Data Science Skills in Demand for 2016 #310

Colleges will often question themselves to see if they are teaching the right skills required from our graduates when they finish College It is difficult when planning new degrees, knowing that there will be no graduates for the first three or four years as new students work their way through each year - what skills will be required in four years time. All we can do is follow trends and consult with industry about what's needed.

Daniel Gutierrez, writing for insideBIGDATA, tells us about the Data Science Skills in Demand for 2016. The main skills are:

• SQL
• Hadoop
• Python
• Java
• R

Image source: Ngare's Dbit Blog.

Gutierrez further writes that the above skills "will really make a difference and help specialists write their own ticket when it comes to salaries". He quotes a report based on Linkedin research that the "SQL specialists are the ones sitting pretty right now".

At the National College of Ireland, Java is the programming language of choice for our BSc in Computing programmes. I am also glad to report that in our Data Analytics programmes we cover SQL, Hadoop, Python, and R in our curriculums. Nice to know we are making a difference to people's lives with the right skills for today. I know I am certainly using more R programming in class than ever before. The skill set demands of the IT sector will of course change in the future, it is our job to respond to this and keep up to date.