Data Science vs Software Engineering by Artur Meyster, CTO of #CareerKarma

when you first begin your research in the tech field you're likely to come across a vast array of different roles and careers two of the most popular options are data science and software engineering both of which come with their own sets of crows cons and unique attributes and though they're both parts of the tech industry they're definitely two very different paths to go down so how do you choose between the two and which one is the one right for you in this video we hope to help you clear up any confusion between these two careers data science and software engineering and help you decide whether either of them are the right choices for you so let's begin what is data science data science is a highly technical field that deals with interpreting information from structured and unstructured data sets you may have heard terms like machine learning and artificial intelligence these all fit under the same umbrella of data science when you're checking out recommendations on Netflix or Amazon when you ask Siri or Alexa for help or asking Google Maps for directions between point a and point B this is all the work of data scientist the information from these sets is often extracted to a variety of different algorithms and scientific methods in data science the goal is to group large sets of data and find patterns and interpret it in a way that allows businesses to make actionable decisions based on these found insights data science is a lucrative and in-demand career choice the field continues to grow and there are plenty of opportunities out there if you have the right skills and experience so let's talk about software engineering software engineering is another huge field in the tech industry the name software Inc has a self-explanatory title it's using programming and engineering skills to create and develop new programs application systems and even video games also software engineers constantly patch and improve existing software programs to improve efficiency and keep websites up to date if you have software development skills you're sure to find a company out there who would want to utilize them so what are the major differences between the two fields for the most part data scientists user skills to sift through data and interpret it in meaningful ways they try to find patterns and insights in that data in order to make actionable business decisions they use coding and algorithms to organize all of the raw data they're given and make sense of it in short data science is much more analytical in practice software engineers on the other hand focus on creating systems and software applications that are user-friendly and help solve problems for people on the web let's look at an example if you're watching this video on YouTube a software engineer helped build this video an audio player the search and all the user functionality now let's say you hop on Google and search best coding boot camps for 2019 you will see some pretty relevant results to what you've searched and you're likely to find exactly the type of article you're looking for within the first few blinks this is the power of data science the algorithm is able to sift through a huge data set in this case finding articles that mention coding boot camps and present the most relevant articles in the search results this saves an immense amount of time because you don't have to endlessly search for well-written well curated article the algorithm has already done that for you so now maybe it's easier to see why these two fields are important and what they're capable of but it's probably not enough to help you pick between the two let's look at each of the fields even closer obviously both of them have a huge impact on our daily lives many of us can hardly remember a time where you couldn't just ask Siri to give you directions to the nearest coffee shop or if you do remember those times you probably don't want to go back to them you don't have to drive around searching for a coffee shop when you need a quick caffeine jolt you just ask your phone assistant that an app developed by software engineer to find one for you then using an algorithm developed by a data scientist it searches your query and finds you a coffee shop just one mile away it then opens up your map application developed by a software engineer to tell you exactly where to go and that's just how it affects your personal life software engineering and data science have had an equally tremendous impact on how businesses operate around the world now let's look at some of the skills you need to master if you want to be a data scientist or a software engineer the most important skills you'll need to know to become a data scientist include but aren't limited to programming machine learning data visualization and statistics different positions may require more than these skills but it's safe to say that these are the bare minimum of pursuing a career in data science if you're interested in software engineering you will need to master at least one programming language and be proficient in either front-end or back-end and work well in teams with designers product managers and other stakeholders so how do you become a data scientist in the tech field data scientist is one of the career paths where graduate levels of education are most valued in fact most data scientists come from a software engineering background or academia if you want to become a data scientist you should have a quantitative background and have a good grasp of statistics math and programming the barrier to entry for data science may be high but the buff path isn't necessarily the only way to break in with data signs boot camps you can have a chance of getting into the data science industry without needing to go through years of school that doesn't mean you won't be continuously learning for years to come but you could perhaps get your foot in the door much sooner this is the expedited path to a career in data science but it certainly isn't the easy one hard work and dedication will be required on this path next let's talk about how to become a software engineer software engineers often don't require quite the same level of education that data scientists do and many are even self-taught completing a two or four-year degree is the more traditional path to becoming a software engineer but coding boot camps are another viable option here if you want to become a software engineer you'll need to be proficient in at least one programming language preferably more the more languages you're proficient and the more jobs you'll be able to qualify for when you begin searching and again becoming a software engineer requires hard work and dedication but if you're willing to put in the work you can break into this field and have a successful career keep in mind the big to answer for software engineering isn't quite as high as data science so this might be something you want to keep in mind when you're making your decision that's it for this comparison comment below if you have any questions deciding whether software engineering or data science is the right role for you and let's break in [Music]

Channel: Career Karma

Views: 61,042

Keywords: data science vs software engineering, data science, data science jobs, what is data science, data science internship, data science interview questions, data science bootcamp, data science resume, data science projects, coursera data science, software engineering, software engineering internships, software engineering jobs, software engineering salary, software engineering institute, engineering software, best software engineering schools, academy for software engineering

Id: aGxcG4iTSpI

Length: 7min 14sec (434 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2020