Buck Woody argues that the hardest thing about data science is asking the right question:
When I started down the path of learning Data Science, I was nervous. I have to work hard at math – it’s a skill I love but one that does not come naturally to me. I was nervous because I thought the most daunting task I would face in Data Science waslearning all the algebra, statistics, and other maths I would need to do the job.
But I was wrong.
Math isn’t the hardest thing in Data Science. Actually, since it’s so mature, and documented, and well-known, it’s quite possibly the easiest thing to conquer in the skillset. No, the hardest thing about Data Science is asking the right question.
I’ll lodge a bit of a disagreement here. I’m okay with the argument that asking the right question is the toughest part, but the math’s not particularly easy either… Knowing when to use which distribution, which model, and which parameters requires a definite amount of skill.