Are analytics jobs recession proof?
IT Data Solutions
The foremost topic of discussion among professionals these days has made a quick shift from the challenges of working from home to the unprecedented wave of mass layoffs rattling numerous industries. Bracing for an oncoming recession, businesses are cautious about their spending on existing projects, as new ones are deferred.
While data scientists are not immune to the current economic downturn, this field has reportedly seen minimal volatility and fewer layoffs compared to peers. In fact, some companies are evening hiring for these positions today, including Walmart, PayPal and GoJek, among others.
This may be because analytics can play a critical role in understanding changing customer behaviour, providing competitive intelligence, identifying potential risks, and driving operational efficiencies to optimise costs, as most countries face its deepest recession yet.
We, at AIM, reached out to a few data scientists across diverse industries to understand if they share the same optimism and the reasons for the same.
Greater Job Security, But Still Dependent On Sector
Most data scientists AIM spoke to were unanimous in their assessment that despite the criticality of their functions, their jobs may still be at risk, particularly those working in more vulnerable sectors, such as travel, hospitality, and retail.
“It is widely established that data scientists add a lot of value to an organisation, but some sectors, like edtech, have managed well – and even thrived – despite the slowdown, and are hence better positioned to protect the jobs of their analytics team,” says Prashant Kikani, data scientist at Bengaluru-based startup, Embibe.
According to Usha Rengaraju, a data science consultant and a Kaggle Grandmaster, although tourism is likely to take the biggest hit, Covid-19 crisis has given rise to unexpected situations in finance, supply chain, healthcare and education, where the scope for application of AI is enormous. “This would lead to a surge in job openings in the intersection of life sciences, Genomics and AI,” she says.
