Data analytics is one of the fastest growing fields currently, and for this reason there’s more and more people that are specializing and starting to work in this field. This is the case of Nicholas di Nicola, EADA alumnus from the International Master in Marketing. Since he finished his master in EADA he continued to explore the field and decided to start a second master in Business Analytics and Big Data. Nowadays he is working in an international investment fund called Lio Capital as a Data Scientist and shares with us his experience.
Could you explain a bit about your current job as a Data Scientist?
My role as a Data Scientist at Lio Capital, an international investment fund specialised in sourcing, underwriting and asset management, is to design, build and deploy machine learning models as well as automating the internal company’s processes moving forward innovative data-driven solutions.
What skills, abilities, and personal attributes are essential to success in this field?
I would say that in such a fast-paced sector, curiosity and willingness to learn are the two most important skills to have in order to be successful either as a data scientist or data analyst . Beyond that, solid foundations of statistics and mathematics, computer science as well as knowledge of how business works in practice are crucial skills to have to be successful in this field.
What kinds of accomplishments tend to be valued and rewarded in the data analytic field?
I would say that turning raw data into comprehensible insights is the greatest value a data scientist/analyst can bring to their company.
Working in this sector means you need to be ready to learn new things every day in order to keep up with the new technologies
What current issues and trends in the field should current EADA students be aware of?
The data analytics field moves faster than any other field because of the technology development and public interest behind it. Hence, working in this sector means you need to be ready to learn new things every day in order to keep up with the new technologies, otherwise you will probably get left behind.
What steps would you recommend EADA students take to prepare to enter this field?
I would definitely suggest getting a solid foundation in statistics and computer science. Furthermore, since EADA students are more into the business world, they could still get valuable returns from learning basic data analytics concepts, such as how to manipulate and analyse data as well as how to visualise them.
If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change?
Honestly, I would not change anything. Thanks to my economic and business background I am not only able to better interact with non-technical people within the organization but also bring a different point of view to the table when approaching a new challenge.
Furthermore, I feel quite fortunate to have had the chance to study at EADA, especially because of the Leadership Development Programme module, which I now consider the most important module of all. Despite that, having the opportunity to study data analytics during my second master’s degree enhanced and improved my statistical and computer science knowledge as well as prepared me for working in this field.