Today the New York Times had an article that followed up on my last two posts about the importance of analytics. OK, the New York Times probably didn't read my last two posts, but let's just say that great minds think alike.
The NYT article today was called, "The Age of Big Data." The basic thesis was that there is a real need for people with top notch analytical skills. They cite a McKinsey study that said that the US will need another 140k to 190K workers with deep analytical expertise and 1.5 million more data-literate managers.
The article did focus more on unstructured data (think Twitter instead of an official company database), but the point remains that businesses are becoming more data driven. Employees with analytical skills will do well in this environment. My favorite example of the growing importance of data was that Google searches are becoming a more accurate predictor of housing sales than forecasts by real-estate economists!
Given the growing importance of analytics, I do worry a lot about the state of our education system, particularly around math and science. I recently was looking to cross-train employees on a specific function that required a fair bit of math, geometry to be specific. I was amazed at how many employees said they didn't want to learn this new skill because they were concerned about the math involved. We need more passion for math and that needs to start in elementary and middle schools! In full disclosure, I always loved math and made it all the way through the math program at Dartmouth so I have a side of me that thinks everyone should love math too.
The full New York Times article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html?_r=1&ref=technology
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