Using the term “data science” has been harmful.

This is why.

  • It’s very general without a precise definition. Everyone can call himself / herself a data scientist. Many people rebranded themselves to data scientists without proper background, education, and experience.
  • “Science” suggests using scientific methods. It increases faith that the results are correct. In practice, it’s usually rather a guerilla approach 😉
  • A new name for an old thing means that this is something new. It suggests that new tools and skills are needed. Not true. They still use the k-means algorithm, which is over 60 years old. Mathematical modeling has been used for decades. Data driven decisions – similarly.
  • The definition suggests that a data scientist needs to know everything very well, e.g., mathematics, statistics, programming, data visualization, etc. It’s not possible. Despite this, people assume that someone using this title knows everything.
  • It’s something quite new. Data scientists do magical things with new tools. It reinforces the belief in magic and that things happen by themselves.
  • It was presented as something new and attractive. This attracted new people to the field. It’s a profession similar to many others. There are boring tasks, a lot of failures, and hard (or impossible) challenges. Starting to do data science can be disappointing.
  • Last but not least, it’s even not logically correct. It’s not science, whose subject is data.

Additionally, see “hot topics” from data science field, from the oldest (written down from my memory):

  • Sexiest job of 21st century
  • Approaches to defining the term
  • Lists of what one needs to know to become a data scientist
  • Promises that you will become one within a month
  • Data scientists are unicorns. They don’t exist. There are more specializations, and more people are needed than just one.
  • Logic and common sense started to appear: It’s not only about the tools. Business understanding and problem solving skills are very important
  • ChatGPT will replace data scientists 😉
  • ChatGPT will not replace data scientists 😉