2022 State of Data Science

This year, we conducted our State of Data Science survey to gather demographic information about our community, ascertain how that community works, and collect insights into big questions and trends that are top of mind within the community. 3,493 individuals from 133 countries and regions took part in the online survey conducted from April 25th to May 14th.*

Our resulting 2022 State of Data Science report looks at actionable issues within the data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence industries, like open-source security, the talent dilemma, ethics and bias, and more.

*In the spirit of democratizing data, we are pleased to make the raw data from our 2022 State of Data Science survey available to the public via Anaconda Nucleus.

DATA PROFESSIONALS AT WORK

How do data scientists spend their time?

Data professionals spend their time on a variety of tasks that require diverse technical and non-technical skills. Respondents indicated they spend about 37.75% of their time on data preparation and cleansing. Beyond preparing and cleaning data, interpreting results remains critical. Data visualization (12.99%) and demonstrating data’s value through reporting and presentation (16.20%) are essential steps toward making data actionable and providing answers to critical questions. Working with models through selection, training, and deployment takes about 26.44% of respondents’ time (-8.56% YoY).

ENTERPRISE ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE

How does your employer empower you and your team to contribute to open source?

In 2021, 65% of commercial respondents said their teams were encouraged to contribute to open-source projects, and the majority of those respondents (54%) said that their employers were empowering them to contribute to open source through an increase in funding related to open-source project development.

This year, just 51.99% of commercial respondents said their teams are encouraged to contribute to open-source projects—about a 13% YoY decrease, perhaps due to security concerns. The majority of these respondents (54.04%) said that their employers are empowering them to contribute to open source through additional time dedicated to contributing to open-source projects.

DATA JOBS AND THE FUTURE OF WORK

Attracting and retaining employees has challenged the technology industry more than ever before. How concerned is your organization about the potential impact of a talent shortage?

Most (62.51% of) commercial respondents indicated that their organizations are at least moderately concerned about the potential impact of a talent shortage. Only 10.43% indicated that their organizations are not at all concerned.

BIG QUESTIONS AND TRENDS

What do you value most about open-source technology?

In spite of any challenges affiliated with open source, survey respondents recognize an array of OSS benefits, with affordability (20.84%) and speed of innovation (20.54%) just about tying for most valued.

ACCESS THE REPORT

There’s plenty more data where this came from! And at the end of our State of Data Science report, we consolidate key takeaways and reflections that data professionals won’t want to miss. Fill out the form below to access the report.