[dba-SQLServer] Data Scientist Versus SQL Server BusinessIntelligence

Alan,
You hit a very important point.
The crucial sentence in the article is: "They need to find nuggets of truth in data and then explain it to the business leaders."
I don't know what the journalist means by a "data scientist". But let's say it's a person as described above. Then I don't think this describes a BI expert.
A BI expert can provide tools for a data scientist by creating data warehouses and OLAP cubes. But a data scientist needs to analyse the data and communicate the results. This requires a person with business knowledge and rhetorical capabilities. And a 70-448 exam obviously doesn't qualify to that. Just as business knowledge and rhetorical skills won't do for creating an efficient BI system.
Seems simple: two separate jobs. But actually it's not so.
BI experts have a very big control of the data being analysed. That's especially true when it comes to advanced tools like Analysis Services in SQL Server.
If you are used to building pivot tables in Excel on internal data tables in worksheets then you will probably be frustrated when building the pivot table on OLAP cubes from Analysis Services. You just don't have the freedom to pivot and analyse the data the way you are used to - why? because your analysis capabilities has been defined and restricted by the BI expert.
There are plenty of good reasons for this restriction (performance, business rules etc.) but bottom line is: the BI expert rules the Data scientist - unless you establish a serious and ongoing exchange of knowledge between both parts.
Asger


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Alan Lawhon
Sendt: 8. september 2011 20:27
Til: 'Discussion concerning MS SQL Server'
Emne: [dba-SQLServer] Data Scientist Versus SQL Server BusinessIntelligence

In reading this:

 
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/06/data-scientist-the-hot-new-gig-in-tec
h/

  http://tinyurl.com/3lppxzn

Fortune magazine article describing the hot new career field of "Data
Scientist," what the article outlines sounds very much like the data
warehousing and data mining topics covered in the SQL Server 70-448
("Business Intelligence") certification exam.  Is that basically what a
"Data Scientist" is - an expert in data warehousing and data mining?

Alan C. Lawhon

         

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