Becoming a *Senior* Data Scientist – twice as fast!

The early career trajectory is, for many, crucial to professional success over the long run. Making that first big promotion sooner, rather than later, can make all the difference.

Recently, we examined the timing of promotions for graduates from the Institute for Advanced Analytics . Since the requirements for promotion can differ from employer to employer, we focused on four employers that had hired a sufficiently large number of alumni—two technology firms, a financial institution, and a consultancy. For each employer, we identified alumni who, at some point in their career after earning the Master of Science in Analytics, were promoted to “Senior Data Scientist” (with a focus specifically on that job title).

Using LinkedIn, we identified a group of non-alumni with each of the four employers who were similarly promoted to Senior Data Scientist at some point after earning a master's degree. An exhaustive search yielded a total of 64 individuals (32 alumni and 32 non-alumni) across the four employers. There are 16 individuals who were promoted to that level at each employer, evenly divided into the alumni and non-alumni groups. We used data from their employment histories in LinkedIn to determine the average time to promotion (in years).

The differences in the average time to promotion for each group, by employer (A, B, C, and D), are shown in the diagram below. As expected, employers varied in the length of time to promotion. In aggregate, the alumni group attained the role of Senior Data Scientist faster than the comparison group—in roughly half of the time, or two years sooner, on average.

A career trajectory that shortens the time to promotion has significant financial implications. A salary survey of 366 alumni conducted by the Institute in 2024 shows the difference in compensation between Data Scientist and Senior Data Scientist is $40,000, on average ($144,000 versus $184,000). Accordingly, a promotion to Senior two years sooner after graduation could translate into an additional $80,000 in compensation.

For aspiring data scientists, there are hundreds of educational options. Choosing among them can be difficult. One factor that should receive more attention than it does, is how well a graduate program prepares its students for early career success beyond simply landing a job.

The Institute for Advanced Analytics is now accepting applications to its intensive 10-month master's degree for prospective students matriculating in June.

Employers seeking to hire data science professionals, please feel welcome to contact me.