In the same way scientists conduct experiments to acquire knowledge to make predictions or prove theories, data scientists like New Hui Li work their way through business information to form insights, discover trends and make predictions.
“Raw data often comes in a humongous volume that doesn’t make sense at all and my role as a data scientist is to process the information, manage it and turn it into business insights that people can digest,” explained the 28-year-old from NTUC Link Pte Ltd, the social enterprise spearheading the Plus! rewards programme.
Making use of software systems to sieve through data, her typical day on the job includes analysing information to solve business questions such as how well merchant partners are doing or how many customer visits an online website is receiving. That knowledge is then subsequently used to support marketing campaigns.
As businesses become increasingly digital, more opportunities for information gathering and analysis are opening up for digital scientists who will be central to helping their companies grow.
Necessary Skills
As the job involves working with numbers on a daily basis, one needs to be very comfortable with figures, shared the Mathematics and Economics graduate.
Prior to joining Link three years ago, Hui Li had made an effort to learn how to use statistics software programmes. In the course of her work, she has also made an extra effort to widen her knowledge by taking up a Specialist Diploma in Business Analytics from Temasek Polytechnic.
“Knowing how to apply your skills is also dependent on how well you understand the needs of the business, and that comes with experience. With that knowledge, we will be able to better analyse the data, determine the patterns, know what is trending and support the business objectives,” she said.
Technical skills aside, Hui Li also said that a sense of curiosity, problem solving ability and communication skills are crucial to fit well into a data role.
“That drives you to dig further for trends and patterns and allows you to get more insights from a particular set of data,” she added.
