Why data scientist is the 'best job in America' for 2019

·Chief Tech Correspondent

Updated Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 9:10 AM

Despite a rocky 2018, the tech industry is still an attractive gig for millions of talented workers. Look no further than Glassdoor’s “50 Best Jobs in America for 2019” for proof of that.

Of the 50 jobs on this year’s list, tech jobs constitute 19 of them, with the role of Data Scientist taking the top spot for the fourth year in a row, followed closely by Product Manager (#5), Devops Engineer (#6), Data Engineer (#8) and Software Engineer (#10). Glassdoor does not officially define the data scientist role, however these specialized workers essentially use their coding and analytical skills to organize large chunks of data.

Data scientist is the top job in America for the fourth year in a row, according to Glassdoor's "50 Best Jobs in America" list, published Tuesday evening. Source: Getty

Glassdoor’s annual “50 Best Jobs in America” report lists the top 50 jobs with the highest “Glassdoor Job Score.” The score is calculated by weighing three factors, including the job’s median annual base salary, the overall job satisfaction rating, and the number of postings for that role.

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal published an investigation suggesting that some companies might enlist their own employees to boost their ratings.

‘Use every part of your brain’

According to Glassdoor, the data scientist role currently commands a median annual salary of $110,000 with a 4.3 out of 5 job satisfaction score on Glassdoor. Companies including Apple (AAPL), Lyft, Microsoft (MSFT), Caterpillar (CAT), Walmart (WMT) are just a few of the companies that have posted 6,500-plus job openings on the site.

“Data scientists aren’t only needed at tech companies but companies across industries, including healthcare and retail,” says Glassdoor Economic Research Analyst Amanda Stansell. “Data scientists are needed to compile and analyze data that inform business decisions, especially as companies across industries continue to collect more data.”

Harvard Business Review, meanwhile, once called the job the “sexiest job of the 21st century.” Those are sensational words, to be sure, but Michael Roytman, Chief Data Scientist at the San Francisco-based startup Kenna Security, contends data scientists are vital to companies’ strategies, whether they’re an agile 15-person startup or a long-established publicly traded company.

“The job itself is niche and at the same time incredibly useful to the industry, and involves a broad skills applicable anywhere across the world: statistics, machine learning, visualization, productization, internal metrics, database development,” Roytman explains. “The output can be a new product, a way to scale an expert’s knowledge, or insight about the customers that can’t be derived without data at scale. The most exciting part about being a data scientist is the ability to both analyze and use that insight to create. From insight to product: you get to be both creative and methodical and scientist, use every part of your brain.”

One tech job that debuted for the first time on Glassdoor’s Best Jobs list? Security engineer (#17), a specialized field of engineering that focuses on shoring up security-related aspects in a company’s design system. Given companies have made numerous headlines in recent years for hacks and data breaches, it’s not surprising organization are looking to beef up all aspects of their security teams.

Here are the top 19 tech jobs which made Glassdoor’s “50 Best Jobs in America for 2019”:

Data Scientist (#1)

Job Score: 4.7

Job Satisfaction Rating: 4.3

Number of Job Openings: 6,510

Median Base Salary: $108,000

Product Manager (#5)

Job Score: 4.5

Job Satisfaction Rating: 3.8

Number of Job Openings: 11,884

Median Base Salary: $115,000

Devops Engineer (#6)