Organizations of all types and sizes have business processes that generate massive volumes of data. Every moment, all sorts of information gets created by computers, the internet, phones, texts, streaming video, photographs, sensors, and much more. In the global digital landscape, data is increasingly imprecise, chaotic, and unstructured. As the speed and variety of data increases exponentially, organizations are struggling to keep pace. 

Data science is part of a field of study that uses raw data to create new ways of modeling and understanding the unknown. To gain insights, businesses rely on data professionals to acquire, organize, and interpret data, which helps inform internal projects and processes. Data scientists rely on a combination of critical skills, including statistics, scientific methods, data analysis, and artificial intelligence.

A data professional is a term used to describe any individual who works with data and/or has data skills. At a minimum, a data professional is capable of exploring, cleaning, selecting, analyzing, and visualizing data. They may also be comfortable with writing code and have some familiarity with the techniques used by statisticians and machine learning engineers, including building models, developing algorithmic thinking, and building machine learning models. 

Data professionals are responsible for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting large amounts of data within a variety of different organizations. The role of a data professional is defined differently across companies. Generally speaking, data professionals possess technical and strategic capabilities that require more advanced analytical skills such as data manipulation, experimental design, predictive modeling, and machine learning. They perform a variety of tasks related to gathering, structuring, interpreting, monitoring, and reporting data in accessible formats, enabling stakeholders to understand and use data effectively. Ultimately, the work of data professionals helps organizations make informed, ethical decisions.

Large volumes of data — and the technology needed to manage and analyze it — are becoming increasingly accessible. Because of this, there has been a surge in career opportunities for people who can tell stories using data, such as senior data analysts and data scientists. These professionals collect, analyze, and interpret large amounts of data within a variety of different organizations. Their responsibilities require advanced analytical skills such as data manipulation, experimental design, predictive modeling, and machine learning.