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Data Science vs Data Analytics: Career ROI

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Updated: February 29, 2024, Reading time: 5 minutes

Data Science vs Data Analytics - featured image

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Innovative technology has revolutionized data-gathering processes that businesses use for educated decision-making. Two of the biggest disciplines relating to data are Data Science and Data Analytics, which, while similar, feature distinct differences that are, in fact, complementary to one another.

Data Science vs Data Analytics - fact

Here’s a quick overview: Data Analytics is a subfield of Data Science. All facets of data processing—including collecting, modeling, and insights—are referred to as Data Science. Meanwhile, Data Analytics focuses primarily on statistical analysis, mathematics, and statistics. 

If you’re thinking of pursuing any of these two areas of study, we’ve got you! Let’s explore how Data Science compares with Data Analytics.

Grad School Center is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

Comparing Data Science and Data Analysis

Data ScienceData Analytics
Average Salary (yearly average)$103,500Research analyst: $85,720
Computer systems analyst: $102,240
Job Growth (2022-2032)35% or 17,700 openings per year8% or 10,200 vacancies annually 
Why the Degree or Profession Matters* Highlights operational issues and gaps that might otherwise go undetected
* Offers an increased understanding of consumer feedback, corporate procedures, and purchasing decisions
* Uses findings to guide businesses in making critical decisions
* Allows businesses to determine trends that can revolutionize their operations 

What is Data Science?

What is Data Science - Image

In Data Science, data is analyzed to gain insight into the business world. Besides analyzing massive amounts of data, this technique combines ideas and methods from statistics, computer engineering, math, and AI. Data will answer questions about where things happened, why they did, and what reasoning is behind them. 

Education and Career Paths in Data Science

A Data Science bachelor’s degree is your starting point for learning to handle unstructured data, solve complex issues, and provide suggestions based on those data. For skills advancement, you can pursue a Master’s in Data Science degree emphasizing statistical and computational skills that are applicable to any industry. 

With a Doctorate in Data Science, graduates gain advanced skills for becoming data scientists who take on top-level or executive positions in private or government organizations, perform scholarly research in the field, or teach the subject in higher education institutions.

Data scientists are also expected to have a basic knowledge of Database Management and Architecture, which is involved in the design and implementation of operational databases.

Data Science graduates can also explore these job prospects:

A Data Science Career is for you if:

A Data Science Career is not a great fit if:

What is Data Analytics?

What is Data Analytics - Image

In data analytics, unprocessed data is evaluated to derive informational inferences. There are a number of automated data analytics methods and procedures that operate on raw data in order for humans to use them.

A corporation may increase profitability, make informed decisions, and enhance performance thanks to the use of data analytics. Data Analytics involves methods and procedures to make data easy to interpret and apply. 

Education and Career Paths in Data Analytics

A Data Analytics degree focuses on data optimization, data mining, or simulation. It goes beyond the data gathering and organizing phase; you extract, identify, characterize, and analyze data to help explain or predict future trends.

A Bachelor’s in Data Analytics gets you started. At the undergraduate level, Data Analysis entails the basic assessment and application of data to real-world scenarios. Such data will be used to counsel corporate decision-makers.

With a Master’s in Data Analytics, you can become skilled in cutting-edge technologies such as Python, SQL, and R. The goal is to harness the power of data and convert business intelligence into business insights.

A PhD in Data Analytics provides data analysts and data scientists with specialized education and training for analyzing large data sets. Their specialized skills are particularly useful in business, social, health, and industrial scenarios.

Besides snagging a Data Analyst job, you can be any of these experts:

A Data Analysis Career is for you if:

A Data Analysis Career is Not A Great Fit if:

Typically, data scientists and data analysts work together to achieve shared business goals. Rather than focusing on frequent reporting and routine analysis, a data analyst could focus on frequent reporting and routine analysis. A data scientist, meanwhile, is expected to develop methods for storing, managing, and analyzing data.


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