另一方面，你需要有多少数学和电脑技能，还取决于公司想让你承担的角色。詹宁斯表示：“如果你不是一个纯粹搞数学的人，或者不是一个专业的编程人员，那也没关系，因为你可以和那样的人在同一支团队里工作。除了量化分析方面以外，我们还非常需要具有求知和好奇天性的人，以及能够指出业务上的问题并且能与客户沟通的人。如果你能帮助一个客户理解一个问题的症结所在，然后把数据学家的解决方案用直白浅显的语言解释给他们，那么你就会成为明星员工。”

    猎头公司DHR国际的美国西部区负责人亚当•查尔森也同意詹宁斯的看法，他表示：“产品经理的工作就是大数据开始和结束的地方。”查尔森已经帮助费埃哲、益百利（Expeiran）、谷歌（Google）、惠普（HP）、Paypal和许多其它企业招聘到了大数据人才。

    查尔森解释说，产品经理的工作，是要“与客户共同发现挑战，把问题告知量化分析人员，由量化分析人员建立一个数学模型来解决这项挑战。然后产品经理回到客户那里，解释量化分析团队的发现。最重要的是策略、创造性和沟通能力。如果你这几点都有的话，数学或编程技能并不是那么重要。”

    查尔森还指出，如今数据分析师和产品经理的晋升空间很大，甚至可能晋升到最高管理层。他表示：“现在很多的企业都需要一个‘首席数据官’。自从上世纪90年代出现了‘首席信息官’以来，这还是我们第一次见到大量企业涌现出一个新的“首席”职位。”

    善意提醒正在挑选大学和专业的学生：你是否考虑过学习数据学？卡耐基梅隆大学（Carnegie Mellon University）、麻省理工学院（MIT）以及北卡罗来纳大学（University of North Carolina）等都有非常知名的数据学专业，还有许多其他大学也相继开设了数据学课程。另外美国的运筹学和管理学研究学会（INFORMS）还提供了一个全新的大数据人才资质认证项目，能够提供标准化的大数据领域的资格证书。

    查尔森表示：“预测分析是一个全新事物，就在五到七年前，还没有人在大学以外的地方做这件事。但是现在，它已经步入了主流。如果你学了数据学，并且学得很好，那么在你毕业以后，肯定会有一份工作等着你。”这种话当今的大学生已经很难听到了，更不用说是为他们付学费的父母了。(财富中文网)

    译者：朴成奎

    But on the other hand, how much math and computer expertise you need depends on the role an employer is trying to fill at any given moment. "If you're not a pure-math person or an expert programmer, that's all right, because you can be on a team with people who are," Jennings says. "Apart from the quantitative aspects, there is a tremendous need for people who are inquisitive by nature, who are curious, and who have a talent for figuring out business problems and communicating with clients. If you can help a client understand the crux of a situation and then translate the data scientists' solution to it into plain English, you'll be a star."

    Adam Charlson agrees. "The job of product manager is where Big Data begins and ends," he says. Head of Western U.S. recruiting for executive search firm DHR International, Charlson has helped FICO, Experian, Google (GOOG), HP (HPQ), PayPal, and many others fill Big Data jobs.

    A product manager, he explains, "works with the client to identify a challenge and then takes it to the quant jocks, who build a mathematical model to address it. Then the product manager goes back to the client and explains the findings. It's about strategy, creativity, and the ability to communicate. If you have all that, math or programming skills aren't so important."

    These days, Charlson notes, the career path for data scientists and product managers can lead all the way to the C-suite. "There is enormous growth in demand for chief data officers at companies," he says. "It's the first time we've seen a new C-suite title added in large numbers since the wave of chief information officers back in the '90s."

    Note to students who are trying to choose a college or a major: Have you thought about data science? Carnegie Mellon University and M.I.T. have well-established data science degree programs, as does the University of North Carolina, and many other colleges are adding them. There is also a brand new certification program in Big Data, offered by analytics professional association INFORMS, that is designed to provide a standardized credential in the field.

    "Predictive analytics is such a new thing that, five or seven years ago, nobody outside of academia was even doing it," Charlson says. "But now, it's gone mainstream. If you study data science, and you're good at it, there will be a job for you after graduation, guaranteed." That's something today's college students, not to mention their tuition-paying parents, rarely hear.