Hey guys!

I'm a Consultant specializing in IT recruitment. I've been working on multiple Data Analytics roles lately and I noticed a sudden hike in terms of hiring for this area of expertise.

From what I've gathered, the talent pool for this is quite limited. The skillsets are niche as well.

What are your thoughts on Data Analytics? Do we forsee a massive advantage for those who specialize in this?

Would love to know your thoughts!

I have applied a job related to data analytic before but I only have limited knowledge about SAS. I think the biggest concern for ppl (either fresh graduate or others) who are not coming from this background is:
1. Steep learning curve (yes, I am not from data analytic background as well. I would like to learn, but it is impossible for me to tell you i have 0 concern)
2. for those who are not from this background and applying this job for the first time, they will worry is this the "real" job that they want
3. also, a lot of companies only looking for experienced employees and therefore, a lot of passionate fresh graduates are rejected.

Here's some thoughts i would like to share, hope it helps.

yes data/business analytics is becoming a norm now and almost all industries would have a need for it. Simply put the task involves making sense of a co's/organization's data and see how they can make better decision from it.

Ive being doing some related work predominately on the visualization end using tools like SAP. Recently a lot of this work can be done without using the big names which are expensive and those who can script are at a better spot of exploring this field. This is where I find myself lacking ie not knowing much on customizing solutions, scripting ie R etc. and this is where the real value lies I think. Being technical and knowing how to explain that to management/ others would make one shine above the rest

The talent pool is quite limited now as data scientist/analytics courses are still in it's infancy in malaysia. Coupled with the background required of stats and IT, u can see why it's tough to find ppl in this area.

Big Data/Analytics is a $203 billion dollars industry so no doubt the future seems good for now.

Relatively young but rewarding industry, not many keen in pursuing this path.

Casually talked with peers in software engineering, there's this assumption data = boring and repetitive.

Been in this industry for about 5 years, getting poached left and right (mostly from SGP and China) so it seems talent demand outstrips supply by far.

What you need to thrive in this industry:
- Good communication and presentation skill.
- Technical (SQL/HDFS/R/Python etc)
- Statistics competency (segmentation/clustering etc)
- Business domain knowledge (financial/tech/fmcg etc)
- Creative/able to look at problem from many perspectives compared to traditional engineering.

Looking to return to Msia in couple years time. Hit me up if TS looking for not so distant future prospect.

Very good job prospect in Malaysia due to tremendous Government support and emphasis through MDEC. It's growing fast as you can frequently find conference and seminars being conducted. Data Analytics is part of the Big Data ecosystem wtih some crossover into Data Science and Digital Marketing sometimes, to really stand out, you need to have both the technical skills in data mining and modeling, as well as business sense to turn data into meaningful insights for management
With IoT gaining momentum, the demand is only going to get stronger

I notice one challenge with data science which is data collection. I believe the tools won't be too effective relying only on adhoc data like Excel ar those residing at silos. Useful for organization that keen to churning out results to explore and to drive decision instead of standard Enterprise reporting for fact and monthly snapshot that requires 100% data accuracy

There are also too many tools for data science so it's a steep learning curve for those who just start. It's also hard to setup a consistent framework for long term

Correct me if I'm wrong

This post has been edited by Vinci777: Sep 20 2017, 07:58 PM

Big data is the next big thing in IT

Absolutely! We are now moving into an era of big data already.

TRUE





This post has been edited by kazehaya: Sep 22 2017, 08:48 PM

Hey Ashley!

Thank you for this. Its very insightful.

Yes, I've had a lot of fresh graduates apply for the positions. Young, talented and smart but employers are not keen on training them. My heart breaks a little everytime I turn them down.

SAS/R programming experience seems to be mandatory as well. But I have to admit, employers are willing to pay a hefty amount for talents like these.

Do you think getting the certification in SAS would be beneficial for those without the experience?

Cheers,
Zindhuja

Hey pizi87!

Thank you for your thoughts! Appreciate it very much!

I agree. Intially this was a niche skillset that was only applicable in the Telecommunication industry. Maxis, Celcom and Telenor used to be the only few organization that required talents with these specialization. But now, it has massively expanded to various industries. I was surprised to see people from the manufacturing industry!

Another thing that is usually highlighted by employers is the ability to do statistical modelling. Which is impossible if the person does not have SAS or R experience - do correct me if i'm wrong though?

Cheers,
Zindhuja

Hey DarkAeon!

Thank you for your thoughs on this!

Yes, it is. And to be honest, most of the talent I speak to are usually the ones who graduated overseas.

Big data is surely booming now. Not only with big multinational organizations but also with start-ups/fin techs.

Cheers,
Zindhuja

Hey v-zero!

Thank you for this! It's very helpful!

I personally find it a pity that not many would like to pursue this. It seems to be very lucrative - for now.

I would be poaching you too if you were based in KL! since the market is extremely niche.

Do you think it would be beneficial to be certified in SAS or R programming?

Also - do drop me an email when you are ready to come back to malaysia! zindhuja.manoharan@ambition.com.my

Cheers,
Zindhuja

Hey Fortezan!

Thank you for this!

I've had employers telling me that they are planning to massive increase headcounts in this area this year and 2018!

And yes I agree, technical competencies is a must here. And the ability to churn data.

Based on your explaination, i'm assuming you do have a background in analytics?

Cheers,
Zindhuja

Hey Vinci777!

Thanks for this! Appreciate it

Which tools do you mean? SAS or R is not efficient enough?

Cheers,
Zindhuja

I think he means excel or analytic program that work with data in the ram. If the data gets large enough your RAM will limit how much you can work on at a time. But for R and SAS data can be stored in a database on stand alone PC or a remote server which is ideal for large data

The most popular tool in DS is R, python, NoSQL, SKLearn, Jupyter and for image, speech and text processing TensorFlow. The people working on data science that I know use mainly open source programs for their work

I disagree that having domain knowledge is important. It is better to let your modal review the truth than trying to tweak your modal to give you what you want according to your bias. Doing so will take longer for your modal to determine which feature in the data is important and which is not but that is what it takes to get the truth

This post has been edited by BrendonStar: Sep 25 2017, 08:10 AM

very interest toward this kind of job, but hardly get a chance

I applied when I have no experience, then was rejected by employers.
Only 1 interview and I fail.

Then I join training program for SAS Big Data, was offer a position straightaway.

As a fresh grad, mainly doing ETL task in workspace. None of opportunity to be a analyst so far, not the one analyzing data nor construct model, basically just processing data.

Quite hard to look for job in Malaysia, few opportunities and nearly all of them asking for 5-10yrs expert with domain knowledge.

Hey TS

Data science is a huge thing now. The result you are seeing more companies looking into this area is there is a huge jump into this data science field. It has always been there and Malaysia is only recently getting into it.

There are a few areas in data science and depends on what your clients are looking at.

data lake
data manipulation, tools and applications, normalisation, data storage
data modelling
data analytics

dun simply throw modern application like R, python, noSQL, mongo, SQL, mySQL to your candidates. In this domain, the key is not about tools. It is about data exploratory mind set because you are dealing in analytic domain not programming. Programming only get you there. You need to know how to explore and find the path. So, this is something not taught in school. This require a blend of life experience, motivation, learning and some programming skills to get there.

I have no idea what are your clients looking at. The above, just briefly described data collection to analytics. We haven't talk about what models to apply to look at the challenges. In medical fields, use statistical programming, in banking and financial where client profiles are being modeled, there is another set of BI tool to assist. In financial quant trading, you are going into machine learning.

Your opportunity is good. There is a limited of supply of people who knows this area. PM me for more discussion.