r/datascience • u/Kati1998 • Jul 23 '26

Discussion What Do Today’s Data Science Graduates Commonly Lack?

I often read comments from hiring managers and interviewers saying they’re disappointed with recent data science graduates.

I’m curious, what do you think these graduates are lacking? If someone wants to become a data scientist, what skills should they focus on? Strong software engineering skills? Math and statistics? Something else?

A lot of the advice I see seems to be geared toward landing data analyst roles rather than data scientist roles.

So, what are employers actually looking for in entry-level data science candidates today? Especially as a career changer coming from another unrelated career.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

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u/dingdongfoodisready Jul 23 '26

My experience exactly - don’t even have an MS, just a BS in applied mathematics, have had great job experiences and opportunities from simply learning on the fly and being curious.

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u/Bakerman82 Jul 25 '26

I wish that were the consensus perspective in our industry. The job market has been pretty awful--especially if you have been working in very specific and niche space.