From Financial Analyst to Data Scientist

With the recent article on the Wall Street Journal about data scientists being rock star high-tech workers, I've seen many people questioning whether they should have went into Big Data rather than finance. I think the answer to this second-guessing is simple: do both. Having data analysis skills will get you just as far in finance as it will in tech. It could even be a back-up plan if finance doesn't work out.

The financial analyst position (or quantitative analyst, etc) is more and more becoming a data analyst position. It is up to the analyst to discern whatever can be learned from the data that is available and to make predictions and forecasts using those analyses. Financial analysts need to know how to use and interpret data.

Additionally, if finance doesn't pan out, the skills of data analysis are transferable to a large number of other industries - like tech, healthcare, and marketing, to name a few. Do some of these industries offer higher salaries than others? You bet. I'll remind you, though, that if you are picking one career path over another simply based on a small subset of highly paid individuals within that field..."you're gonna have a bad time."

To sum it up, you're missing the point if you're asking this question. You should be a data scientist first and foremost. Where you choose to work, however, is up to you.