Alternatively, some companies tried to jump on the big data bandwagon by rebranding their business analysts or data managers as “data scientists,” giving a new name to professionals tasked with maintaining the same dashboards and pulling the same metrics as before.
In 2012, “data scientist” was famously deemed the “sexiest job of the 21st century,” with anticipation that the demand for talent would quickly outpace supply. Organizations raced to add “data-driven” to their mission statements, and data scientists found themselves at the center of talent bidding wars, commanding formidable salaries that further fanned the flames of the hype.
