????雖然美國失業(yè)率持續(xù)在高位徘徊（7月份為9.1%），但技術(shù)界產(chǎn)生了一種新銳的需要高超技能的職位：數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家，各公司都在大力網(wǎng)羅此類人才。

????數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家?guī)椭鞴纠斫馄涿咳账鸭暮Ａ繑?shù)據(jù)信息，從內(nèi)部作出的銷售報告，到客戶發(fā)布的Twitter消息，無所不包。數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家們需要獲取、分類整理并弄清哪些數(shù)據(jù)是有用的，他們需要同時扮演統(tǒng)計學(xué)家、鑒證專員以及黑客的角色。數(shù)據(jù)存儲公司EMC負(fù)責(zé)營銷的副總裁理查德?斯內(nèi)稱：“數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家不會僅僅看一個數(shù)據(jù)集就停止挖掘。他們需要找出數(shù)據(jù)背后的事實真相，然后向商業(yè)決策者們解釋這些事實。”

????谷歌（Google）和亞馬遜（Amazon）等網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司常年設(shè)置有這個職位。但近來包括沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）和地理定位網(wǎng)站Foursquare在內(nèi)的各類機(jī)構(gòu)都在招聘能分析全部數(shù)據(jù)并提供情報，幫助優(yōu)化商業(yè)決策或新產(chǎn)品的計算機(jī)科學(xué)專家。舉例來說，希拉里?梅森是網(wǎng)址縮略服務(wù)提供商Bitly的首席科學(xué)家，他在幫助該公司將其海量數(shù)據(jù)打包進(jìn)一個度量工具，Bitly的客戶可以利用該工具跟蹤了解自己的內(nèi)容在網(wǎng)上進(jìn)展如何。

????EMC今年5月在拉斯維加斯召開了首屆數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家峰會（有300人參加），此后，數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)就變得異常火爆起來。該行業(yè)擁有不少業(yè)內(nèi)博客，Bitly的梅森創(chuàng)建的Dataists.com就是其中之一。斯坦福大學(xué)（Stanford University）開辦的數(shù)據(jù)挖掘課程現(xiàn)在也很熱門，去年超過120名學(xué)生注冊了這門課。5年前該課程首次開放時，僅僅招攬到20名學(xué)生。

????數(shù)據(jù)挖掘課程任課老師安娜得?拉賈羅曼稱：“你能從中看到大規(guī)模數(shù)據(jù)挖掘的發(fā)展情況以及大家的興趣。許多公司都需要這樣的人才，如果學(xué)生能學(xué)會這些技能，他們將非常搶手?！崩Z羅曼是沃爾瑪實驗室（@WalmartLabs）的負(fù)責(zé)人。該實驗室隸屬于沃爾瑪，目前正在尋找途徑，利用電子商務(wù)數(shù)據(jù)為沃爾瑪零售店增加移動和社交購物功能。

????雖然目前無人知曉業(yè)界究竟有多少數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家，也沒人清楚還需要多少，但大家一致認(rèn)為，對該職業(yè)的需求將會非常強(qiáng)勁。最近麥肯錫全球研究所（McKinsey Global Institute）發(fā)布報告稱，到2018年，美國市場對擁有數(shù)據(jù)分析技能人才的需求缺口將達(dá)19萬人。商務(wù)社交網(wǎng)站LinkedIn產(chǎn)品負(fù)責(zé)人迪普?尼沙爾稱：“目前市場上招聘數(shù)據(jù)工程師的難度已經(jīng)超過搜索工程師。”數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家的工作量顯然很大：IDC預(yù)計，到今年年底，個人消費(fèi)者及公司將創(chuàng)造1.8千萬億兆字節(jié)（zettabytes）（1千萬億兆字節(jié)相當(dāng)于1萬億千兆字節(jié)）數(shù)字信息。沒有人能忽略如此海量的數(shù)據(jù)。

????譯者：項航

????The unemployment rate in the U.S. continues to be abysmal (9.1% in July), but the tech world has spawned a new kind of highly skilled, nerdy-cool job that companies are scrambling to fill: data scientist.

????A data scientist helps companies make sense of the massive streams of digital information they collect every day, everything from internally generated sales reports to customer tweets. The gig which requires the specialist to capture, sort, and figure out what data are relevant is one part statistician, one part forensic scientist, and one part hacker. "A data scientist doesn't only look at one data set and then stop digging," says Richard Snee, a vice president of marketing at EMC (EMC), the data-storage company. "They need to find nuggets of truth in data and then explain it to the business leaders."

????Data scientists have been a fixture at online companies like Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) for years. But these days organizations as diverse as Wal-Mart (WMT) and Foursquare are hiring computer science experts who can analyze all their data and provide intelligence that leads to better business decisions or new products. At Bitly, the URL-shortening service, for example, chief scientist Hilary Mason is helping the company package some of its massive volume of data into a measurement tool that Bitly customers can use to track how their content is faring online.

????Data science has become such a hot field that EMC convened the first-ever data scientist summit in Las Vegas in May (300 people attended). The profession has its own blogs, including Dataists.com, founded by Bitly's Mason. And Stanford University's course on data mining is packed: More than 120 students registered last year; when it was first offered five years ago, just 20 signed up.

????"That shows you the growth and interest in large-scale data mining," says course instructor Anand Rajaraman, who also runs @WalmartLabs, a division of Wal-Mart that is looking at ways to use e-commerce data to add mobile and social shopping features at its retail locations. "Companies want these people, and they become more attractive if they learn the skills."

????No one currently tracks exactly how many data scientists there are, or how many will be needed, but by all accounts demand will be high. A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute says that by 2018 the U.S. could face a shortage of up to 190,000 workers with analytical skills. "Data engineers are already harder to find than search engineers, and that's a sign of the times," says Deep Nishar, head of product at LinkedIn (LNKD). There's certainly plenty for data scientists to work with: IDC estimates consumers and companies will create 1.8 zettabytes (equal to a trillion gigabytes) of digital information by the end of the year. And that's a data point too big to ignore.