A degree is desired in more than 90% of job advertisements. However, there is more to the skills of data experts than computer science expertise: strong communication skills, analytical skills and creativity are more frequently required in job profiles than programming languages, for example. The explanation for this can be found in the job description, as a data scientist must be able to prepare and visualize data in an understandable way in order to make it accessible for companies.

Which subject, which programming languages, which hard and soft skills does a data scientist need? The career platform Joblift has investigated.

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In the past 24 months, Joblift counted 64,173 vacancies for data specialists. German companies are increasingly looking for skills in dealing with large amounts of data. Vacancies remain unfilled for an average of 34 days, which is slightly less than the vacancy period of 36 days for software developers. This could be explained by the fact that not only applicants with a background in computer science are suitable for the job of data scientist, according to Joblift.

Only 41 % require a degree in computer science

With regard to the level of education required of applicants, the high level of academic qualifications is particularly striking: 93% of advertisements require a university degree as a basic prerequisite. A Master's degree is explicitly required in 69% of the job profiles, while a Bachelor's degree is sufficient in 20% of cases.

Anyone thinking of working as a data scientist should therefore first and foremost aim for a degree - but which one? Unsurprisingly, companies name computer science as the number one desired course of study in 41% of job advertisements; mathematics or statistics graduates are in demand in 21% of advertisements. Economics comes in third place with 18%, followed by physics in 5% and engineering (especially industrial engineering) in 4% of all advertisements.

Knowledge and skills in demand

However, special knowledge and skills of the applicants are often more decisive than the right field of study: SQL (16,942 mentions), R (8422 mentions), Python (6587 mentions), Java (5945 mentions) and SPARK (2356 mentions) are listed as the five most important programming languages in the requirement profiles. At the same time, applicants should have previous knowledge in the field of artificial intelligence, especially in machine learning and deep learning as a particular sub-area. In addition, experience with data visualization and cloud technology is often required. In addition to these hard criteria, communication skills are also required in almost every second job advertisement for data scientists and analytical skills in 45% of advertisements. Data scientists must not only be able to sort large amounts of data, but also interpret it and communicate their findings in an understandable way.