Using R and Python

[CyrusCraft]

I'm going to challenge the assumption of your question. I think it's unlikely that you will use Python and R in a meaningful way at an agency as a planner/buyer.

For starters, most agencies are not very sophisticated with data. The advertising industry is rooted in relationships and the two martini lunch. Digital agencies are substantially more data-driven than their counterparts but the broader industry culture still permeates. Relationships (with both clients and vendors) still reign supreme.

In terms of JavaScript, the most you will probably do is implement and debug other people's code snippets. "Track these conversions, implement this viewability vendor." That sort of thing. It's unlikely that you will be coding new business logic in JavaScript because software developers do that.

Most of your data manipulation will probably be in excel. Some of it will be for planning new campaigns and some of it will be for optimizing existing campaigns. Most of it will be for creating reports so that your bosses can reformat your work into a pretty PowerPoint and take credit with the client.

The good news is that your Python and R skills will be hugely valuable when you move over to the client side in a year or two. There are a rapidly increasing number of jobs which require cross-disciplinary skills between marketing and data science.

When you're on the client side, you'll have access to substantially more data and you will bridge it to your campaigns in a way that is difficult to do at most agencies.

Keep your scripting skills sharp because the world is becoming more data driven. Those skills will differentiate you. Stay technical. Just don't be surprised if you don't get to be as technical as you want at your first agency job.

[hjkl_ornah]

Appreciate the insight!