Yes, data science is a very good career with tremendous opportunities for advancement in the future. Already, demand is high, salaries are competitive, and the perks are numerous – which is why Data Scientist has been called “the most promising career” by LinkedIn and the “best job in America” by Glassdoor.

Back in 2009, Google Chief Economist Hal Varian told the McKinsey Quarterly that “the ***** job in the next 10 years will be statisticians.” As odd as it might seem to use the words “*****” and “statisticians” in the same sentence, he was right. Ten years later, we’re inundated by data—2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day, and much of that data is just waiting to be put to good use. According to researchers from MIT, “companies in the top third of their industry in the use of data-driven decision-making were, on average, five percent more productive and six percent more profitable than their competitors”—a significant margin when it hits the bottom line.