid momentum in recent years, are considered to have a remarkable shortage of engineers because it is difficult to develop human resources.
·big data
・IoT
·artificial intelligence
・Robot industry
Essential to this category of work, data engineers are in high demand if they have the technical skills and skills to thrive in a team.
The use of big data will continue
With the spread of advanced IT technologies as mentioned above, it is expected that the markets for big data, IoT, and artificial intelligence will continue to expand in the future. In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s “Survey Results on Latest Trends and Future Estimates of IT Human Resources” reports that there will be a shortage of 48,000 advanced IT human resources by 2020. As long as big data and data scientists are paid attention to, the demand for data engineers will not decrease.
What it takes to be active as a data scientist/data engineer
To become a data engineer who can support data scientists and data analysts working in the same team, it is ideal to acquire the following skills and knowledge while gaining experience and continuing to grow as an engineer.
Skills required for a data scientist
To be active as a data scientist, along with the skills to manipulate data, the ability to be active in business is also required. Specifically, there are the following three.
・IT skills
・Business skills
・Skills to analyze statistics
IT skills are broad IT knowledge, data processing and database skills, and programming. A wide range of skills such as the acquisition of mathematics and data analysis methods, business understanding, logical thinking, and presentation skills are required here.
Skills required for a data engineer
The skills required to be active as a data engineer are specialized in manipulating numbers and data.
Specifically, the following four are mentioned.
·Math
・Data visualization
·programming
・Cloud skills
Math skills required for data engineers include calculus, stochastic statistics, and linear algebra.
In addition, the ability to visualize disparate data and grasp the meaning and trends, programming skills that can handle machine learning for system development and efficiency, and skills to analyze data using cloud services. knowledge is required.
With training and some experience, you can become a data engineer.
The industry that handles big data, which has grown rapidly over the past few years, is still immature in terms of market and occupation. In the world of data science, where there are few specific role models, it is said that many young engineers fall into a situation where they do not know what they should aim for. As a result, the talent shortage is creating a growing demand for data engineers.
Pasona Tech, which is well versed in these issues in the IT industry, trains data engineers through training programs and creates role models for jobs that handle big data. If you acquire the knowledge and skills to play an active role in supporting scientists and promoting the introduction of AI at our company, it should be easier for you to change jobs to industries that handle big data.
Also, with the knowledge and experience you have learned in the training program, it will be easier for you to consider career advancement as a highly sought-after data scientist or embedded deep learning engineer.
Our data engineer training program is aimed at people with development language experience, and specifically, one of the following experiences is an application condition.
1. Practical experience in improving work efficiency with Excel (macro, VBA)
2. Practical experience in some kind of system development
If you are experienced in some development language, the training content is such that you can understand it without any problems.
For details on the training content and recruitment conditions of our data engineer training program, please see the following page.
What is the future of data scientists and data engineers?
With the increase in companies working on “aggressive IT/aggressive marketing” utilizing big data, the demand and future potential for data engineers are extremely high. This is largely related to the remarkable shortage of human resources in the IT industry in Japan in 2020.
Engineers in this category, who know not only databases but also frameworks, have a wide variety of careers such as data scientists and AI/deep learning engineers in high-ranking occupations.
Becoming a data engineer requires mathematics such as linear algebra, calculus, and probability statistics, as well as data visualization skills, programming languages, and knowledge of the cloud. At first glance, it may seem difficult, but with training and some experience, it is possible to become a data engineer.
Pasona Tech provides training for data engineers in a unique program that other companies do not have, so if you are interested, please apply.
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