Data scientist — skills, knowledge and links

How it connects#

O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Statisticians · Statistical Assistants · Operations Research Analysts · Bioinformatics Scientists · Bioinformatics Technicians · Mathematicians · Biostatisticians

In the official classification#

In Europe, internationally and in Singapore

What O*NET rates highest#

From O*NET 15-2051.00 (Data Scientists). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.

Each task in O*NET's terms#

O*NET describes work as detailed activities. Each of this page's 6 tasks is matched only against the activities O*NET lists for this occupation, with a stated fit; 5 match at least one. 1 are work O*NET does not describe yet. The alignment and its fit are this site's judgement, made task by task by its AI agent (Claude) on 2026-09-26; O*NET does not align tasks like ours. The activity names are O*NET's, the translations ours.

• Framing the question and the metric
  Determine appropriate methods for data analysis.covers part of this task · Making Decisions and Solving Problems · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Data analyst
• Cleaning and exploring the data
  Prepare data for analysis.the closest O*NET has, not the same · Working with Computers · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Data analyst · Machine learning engineer
  Analyze data to identify trends or relationships among variables.covers part of this task · Analyzing Data or Information · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: AI researcher · Actuary
• Building and validating the model
  Develop scientific or mathematical models.the closest O*NET has, not the same · Thinking Creatively · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Machine learning engineer
  Write computer programming code.covers part of this task · Working with Computers · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Data analyst
• Designing experiments and reading causes
  Apply mathematical principles or statistical approaches to solve problems in scientific or applied fields.the closest O*NET has, not the same · Analyzing Data or Information · O*NET 31.0
• Explaining what it means, and what it does not
  Present research results to others.the closest O*NET has, not the same · Documenting/Recording Information · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Data analyst
  Prepare graphics or other visual representations of information.covers part of this task · Thinking Creatively · O*NET 31.0The same activity in: Data analyst
• Challenging and auditing modelsO*NET's activity lists do not describe this work yet. This site judges it to be emerging work.

Tasks O*NET proposes to add#

O*NET's analysts propose new or reworded task statements for future data collection, drawing on what surveyed workers write in, research into new technologies and professional associations. They are candidates, not yet part of the rated task list, and they say nothing about whether automation is involved. This site does not fold them into its own task judgements.

• Interview stakeholders to identify questions or problems to address through data analysis.New task · 2026-08 · from occupational experts · O*NET 31.0

Rules that bind this work#

Laws, regulations, court rules, regulators' guidance and collective agreements that this page's verified records read — each with the verb that matters and whom it binds. Read from each record by this site's AI agent (Claude) on 2026-09-26. Official names stay in their own language.

Our task judgements#

Sources and rules#

• Each block says where it comes from: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, the European ESCO classification and its official crosswalk to O*NET, the ILO's ISCO-08, Singapore's SSOC 2024, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
• O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
• The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
• The ESCO and ISCO-08 fits are derived mechanically from the official ESCO–O*NET crosswalk; where we override it, we say why in our data (for example, the crosswalk pairs radiologists with radiographers, which is a different job). The SSOC 2024 fit is our reading of the Singapore Department of Statistics' own titles and definitions. Official names are shown as their publishers write them; we do not translate them.
• Each task is matched only against the detailed work activities O*NET lists for the codes this page maps to. Where nothing fits, the page says why instead of forcing a match: work O*NET does not describe yet (used only for tasks we judge to be emerging), or nothing in O*NET's list for this occupation. An alignment never changes a task's direction, its basis or the impact index.
• Rules are read only from this site's verified records. A rule's official name must appear word for word in a record that reads it, so no name is made up; a policy mandate is read only as 'must', 'must not' or 'funds', because 'should' and 'in principle' are not a mandate. Reading a rule never changes a task's direction, its basis or the impact index.
• How these pieces fit together — objects, links and the actions that change them — is drawn as one diagram: The VOLO ontology
• ESCO (European Commission), occupation records from the ESCO API; CC BY 4.0. ESCO–O*NET crosswalk, ESCO Secretariat with the U.S. Department of Labor/ETA, version 1 (Sep 2022), O*NET-SOC 2019 ↔ ESCO v1.1.0; CC BY 4.0. Singapore Department of Statistics, Singapore Standard Occupational Classification 2024 and its correspondence with ISCO-08.
• O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.