The prestigious Harvard Business Review published an article in remote 2012 in which data science was presented as “the sexiest job of the 21st century.” The development of artificial intelligence since then has proven the reason for whoever formulated this idea. The demand for well-trained specialists in this field is so high that those with the right profile can consider themselves truly privileged.
However, practically half of the students of careers that are framed in the coordinates of the so-called STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, that is, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, consider that this professional output is too theoretical. and that has a low impact on the industry.
In fact, barely 55% of these students are well informed about the vast opportunities offered by this field. And this is not the only problem that is detected in the STEM area. The gender gap is even more serious. According to research carried out by analysts at the consulting firm PwC, only 3% of women say that a career in technology is their first option.
According to this same work, only 16% of those enrolled in the university have received any suggestion about the possibility of graduating in this field; the proportion among men is more than double, since it is 33%. Professionals like Hannah Alexander, at the service of the Ascent company, advocate for a massive landing of women in data science.
In his opinion, it is not necessary to master tools such as deep learning, linear algebra or complex programming, an assumption that, from the outset, scares away potential candidates. In a developed country like the UK, almost 50% of companies and institutions have struggled to hire data scientists in the last two years.
The prediction in the sector is that the so-called data science will experience greater growth than any other discipline from now until 2029. For this reason, the challenge for organizations, in the opinion of such authoritative voices as Alexander’s, is to be able to to awaken and encourage vocations to enter a task that is destined to govern the future of the world economy.
