几年前，哈佛商业评论说数据科学家的是“二十一世纪最性感的工作”。但你知道做一个数据科学家意味着什么吗？来，我们先看看这些数据科学专家的名言。
Data scientists “tend to be “hard scientists”, particularly physicists, rather than computer science majors. Physicists have a strong mathematical background, computing skills, and come from a discipline in which survival depends on getting the most from the data. They have to think about the big picture, the big problem – DJ Patil, VP of Product at RelateIQ
“数据科学家更倾向于是’硬科学家’ ，相对于计算机专业的，他们更像物理学家。物理学家有强硬的数学背景，计算机技能，并且来自一个靠数据吃饭的领域。他们需要从整体的角度思考，考虑比较宏大的问题。”–DJ Patil, Product at RelateIQ的副总裁
“They need to find nuggets of truth in data and then explain it to the Business leaders” – Rchard Snee Emc – See more
“他们需要从数据中找到有用的真相，然后解释给领导者。” – Rchard Snee Emc
“A data scientist is someone who knows more statistics than a computer scientist and more Computer science than a statistician” – Josh Blumenstock
“数据科学家是一个比计算机科学家懂更多统计学，比统计学家懂更多计算机科学的人。” – Josh Blumenstock
“Data scientist is just a sexed up word for a statistician” – Nate Silver
“数据科学家只是‘统计学家’一个性感一些的名字。 ”– Nate Silver
“Data scientists are involved with gathering data, massaging it into a tractable form, making it tell its story, and presenting that story to others” – Mike Loukides, VP, O’Reilly Media
“数据科学家收集数据，把数据融入到易懂的形式中，让数据讲故事，并且把故事讲给别人听。”–Mike Loukides, O’Reilly Media的副总裁
“The data scientist was called, only half-jokingly, a caped superhero” – Ben Rooney
“数据科学家曾经被誉为戴着披风的超级英雄（当然只是开个玩笑）” – Ben Rooney
“Think analytically, rigorously, and systematically about a business problem and come up with a solution that leverages the available data”
“用分析的角度、严格、系统地思考业务问题，然后得出能够影响这些数据的解决方案。 ”– Michael O’Connell, TIBCO的高级分析总监
“Data Scientist = statistician + programmer + coach + storyteller + artist”- Shlomo Aragmon
“数据科学家=统计学家+程序员+讲故事的人+艺术家。“ – Shlomo Aragmon
“They are half hacker, half analyst, they use data to build products and find insights” – Monica Rogati
“他们一半是黑客，一半是分析师，他们用数据来做产品、提出新见解。“– Monica Rogati
“A data scientist is someone who can obtain, scrub, explore, model and interpret data, blending hacking, statistics and machine learning. Data scientists not only are adept at working with data, but appreciate data itself as a first-class product” – Hillary Mason, Founder at Fast Forward Labs
“数据科学家是懂得获取、清洗、探索、建模、解释数据的人，还要融合入侵技术、统计学和机器学习。数据科学家不仅要处理数据，还要把数据本身作为一个五星产品。”– Hillary Mason, Fast Forward Labs的创始人
现在，这里有个来自Drew Conway 有趣的图表，它解释了数据科学家到底意味着什么：
来看另一个简单的图。这是我自己关于整个数据科学过程的描绘。
那么， 数据科学家都做些什么呢？简单来说，他收集数据、清洗、创建数据集、分析数据然后提出新观点。他也尝试用现有的数据预测未来，帮助业务提高产品、服务的质量、顾客粘性。更好的质量意味着更能取悦顾客、获得收益。
这里有数据科学家最应该具备三个的特质：
1.一个优秀的数据科学家知道如何提出好问题
2.理解他手上的数据的结构
3.能够很好地解读这些数据
简单来说，数据科学就是关于提出合适的问题，然后提出有意义的见解来指导正确的决策。
