Data scientists need to differentiate themselves from their colleagues to become indispensable. However, it is not straightforward for them as the data science landscape, unlike others, keeps evolving. This means that it is often challenging for data scientists to stay abreast with the market. However, this should not come in the way of them becoming a vital developer within organizations.
Despite the hardship, however, they can still differentiate themselves from the rest and achieve the status of being indispensable within organizations by doing the following:-
In-House Project That Gets Recognized By Analytics Community
Building an in-house project that gets recognized by some of the prestigious conference – like Cypher – will be helpful. While every project that you complete helps your organization become efficient, the recognition from a project by a community that keeps track of all the developments is vital.
This is because what may seem like a groundbreaking innovation for your company might be trivial in the data science industry. Thus, if a project gets acclaimed by communities at events like Cypher after being evaluated against other innovations, it demonstrates your capabilities in the market.
Patents Or Research Paper
Obtaining patents or publishing research papers is one of the best approaches to showcase your expertise in the domain. What can be better than contributing to the data science community with new research and becoming a leader in the field? Such advancements will go a long way as organizations will look for you to guide them towards becoming a data-driven company. This will often lead to getting a promotion and heading the analytics department for the firm, thereby, becoming indispensable.
Kaggle Grandmaster
This is a fairly difficult task and is not easy to gain. However, to become indispensable, one will have to go the extra mile to achieve this milestone. Besides this, winning hackathons held by prominent communities can also demonstrate your proficiency. However, triumphing in only one or two will not differentiate you from others.
Expertise In One Of The Data Science Techniques
Do not become a jack of all trades and master of none. “One should pick one technology – like computer vision or NLP – and master that while being aware of other technologies within the data science landscape,” said Pavan Kumar Thatha, Emerging Technologies Leader at Unisys.
Identify the technology that your company relies on and become the best in it by keeping yourself informed of every development that happens around that technology will be key to your success. Become the go-to person for other data scientists for problems about the implementation of that technology will help you earn the honour of being indispensable.
Become An Influencer
Becoming an influencer on LinkedIn or other similar platforms is also a unique way to become crucial for your organization. However, this is not enough. You will still be expected to perform well in various competitions. Only becoming a social media star will not work, but they do bring trust and enhance the brand for organizations.
Sharing useful information, writing blogs, becoming a part of expert networks on platforms like LinkedIn, Medium, AEN, and more, will make you an influencer in the market. However, at the same time, one should not adopt unfair practices to become an influencer, the way Siraj Raval did.
Problem-Solver As Well As Opportunity-Creator
Your internal performance can make you indispensable if you have the knack for identifying business opportunities through a data-driven approach. While every other data scientist finds insights and helps the firm in making informed decisions, if you can deliver more than the rest by bringing value to your firm, that would be just enough for you to become a valuable data scientist. To achieve these, one needs to be proficient at data science skills, as well as understand the firm’s business to its fullest to find new ways for business growth.
