Representatives from 25 major companies interviewed more than 200 students during DSI’s Fall 2017 Career Fair, indicating that the demand for data scientists is greater than ever.
The representatives came to the fair to fill openings – both internships and full-time jobs – for data scientists and related positions. Many of the 66 representatives said hiring data scientists was a priority for their top managers who view data science as central to the future success of their companies. Among the employers who attended the fair were IBM, United Technologies Corporation, Capital One, Walmart, Vanguard, Barclays Capital, Forbes Media, J. Crew, Rho AI, Penguin Random House, and the United Nations.
The students at the fair, moreover, said they were happy for the opportunity to meet prospective employers face-to-face and talk about their accomplishments and interests.
Manksh Gupta, who began a master’s degree at DSI in September, said the career fair was an opportunity for students to interact personally with employers and ask them what skills they are looking for in new hires.
“Today I talked to several employers who told me exactly what they are looking for in students and listened to me explain what I was looking for in my career,” said Gupta. “It’s a warm way for students to meet employers and I’m hopeful that I’ll hear back from some of the recruiters I spoke with today.”
Rachel Fuld Cohen, Assistant Director of Student Services & Career Development at the Data Science Institute, said major employers from around the country are eager to meet to students such as Gupta, who are “smart, driven and technically-skilled.”
“And the demand for data scientists is great,” added Cohen, “which is why 100 percent of our past graduates have found data-science employment.”
The demand for data scientists is beyond great. For the second consecutive year, the jobs website Glassdoor named data scientist the top career in the nation, basing its ranking on salary, number of job openings and job satisfaction. And PwC projected in 2015 that 2.3 million job openings called for data science skills, adding that “the best jobs right now in America include titles like data scientist and data engineer.”
“You can’t find enough good data scientists,” said Ben Zweig, who came to the fair to recruit for IBM. Zweig said the company has a chief analytics office that analyzes “a lot of data to solve a lot of problems.” The office has 60 employees who work collaboratively and collegially to solve data-driven challenges, he said.
“We are looking to hire students who are good with data but who also know how to frame problems and communicate solutions to them, ” added Zweig.
Gerry Song, who was at the fair recruiting for Capital One, agreed with Zweig’s assessment. Her company is also looking to hire students who have quantitative (math, science, data science) and qualitative skills (writing, speaking, presenting).
“We are interested in students who have a solid foundation in data science – in algorithms and machine learning – but who also have good intuition about how we approach problems,” she said.
Song belongs to Capital One’s data-research team, but she is also a DSI alumna: in 2016 she earned a master’s degree from DSI. Since then, she’s excelled at her job, which is why Capital One sent her to Columbia to recruit more data scientists. The company has openings for four or five interns, she said, as well as a few full-time slots. Internships often lead to full time positions, she said, noting that two DSI students who had internships at Capital One last summer were recently extended full-time offers.
Cohen, who ran the career fair, said it was a great success.
“The room had a lot of energy,” she said, “and employers and students both left excited about the possibilities of working together.”
— Robert Florida