Abstract

As the industry races to harness the power of data, demand for data professionals is growing at an increasing rate. However, almost every organization has a unique way of defining roles in data science and associated skills and knowledge. This has resulted in a confusing industry landscape for employers, academic and training institutions, and existing and aspiring data professionals. This report is the first in a series authored by Initiative for Analytics and Data Science Standards (IADSS). We review the history of data science, which we trace back to 1974, and emergence of data science as a profession in the industry, followed by a classification of knowledge and skills commonly associated with data professionals, pointing out to a lack of detailed and consistent treatment of the topic. We then present a Data Science Knowledge Framework, that we believe can support industry standardization and building measurement and assessment methodologies for data professionals.

Keywords: data science roles, skills and knowledge, hiring and assessment, industry standards