Career Atlas

Software & IT

data scientist

Learned from 137 real résumés for this role.

Across 137 real U.S. résumés for a data scientist, the most distinctive skills are Gradient Boosting, Support Vector Machines and Recommender Systems — each far more common in this role than across all résumés. This is the real skill fingerprint, learned from résumés, not a job description.

Gradient Boosting
4% have it · 710.2× vs average
Support Vector Machines
7% have it · 491.7× vs average
Recommender Systems
2% have it · 710.2× vs average

Based on Futureful's analysis of 102,822 U.S. résumés (2026).

Skill fingerprint

ranked by distinctiveness

The skills that most define this role, more common here than across all résumés. The bar shows how distinctive; the % is how many people in the role have it.

gradient boosting
710.2×
4% · N=6
support vector machines
491.7×
7% · N=9
recommender systems
710.2×
2% · N=3
regularization
710.2×
2% · N=3
random forests
473.4×
4% · N=6
statsmodels
532.6×
2% · N=3
pca
426.1×
2% · N=3
hypothesis testing
284.1×
4% · N=6
random forest
236.7×
7% · N=9
seaborn
236.7×
7% · N=9
shiny
355.1×
2% · N=3
model development
355.1×
2% · N=3
knn
355.1×
2% · N=3
data preprocessing
355.1×
2% · N=3

Where people go next

Real onward moves from dated work history.

Where people come from

The roles that feed into this one.

Common questions

Straight answers, every one backed by the real counts on this page.

What skills does a Data Scientist need?

In 137 real résumés for this role, the most defining skills are Gradient Boosting (4% have it), Support Vector Machines (7% have it), Recommender Systems (2% have it), Regularization (2% have it), Random Forests (4% have it). These are the skills that separate this role from the rest of the workforce.

What do people in Data Scientist roles move on to next?

From real dated work history, the most common next roles are Data Analyst (29% of moves, N=12), Data Resarcher (21% of moves, N=9), Python Developer (14% of moves, N=6).

What roles lead into Data Scientist?

The roles that most often feed into this one are Data Analyst (18% of arrivals, N=36), Python Developer (1% of arrivals, N=12), Big Data Developer (33% of arrivals, N=3).

Does this page show Data Scientist salary?

No. Résumés do not carry pay, so Futureful holds no compensation data for this role and never invents a dollar figure. Every statistic here is a skill or career-move count backed by real résumés.

Where does this data come from?

The Futureful Career Atlas is built from 102,822 real US résumés, aggregated with no personal data. 137 of them are Data Scientist résumés. Every number on this page is a count of real people, and thin pages are kept out of search. Full method: futureful.app/careers/methodology.

Every figure on this page is a real count over real résumés (N = résumés behind it). No salary is shown, we hold no compensation data, so every claim is a skill or frequency truth, never a dollar promise. How we count · Explore more roles →

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