Venture Capital firms, that is, firms that invest in funding start-ups, early stage companies, and companies with good growth potential, are always on the hunt for the next great opportunity. The article below talks about the trend away from people who are expert in spotting such opportunities, and towards computer based analytics which is believed to be faster and better at finding the “next big thing.”
Venture-Capital Firms Use Big Data to Seek Out the Next Big Thing – WSJ
“Adding Math To Save Humanities” is the title of a sidebar article in the Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2017, about liberal arts colleges trying to add more mathematical contents to traditional liberal arts courses to better prepare their graduates for the work world. Along with the Big Data revolution comes the need for employees in many diverse fields to be able to analyze data and to “rigorously and effectively” use data to answer questions. “Emory University in Atlanta has created a degree that marries traditionally qualitative disciplines such as anthropology and English with math and statistics.” This shift is in part to due students enrolling in liberal arts programs in smaller numbers. Click below for the full article.
The Wharton School has come to realize that in a data filled world, understanding how data can drive good decision making is key to tomorrow’s (and today’s) executives. Case studies, which have long dominated MBA education, is no match for a deep understanding of analytics. Being able to communicate with the data handlers and being knowledgeable about what one can expect from them in now a key skill. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in now pushing analytics in their MBA programs. See the attached article.
Want to get a good job coding? The traditional answer may not be the best answer. Here one employer explains what he is looking for in a new hire, and what credentials he considers the most important.
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