

#Guardian data scientist professional
herCAREER: At herCAREER, the focus is on professional exchanges, which is based on the personal experiences and the knowledge of the sparring partners. Usually, they are also in close exchange with the management due to their strategic focus. improving products as well as internal and external processes. Today, Data Scientists are appointed to grow and strengthen the business by e. As Data Scientists are comparably new to the business world their role hasn’t changed as much over the last years but their possible applications in companies have gotten continuously broader. detecting potential cost savings or potentials for business development. Controllers are assigned with keeping the company on track through e. In most companies the controlling department works closely with the senior management and supports them in their data needs. While the position used to be seen as a “nitpicker” mainly making sure that the reported data is correct, Controllers today are rather seen as business partners or consultants to the management. herCAREER: What role do the two positions actually play in companies?Įva Habermann: Well-established in companies for decades, the characteristics of Controllers have changed over time. The Data Scientist has a background in math/statistics or computer science leading to a broad skill set in analytical methods, statistical modeling, programming, and machine learning. The Controller has a business administration background bringing along detailed knowledge in financial KPIs as well as accounting and reporting processes and structures.

These differences in practice are the foundation for dissimilar educational backgrounds the functions usually have. In general, the Data Scientist is left with more complex questions and problems to solve. Also, the Controller mostly looks at data with a specific need or question in mind while the Data Scientist sometimes has an existing data set and their task is to find information therein, e. Controllers mainly work with structured data coming from an already validated data source while Data Scientists often need to first find a suitable data source, then clean and structure the available data themselves. Another difference is the kind of data both functions work with. Therefore, it is also a Controller’s main task to initiate measures if the achievement of goals is at risk. While the main target of the Data Scientist in this context is predicting the future as precisely as possible, the Controller’s target also includes hitting the predefined objectives of planning. In addition, they mainly work with data from the past to predict future outcome, e. Both need to be equipped with analytical thinking and problem-solving capabilities, a strategic and proactive mindset, excellent communication skills as well as profound knowledge about the business itself.


Looking at their main tasks, both functions take care of data gathering, preparation, analysis, and visualization. To put it in a nutshell: data is knowledge, knowledge is power – and power is sexy! herCAREER: In which way do the two functions of a Controller and a Data Scientist differ?Įva Habermann: The two functions get compared to each other quite often due to their broad range of similarities. Behind this trend is our human urge to get to the core of things and to really understand motive and coherences. Whether large amounts of data have already been sitting in organizations untouched or are newly provided by innovative technologies, today the Data Scientist is more popular than ever. Over the last decade the importance of data in companies and organizations has further increased and so has the demand for employees with the capability of extracting insights from data that support corporate decision making. Back then, the job title was rather new and professionals carrying it were mainly recruited from other fields of scientific research, such as physics. HerCAREER: Why is the profession of Data Scientist now even described as the sexiest job in the 21st century?Įva Habermann: The profession of Data Scientist was already called “the sexiest job in the 21 st century” by the Harvard Business Review in 2012.
