Skip to main content
HomePodcastsPodcast

How Data Scientists Can Thrive in Consulting

Pratik Agrawal, Partner at Kearney, joins us to discuss how data teams can scale value in consulting environments. 

Feb 2023

Photo of Pratik Agrawal
Guest
Pratik Agrawal

Pratik Agrawal is a Partner at Kearney Analytics, leading the automotive and industrial transportation sector. As a software engineer and data scientist with over a decade of experience in the consulting world at companies like Boston Consulting Group and IRI, Pratik has a deep understanding of how to navigate the industry and how data science can be leveraged in it, as well as expertise in digital transformation projects and strategy.


Photo of Richie Cotton
Host
Richie Cotton

Richie helps individuals and organizations get better at using data and AI. He's been a data scientist since before it was called data science, and has written two books and created many DataCamp courses on the subject. He is a host of the DataFramed podcast, and runs DataCamp's webinar program.

Key takeaways

1

Curiosity, communication, and a passion for problem-solving are all important skills to cultivate for any data professionals considering a career in consulting.

2

Data-driven decision making has become much more pervasive throughout all of consulting, increasing the need for every role to increase their data literacy.

3

Domain expertise is something that grows over time, but in consulting, you close that gap by learning through exposure to different industries and by working side-by-side with the clients who have the domain expertise needed to complete a project. 

Key quotes

One thing I've found that has changed over the last several years in consulting is that we've become much more accustomed to working with data in everything we do and across every role. So it's not just the analytics practices or the AI practitioners, but it's the broader sort of consulting landscape. That’s because we’ve begun to think about where we are driving decisions from, which has led the industry toward data-driven decision-making to the point that it’s basically baked into almost all parts of consulting.  

The time pressure  in consulting is much different than in other organizations. There's always a, a timeline that one is working against, but working with data in a consulting firm is usually dependent on whether we actually have the data and how long it takes for us to get the data so we can begin working on an initial hypothesis, impacting the timeline significantly. start working on a, at least an initial hypothesis. A lot of time also gets spent on data cleaning and building sort of a single source of truth that the team can utilize to get the job done right.

Topics
Related

The Complete Docker Certification (DCA) Guide for 2024

Unlock your potential in Docker and data science with our comprehensive guide. Explore Docker certifications, learning paths, and practical tips.

Matt Crabtree

8 min

Mastering API Design: Essential Strategies for Developing High-Performance APIs

Discover the art of API design in our comprehensive guide. Learn how to create APIs like Google Maps API with best practices in defining methods, data formats, and integrating security features.

Javeria Rahim

11 min

Data Science in Finance: Unlocking New Potentials in Financial Markets

Discover the role of data science in finance, shaping tomorrow's financial strategies. Gain insights into advanced analytics and investment trends.
 Shawn Plummer's photo

Shawn Plummer

9 min

5 Common Data Science Challenges and Effective Solutions

Emerging technologies are changing the data science world, bringing new data science challenges to businesses. Here are 5 data science challenges and solutions.
DataCamp Team's photo

DataCamp Team

8 min

A Data Science Roadmap for 2024

Do you want to start or grow in the field of data science? This data science roadmap helps you understand and get started in the data science landscape.
Mark Graus's photo

Mark Graus

10 min

Introduction to DynamoDB: Mastering NoSQL Database with Node.js | A Beginner's Tutorial

Learn to master DynamoDB with Node.js in this beginner's guide. Explore table creation, CRUD operations, and scalability in AWS's NoSQL database.
Gary Alway's photo

Gary Alway

11 min

See MoreSee More