IBMInsight

Clearly women are very well represented on this chat... not that we noticed!

@susvis very very true! let's see what everyone thinks!

Is there a shortage of female data scientists? How did we define data scientist? Is the proportion different across age groups? (Careful making statements like this to data scientists! :-) )

It's a complete falsehood that women aren't good at math. Infact, we're great at anything we try :)

@Diane_Analtyics that is a great point.

I think the problem is that the cart is before the horse. Women, in general, tend to pursue fields that they feel good about... like envtl engineering has a lot greater proportion of women than other engineering fields... so... #IBMInsight

I hate to say it, but this goes back to the 'sexy' question (which I hated). If you re-frame the question to 'how can I do x' instead of 'data science' it has better resonance. Solve world hunger. Heal the sick. Make cooler cars. Fun with data.

@Diane_Analtyics Your awesome! lol

idk, bc some of the most analytically gifted minds I have known have been women.

I always attend the #WIT event at #IBMInsight. I've met some pretty awesome people: men & women!

Apparently only 14% of computer science graduates today are women...

Develop and Deploy Role Models, Mentors, Collaborative Teams, ...and vote here: https://twitter.com/...

as data science keeps integrating through out all industries, you will see women being interested in working in the areas of data science about which they are most passionate. Referring to my example, the equiv would be Envtl Data Science

i just saw this new partnership by @IBM & @Galvanize http://www.bizjourna...

@EileenDSmith Fortunately, (1) not all data scientists have a degree in computer science and (2) more than half of graduate students (in Canada, all disciplines) are women -- and many/most (ref?) data scientists have advanced degrees.

I think we start at middle school or younger to teach data literacy and the power of data (eg, in Social Media)... bright minds will want to pursue this career!

@MWorel i agree 100% and was about to say that "what do you want to be when you grow up (and what will you do with the data)?

@MWorel Exactly!!! Brilliant

I thought the tag "sexy" will attract more females to join this line :P

Many of the women here are blazing the trail for women in data science (and tech in general) and should continue to recruit and guide new members :)

@Diane_Analtyics I wonder if this differs by country? I think it does...and #Canada Rocks!

I like to ask the question to young people "Who do you want to be when you grow up?", then show them that Data Science is a path to be anything that they might answer

@susvis it appears to be true in the US according to: http://nces.ed.gov/p... (for 2012-3)

@AnuranPradhan "Sexy" tag attracts young people, and that's what we need! (... said this grandpa!)

@AnuranPradhan the tags 'successful', 'important', 'key', 'useful', 'helpful', 'relevant', 'important' are more what I look for in a career. Suspect other people might think that too.

On a lighter note, force the wives & girlfriends of data scientists to join them ! I would say the best female engineers I have seen excel in tasks around data - like ETL, ideation, questioning new techniques etc. Grooming them would help !

@MWorel Yes absolutely ma'am. Please take no offense for me backing 'sexy' tag.

@AnuranPradhan - no offense taken at all :) This is a GREAT part of the discussion, being able to talk about meanings and what resonates with different people. Attracting people to a career is definitely about messaging.

This might be my favorite question ever.

Superlatives such as that are hype. "Sexy" is a ridiculous word to apply to the discipline. Let's just say that data science is the essential core of 21st century application development in the era of big data analytics and cognitive computing.

I think sexy was just used to get attention... maybe interesting and high playing?

I'm fine with the label because it attracts the best and brightest young minds into this new world of data everywhere

@jameskobielus Truth - in most data science work, work-life balance is one of the perks - and I would call that "sexy" #IBMInsight

Data scientist, as a job category, brings together defiantly unsexy disciplines--statistical analysis and programming--with sexier ones: creative problem solving, visualization, and narrative building.

@jameskobielus Great answer Jim! ""Sexy" is a ridiculous word to apply to the discipline" LOL!

It does attract interest. And, if Gartner's Hype Cycle is to be believed, the hype is likely to remain for awhile... I think data science will continue with other domains like physics or chemistry in future.

agreed @jameskobielus and @AyleeNielsen - but is such FUN stuff!!

Creative design is key to data science in the 21st century: building machine learning models to drive mobility, engagement, experience, etc. Shaping the future is sexy. Sure.

Hi @AyleeNielsen Nice seeing you here :)

haha this great. Maybe this will pull more women into the field. :)

Great to see you too @bigdatagal! I hope we get the chance to hang out at #ibminsight this year ;)

@jameskobielus You nailed it Jim! Shaping the future is the intriguing part!

I think this is a reality - data is already at the center of business - understanding that data, exploring that data, deriving insights from that data will be key - data scientist will bring in domain knowledge that'd be vital for business

Thanks, Susan. Of course, there are physically attractive people in this line of work, as in others, but I don't think that's the sense in which HBR means "data scientists are sexy."

anything future leaning and geeky is sexy and good in my book

@arianagradow I think it may have the opposite effect ;)

when I think sexy I think of attractive or exciting, Data Science is that...

duh, it's sexier than porn

Well, insights mean nothing unless they're communicated in a way that stakeholders can use and understand. I'd say it is vital. #IBMInsight

Some of my favourite authors are both storytellers and data scientists! I'll add each below.

Steven Levitt calls himself an economist, but with journalist Stephen Dubner, the two are the brains behind the #Freakonomics series.

@BigDataGal truth. is it fair to say LOB wants visuals for everything?

@bigdatagal @susvis I agree 100%. And I love using this book as a guide...http://datajournalis...

Extremely important. Grounding the scoping of the problem to be modeled and identifying the key independent and dependent variables. Being able to interpret and explain the results. Being able to apply the findings to real scenarios.

all the tables & graphs r useless w/o a compotent narrative & narrator

Malcolm Gladwell may be a historian and journalist, but also a story teller and data scientist.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon, storyteller, data scientist, and best selling author!

it's a new requirement

Part of Nate Silver's success is combining the storytelling and data science.

Weaving a story that accurately conveys both the problem and the results is critical. Sadly, there is more fiction that truth in some data science stories today. Over simplification, not understanding the business...

@theRab I'd say so, but that makes sense bc when a data viz is well-crafted, its an extremely effective means of communication, right? #IBMInsight

Jordan Ellenberg's book about Math is also a great story. Did you hear him speak at #IBMVision?

Essential requirement!

Maybe some of you #datascientists out there will become best selling authors??

Story telling is a data scientists "real" job ;)

@BigDataGal exactamundo!

@susvis @bigdatagal I think we should all support the authors among us!... http://rocketdatasci...

@KirkDBorne It looks like a great book.... I'll add it to my reading list!

The bridge between the final user and the data scientist is the storytelling. Simple, interactive visualizations are key in the development of successful data projects.

@KirkDBorne :) Thanks!

If you analyze a typical project there'll only be a handful of Data Scientists - rest will be programmers, mgrs, marketing, etc - as such, you need to be a good story teller to get your points across accurately and efficiently.

I have always maintained, the perfect data scientist is someone who has the experience of likes of @kirkdborne or the curiosity atleast + can present data like Hans Rosling & tell a story like Asimov.