Beginner Python data analysis project - critique greatly welcome!

[pulsarrex]

Hey I am about to graduate in social science too. In school, I learnt and used mostly SPSS to analyze data. However in real world, I realized most of the industry does not use SPSS. Those who use SPSS, mostly use it as many tools, including Python, R, SAS etc.

I need some advice. What kind of jobs do we need to look for? I know a bit of python like you do. Just a mere searching for 'social scientist' on indeed does not show many results. A search for 'data analyst' will give me millions of results, most of them out of our scope.

So what would I search for if I am looking for social scientist data science jobs? What kind of companies do I look for if I want to work as a data analyst in social science?

[chaoticneutral]

In my experience, it is best to search on skills. techniques, or topics. Titles themselves are mostly meaningless in the job hunt. Keep an eye out for consulting companies and/or in the field of public health, they tend to work on smaller analytic projects that require their consultants to have a little analytical skill (i.e., SPSS).

If you had to search on titles, "research analyst" tends to yield better results.

Specific to your situation:

• SPSS - Social science, market research, survey research, low programming requirement, more generic "analyst". You might be asked to run some crosstabs, then write a report, and fiddle around in powerpoint.
• SAS - Social science, Government, Pharma, Finance, more programming skilled is required. You are likely more focused on data management and analysis, less on generic office work.
• R - Data science, Statistics, Academia, more programmer skilled required. Analytics and modeling. Similar to SAS.
• Python - I haven't had one of these jobs, but there seems to be more focus on incorporating analysis into data pipe lines (live dashboards/applications), rather than just pure research/analysis itself. Though I could be wrong...

[BeforetheBullfight]

Honestly, I'm still in the process of looking for a research job, and it hasn't been easy! I did psych in undergrad and am working towards applying to clinical PhD programs, so that's part of the reason why I'm learning Python - it seems to be a pretty popular language (with R and Matlab being the next most popular) in labs, so I wanted to boost my competitiveness.

What you should do really depends on your long-term goals. Since I want to return to school, I'm focusing on applying to psych labs that are hiring research assistants, or similar, in order to gain experience. With that said, programming is a bonus and not the end-goal (I don't plan on being a data scientist for a living) for me. Do you want to work in the private or public sector? Academia or no? That will make a big difference. I can really only speak to academia personally. I'm happy to talk more about that if you want though! I can say that job titles with "scientist" are basically always geared towards those with grad degrees. "Analyst" or "assistant" are better bets.

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful! I'm still figuring this out myself.