I am a big fan of Drew Conway’s Data Scientist Venn Diagram.
I’ve talked about it before, and it’s even featured in my forthcoming course, “Hired with Excel: What Every Analyst Needs to Know,” defining what makes an analyst.
Today on LinkedIn I saw a new, more complex Data Scientist Venn Diagram.
Here’s the old Venn Diagram for comparison:
In some ways the new diagram violates some principles of data science and visualization. It’s way too complicated, and I’m not sure the extra entry on “communication” is worth the cost of adding.
The analyst niche
But focus on the “analyst” meeting point — defined as someone knowing business, statistics, and communication.
I think I’d be an analyst on here, and this corner is the focus for my blog. I do some occasional programming, but it’s never going to be my main concern.
Rather, I want to discuss the importance of how to think about data and how to use it in business. That’s why my site’s tagline is “economics and business analytics” — without this domain knowledge, the Excel tips and tricks mean nothing.
Keep “communication” separate?
I wonder whether communication really has to be separated from the other spheres. The original Venn Diagram would have put it under “domain knowledge.”
But, I suppose you can know a lot and not communicate it well. Hence, non-fiction ghostwriters.
What do you think of this new Venn Diagram? And where would you place yourself on it?