幾年前，哈佛商業評論說數據科學家的是“二十一世紀最性感的工作”。但你知道做一個數據科學家意味著什么嗎？來，我們先看看這些數據科學專家的名言。

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Data scientists “tend to be “hard scientists”, particularly physicists, rather than computer science majors. Physicists have a strong mathematical background, computing skills, and come from a discipline in which survival depends on getting the most from the data. They have to think about the big picture, the big problem – DJ Patil, VP of Product at RelateIQ

“數據科學家更傾向于是’硬科學家’ ，相對于計算機專業的，他們更像物理學家。物理學家有強硬的數學背景，計算機技能，并且來自一個靠數據吃飯的領域。他們需要從整體的角度思考，考慮比較宏大的問題。”–DJ Patil, Product at RelateIQ的副總裁

“They need to find nuggets of truth in data and then explain it to the Business leaders” – Rchard Snee Emc – See more

“他們需要從數據中找到有用的真相，然后解釋給領導者。” – Rchard Snee Emc

“A data scientist is someone who knows more statistics than a computer scientist and more Computer science than a statistician” – Josh Blumenstock

“數據科學家是一個比計算機科學家懂更多統計學，比統計學家懂更多計算機科學的人。” – Josh Blumenstock

“Data scientist is just a sexed up word for a statistician” – Nate Silver

“數據科學家只是‘統計學家’一個性感一些的名字。 ”– Nate Silver

“Data scientists are involved with gathering data, massaging it into a tractable form, making it tell its story, and presenting that story to others” – Mike Loukides, VP, O’Reilly Media

“數據科學家收集數據，把數據融入到易懂的形式中，讓數據講故事，并且把故事講給別人聽。”–Mike Loukides, O’Reilly Media的副總裁

“The data scientist was called, only half-jokingly, a caped superhero” – Ben Rooney

“數據科學家曾經被譽為戴著披風的超級英雄（當然只是開個玩笑）” – Ben Rooney

“Think analytically, rigorously, and systematically about a business problem and come up with a solution that leverages the available data”

“用分析的角度、嚴格、系統地思考業務問題，然后得出能夠影響這些數據的解決方案。 ”– Michael O’Connell, TIBCO的高級分析總監

“Data Scientist = statistician + programmer + coach + storyteller + artist”- Shlomo Aragmon

“數據科學家=統計學家+程序員+講故事的人+藝術家。“ – Shlomo Aragmon

“They are half hacker, half analyst, they use data to build products and find insights” – Monica Rogati

“他們一半是黑客，一半是分析師，他們用數據來做產品、提出新見解。“– Monica Rogati

“A data scientist is someone who can obtain, scrub, explore, model and interpret data, blending hacking, statistics and machine learning. Data scientists not only are adept at working with data, but appreciate data itself as a first-class product” – Hillary Mason, Founder at Fast Forward Labs

“數據科學家是懂得獲取、清洗、探索、建模、解釋數據的人，還要融合入侵技術、統計學和機器學習。數據科學家不僅要處理數據，還要把數據本身作為一個五星產品。”– Hillary Mason, Fast Forward Labs的創始人

現在，這里有個來自Drew Conway 有趣的圖表，它解釋了數據科學家到底意味著什么：

來看另一個簡單的圖。這是我自己關于整個數據科學過程的描繪。

那么， 數據科學家都做些什么呢？簡單來說，他收集數據、清洗、創建數據集、分析數據然后提出新觀點。他也嘗試用現有的數據預測未來，幫助業務提高產品、服務的質量、顧客粘性。更好的質量意味著更能取悅顧客、獲得收益。

這里有數據科學家最應該具備三個的特質：

1.一個優秀的數據科學家知道如何提出好問題

2.理解他手上的數據的結構

3.能夠很好地解讀這些數據

簡單來說，數據科學就是關于提出合適的問題，然后提出有意義的見解來指導正確的決策。