Posts

Coding, Databases, GIS and other tools for a clean tech data scientist

  As we saw in the last post, a data scientist's role requires the ability to  capture, process, analyze and visualize the data.  While there are some off the shelf software tools, most applications in the clean tech and data science space require knowledge of a programming language in order to perform many of the tasks effectively.  The popular choices for a clean tech data scientist are 1.   Python : Python is probably the single most critical element in the data scientist’s toolkit. It’s a flexible, easily learnt computer language that is powerful because of the large stack of libraries that have been developed. Do you need to figure out how to get data from a website – or train a machine learning algorithm? The chances are that there is an existing library in Python that can be plugged into your code.     The main libraries that are necessary for any of the data science use cases are   scipy, numpy, statsmodel and pandas . These can be used for building a predictive model using

A day in the life of a clean tech data scientist

  We've all got pictures in our mind of what certain occupations entail - and this may be very different from what actually happens! When I started my career as an environmental engineer working in a consulting firm, I had this vision of working outdoors all the time, helping to save the planet, interacting with community members who were anxious to solve the problem...... but the actual work turned out to be quite different. I spent at least half of my time in the office filing out forms and paperwork that were needed to meet regulations, analyzing data and my interactions with community members usually meant chatting with them about the samples we were collecting, if we were going to be in their way, and the weather that day. So what's a day in the life of a clean tech data scientist like? Sadly, it's not just running around the office shouting "Eureka" because you found something amazing that will help the planet - though those days do come by! Most of the time

Becoming A Clean Tech Data Scientist

In the last few posts, we’ve talked about the type of careers and skills that are needed in order to become a clean tech data scientist. The field is expanding rapidly right now, with openings in almost every clean tech sector and across a wide range of organizations. Just check out our   jobs portal   to see the range of positions available right now - and these are just the ones we’ve highlighted!   But how do you become a clean tech data scientist?   Since this is a relatively new field, there really haven’t been degrees or courses so far that said “Masters in Environmental Data Science” or “PhD in Data Science and Clean Technology”! Of course, this is changing with a few universities beginning to offer programs in earth systems and data science or clean technology and data science, but these are still only a few in number and started only in the last couple of years.     If you’re starting your career and are interested in this field, the universities that offer specific coursework

I’m a data scientist interested in clean technology - what can I do? Careers in Clean Technology and Data Science continued

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  Last time, we looked at the skills that someone from a clean technology background would need to acquire to become a full - fledged clean tech data scientist. Today, we’ll take a look at the other side of the balance - if you have a data science background, then how can your skills be applied in the clean technology sector?   Someone who is already a data scientist or is in the software field and looking to break into a clean technology industry or company has a very different problem from the clean tech specialist. To start with, your skills are most likely in algorithms, statistics and data engineering. That means that you can code, build prototype algorithms, build hardware/software interfaces if you’re in sensors or robotics and you know how to store and access data. You probably already have a PhD in physics or maths or another engineering domain or maybe a Masters in computer science.     So, the data science and engineering skills that the clean tech specialist would need to p

I have a clean technology background - now what? Careers in Clean Technology and Data Science continued

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  We had a great time hosting our webinar on careers last month- a big thank you to all of you who signed up and attended and asked all those interesting questions! If you’re interested in getting the slides, they can now be downloaded for free   here .   And now, to continue with our series of posts on this topic.. What kind of careers can be built at the intersection of clean technology and data science? The figure above shows the sectors in both clean technology and data science.  The kind of career you want to build will really depend on which end of the balance you’re sitting on. Are you someone who comes from a clean technology background and wants to pick up data science skills? Or are you someone who has a strong data science/software background and are interested in applying those skills to problems in clean technology? This will also govern the skills you will need to pick up or expand on as you build your career. If you’re coming from a clean tech background, you’re probably

Introducing our careers webinar!

  Since our last post discussing the market demand for clean tech data scientists and the potentially high growth in the years ahead, we've been getting a lot of questions from our readers about jobs, careers, salaries and how to get hired. Since most of the answers are going to be longer than a single blog post, we've decided to host a webinar discussing Careers in Clean Technology and Data Science.  The webinar will be held on April 26th, so please register   here   to reserve your spot. And if you do miss it or can't make it, don't worry! We'll host another one later in the year and in the meantime, we'll have the slides from the presentation available for download.

Careers in Clean Technology and Data Science: An overview

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  We’ll be doing a series of posts discussing careers at the intersection of data science and clean technology - what kind of jobs are there, what career paths do they lead to, where can you work and what are typical salaries in this field.   The market for clean technology and data science is still in its infancy, but growing rapidly.   The market is divided between several sectors (energy, agriculture, water, climate change) to name a few  and each of these sectors has a market size ranging from multi-million to several trillion dollars.   As data science, including the use of sensors, machine learning, imagery and statistics, penetrates each sector , the market for clean technology and data science becomes correspondingly large. In fact, it’s been   estimated that we could be looking at a market size   between   100   billion to 6 trillion dollars   worldwide by 2025 . To put that in perspective, the software industry in the US has a market size of close to $2 trillion dollars today