This year, for the first time, we conducted an industry-wide survey to establish a comprehensive view of the state of data science and machine learning. We received over 16,000 responses and learned a ton about who is working with data, what’s happening at the cutting edge of machine learning across industries, and how new data scientists can best break into the field. The below report shares some of our key findings and includes interactive visualizations so you can easily cut the data to find out exactly what you want to know. Here are some sample takeaways:es6
While Python may be the most commonly used tool overall, more Statisticians report using R.
On average, data scientists are around 30 years old, but this value varies between countries. For instance, the average respondent from India was about 9 years younger than the average respondent from Australia.
The highest percentage of our respondents obtained a Master’s degree, but those in the highest salary ranges ($150K+) are slightly more likely to have a doctoral degree.
We’ve shared the full, anonymized dataset on Kaggle for you to download and explore. To participate in the conversation, share your analyses and code alongside the data so together we can continue advancing the state of data science and machine learning. You can even win cash prizes for your work. Who is Kaggle?github
There are a lot of ways to look at who is working with data, but we’ll get started with some demographic info on the jobs and backgrounds of people doing doing data science today:web
How old are you?
On average, survey respondents were around 30 years old, but this value varies between countries. For instance, the average respondent from India was about 9 years younger than the average respondent from Australia.shell
FILTER GENDERapp
020406080100Count of Respondents Age05001,0001,500Median: 30.0Median: 30.0
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.less
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%PERCENT OF RESPONSESEmployed full- time65.7%Not employed, but looking for work12.7%Freelancer8.0%Not employed and not looking5.6%Employed part- time5.5%I prefer not to say2.5%
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.
While we define “data scientist” as someone who uses code to analyze data, we found that there are a ton of job titles that fall into the realm of data science. For example, in both Iran and Malaysia, the most popular job title for those doing data science work is “Scientist or Researcher”.
Although “compensation and benefits” was ranked as slightly less important than “opportunities for professional development” in our survey, it’s still good to know what should be considered reasonable compensation. In the US, Machine Learning Engineers bring home the most bacon (on average).
FILTER GENDER
050,000100,000150,000Count of Respondents Salary0100200300Median: $55,441Median: $55,441
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.
3,771 responses 131 responses are not shown that exceed the maximum value shown, but they are included in the median calculation.
So, should you get that next degree? In general, the highest percentage of people in working data science, obtained a Master’s degree. But those people in the highest salary ranges ($150K - $200K and $200k+) are just as likely to have a doctoral degree.
FILTER GENDER
0%10%20%30%40%PERCENT OF RESPONSESMaster's degree41.8%Bachelor's degree32.0%Doctoral degree15.6%Some college5.2%Professional degree3.0%High School1.7%I prefer not to answer0.6%
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.
The average survey respondent was a 30-year-old with a Master’s degree, a job as a Data Scientist, and who makes about $55,000 per year. But people are not averages. These first few demographic questions give just the surface-level view of how diverse Kaggle’s data science community is in age, gender, country of residence, job title, salary, experience level, and formal education.
Share your insights, win $1,000!
There are endless ways to slice this survey data to uncover cool stories and facts. We’re giving away $1,000/week in October for top analyses shared on Kaggle Kernels.
What do data scientists do at work?
We define a data scientist as someone who ‘writes code to analyze data’. We asked these people what fills their day-to-day and here’s some highlights of what we found out:
What data science methods are used at work?
Logistic regression is the most commonly reported data science method used at work for all industries exceptMilitary and Security where Neural Networks are used slightly more frequently.
Relational data is the most commonly reported type of data used at work for all industries except for Academia and the Military and Security industry where text data’s used more.
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%PERCENT OF RESPONSESRelational data65.5%Text data53.0%Image data18.1%Other10.3%Video data5.1%
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Although the highest percentage of respondents share their code at work using Git, people in large companies are more likely to stay off the cloud and use file sharing softwares like Email. Those in the smallest companies are staying more agile by sharing in the cloud.
0%10%20%30%40%50%PERCENT OF RESPONSESGit58.4%Non- cloud file sharing27.8%Cloud file sharing software19.8%Bitbucket18.0%Subversion10.0%Other9.2%Mercurial1.6%
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Ah, dirty data, we meet again. It looks like, in general, dirty data is the most common problem for workers in the data science realm. One exception are those necessarily meticulous Database Engineers. After dirty data, company politics, lack of management and/or financial support are the real thorns in a data scientist’s side.
0%10%20%30%40%PERCENT OF RESPONSESDirty data49.4%Lack of data science talent41.6%Lack of management/financialsupport37.2%Lack of clear question to answer30.4%Data unavailable or difficult toaccess30.2%Results not used by decision makers24.3%Explaining data science to others22.0%Privacy issues19.8%Lack of domain expert input19.6%Can't afford data science team17.8%Multiple ad- hoc environments17.5%Limitations of tools16.5%Need to coordinate with IT16.3%Expectations of project impact15.8%Integrating findings into decisions13.6%
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.
7,376 responses Only displaying the top 15 answers. There are 7 answers not shown.
If you clicked around the filters, you may have noticed that respondents across many industries indicated that they struggle with a lack of data science talent in their organization. That means new data scientists are in luck (if you know where to look)! Keep reading to see how our currently employed survey respondents got off on the right track:
Share your insights, win $1,000!
There are endless ways to slice this survey data to uncover cool stories and facts. We’re giving away $1,000/week in October for top analyses shared on Kaggle Kernels.
How can new data scientists break into the field?
When you’re starting a new career path, it’s helpful to find out how other people managed to find success. We asked people working in the data science industry how they ‘made it’. Here are a few of our favorite pieces of advice:
What language would you recommend new data scientists learn first?
Everyone data scientist has an opinions on what language you should learn first. As it turns out, people who solely use Python or R feel like they made the right choice. But if you ask people that use both R and Python, they are twice as likely to recommend Python.
FILTER FROM USERS OF
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%PERCENT OF RESPONSESPython63.1%R24.0%SQL3.5%C/ C++/C#2.8%Matlab2.2%Java1.3%Scala0.9%Other0.8%SAS0.8%Julia0.3%Stata0.3%Haskell0.2%F#0.0%
There are less than 20 respondents with this filter. Try selecting a different one or use fewer filters.
Data science is a quickly changing field and there are a lot of valuable resources to help you learn and stay at the top of your game so you’re always eminently employable. Those already working in the data science field are using Stack Overflow Q&A, Conferences, and Podcasts more frequently to stay up to date than people entering the field. If you’re making content or open source software, keep in mind that people entering the field are more commonly using the Official documentation and watching YouTube videos.
EMPLOYED IN FIELDENTERING FIELD8. College/ University7. College/ University10. Conferences13. Conferences13. Podcasts16. Podcasts19. Trade book19. Trade book1. Kaggle1. Kaggle9. Arxiv10. Arxiv3. Online courses2. Online courses6. YouTube Videos3. YouTube Videos4. Blogs6. Blogs12. Friends network12. Friends network11. Official documentation9. Official documentation5. Personal Projects5. Personal Projects7. Textbook8. Textbook2. Stack Overflow Q& A4. Stack Overflow Q& A14. Company Community18. Company Community16. Newsletters15. Newsletters17. Online communities14. Online communities15. Tutoring/ mentoring11. Tutoring/ mentoring18. Other17. Other
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There’s no data science without the data. When it comes to learning data science skills, knowing how to find clean open datasets to use for practice and projects is incredibly valuable. We’re glad that dataset aggregators, like ours tend to be used the most frequently by members of the data science community.
FILTER EMPLOYMENT STATUS
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%PERCENT OF RESPONSESDataset aggregator63.4%Google Search33.3%University/ Non- profit26.6%I collect my own data23.7%GitHub22.2%Government website19.3%Other3.7%
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When you’re job hunting, it may be tempting to look for work on company websites or tech-specific job boards, but according to people who are employed in the data science realm, these are among the least helpful ways to find work. Instead, try to contact recruiters or build up your network to break into the field.
EMPLOYED IN FIELDENTERING FIELD5. Company Website1. Company Website2. Friend, Family, Colleague4. Friend, Family, Colleague7. Tech Job Board2. Tech Job Board1. Recruiter5. Recruiter6. Career Fair or Recruiting Event6. Career Fair or Recruiting Event4. Other7. Other3. General Job Board3. General Job Board
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There are endless ways to slice this survey data to uncover cool stories and facts. We’re giving away $1,000/week in October for top analyses shared on Kaggle Kernels.
Kaggle is a platform for data scientists to connect, learn, find and explore data, and compete in machine learning challenges. Since our launch in 2010, Kaggle’s platform has attracted a diverse set of data scientists and machine learning engineers. Since then, we’ve registered more than one million users from almost every corner of the earth and become the world’s largest data science community.
All data was obtained through the Kaggle 2017 Data Science Survey. The cleaned data can be accessed here and a kernel with the code we used to analyze the data can be found here.
Countries that had fewer than 50 respondents were grouped together into a single “Other” category. Some responses have been shortened for the purposes of these visualizations, but the entire responses and original questions can be found here. Some questions allowed respondents to select multiple answers. Bar charts displaying these questions may add up to more than 100%.
