Salary survey, O.R. degree, CAP updates

Salary survey: predictive analytics professionals

The gender pay gap among predictive analytics professionals is practically nonexistent, and the percentage of U.S. citizens in the profession at the junior level is increasing while the percentage of foreign-born professionals at the same level is decreasing as more U.S. students are entering the market. Those are two of the more notable trends in a new Burtch Works salary survey of predictive analytics professionals (PAPs).

According to the 2016 survey data, women earn the same or slightly higher base salaries than men in two of the six job categories studied, and receive 95+ percent of their male counterparts’ salaries over all six categories.

The study gathered compensation and demographic data from 1,216 PAPs representing more than 650 companies nationwide. For the purpose of the study, a PAP was defined as those who can “apply sophisticated quantitative skills to data describing transactions, interactions or other behaviors of people to derive insights and prescribe actions. PAPs are distinguished from business intelligence professionals or financial analysts by the enormous quantity of data with which they work, well beyond what can be managed in Excel. However, this definition also encompasses data scientists, who are excluded from this study because of their distinguishing ability to work with unstructured data, resulting in different compensation.”

PAPs’ median base salaries range from $75,000 for Level 1 individual contributors to $225,000 for Level 3 managers. Nearly three-quarters of all PAPs are eligible for bonus pay, which can substantially increase their income. Education, experience, skill set, industry and region all impact compensation. For example, at almost all job levels, PAPs employed on the West Coast and in the Northeast earn the highest salaries.

Founded by Linda Burtch, Burtch Works Executive Recruiting is a leading resource for highly qualified analytic and marketing research talent in the United States.

To download a free copy of the complete Burtch Works Study, “Salaries of Predictive Analytics Professionals,” click here.

Forbes survey: master’s degree in O.R. pays off

Individuals with a master’s degree in operations research rank third highest in terms of mid-career salaries, according to a recent survey by Forbes. The findings, part of Forbes’ 2016-2017 College Salary Report, combed data for nearly 200 graduate-level degrees and ranked them according to the mid-career salaries of full-time U.S. employees who hold specific degrees. 

Mid-career operations researchers with master’s degrees average $129,000 in annual salary, according to the survey, just below those with master’s degrees in nurse anesthesia ($156,000) and computer science and engineering ($134,000) and just ahead of those with master’s degrees in electrical and electronics engineering and taxation. MBAs were omitted from the survey.

As expected, those with master’s degrees in STEM disciplines dominated the top of the list, with chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, industrial engineering and applied mathematics all finishing in the top 10 with mid-career wages between $115,000 and $121,000.

For more information, click here.

‘Guide to the Analytics Body of Knowledge’

The INFORMS “Guide to the Analytics Body of Knowledge” (ABOK) is nearing a first draft. Along with a study guide for those seeking Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) status, ABOK can also be used by instructors to help with curriculum development, by HR managers to determine what the employees need to know, by regulators to understand the state of analytics practice, by employers to provide a career path for employees and by newcomers to analytics to understand more about the field.

A proposed table of contents includes chapters on “Introduction to Analytics,” “Getting Started with Analytics,” “The Analytics Team,” “The Data,” “Solution Methodology,” “Model Building” and “Deployment and Lifecycle Management.”

ABOK Committee Chair Terry Harrison (Penn State University) and Editor in Chief James Cochran (University of Alabama) will lead a session on ABOK on Nov. 15 in Nashville as part of the 2016 INFORMS Annual Meeting. Conference attendees are invited to join the ABOK discussion session.

Williams to lead 2017 Analytics Certification Board

Jim Williams, CAP, of FICO (photo) and Aaron Burciaga, CAP, of Accenture Analytics, have been elected chair and vice chair, respectively, of the 2017 Analytics Certification Board (ACB). The ACB, whose members are elected by INFORMS and CAP® designees, meets on a quarterly basis to provide oversight and guidance to the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) and the Associate Certified Analytics Professional (aCAP) programs.

Randy Bartlett, CAP, Blue Sigma Analytics; Russell Barton, CAP, Penn State University; Tom Davenport, Babson College; Bill Franks, Teradata; Jeanne Harris, Columbia University of New York; Stefan Karisch, Boeing; Lisa Kart, CAP, Gartner; Jack Levis, UPS; Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, SAS; Jonathan Owen, CAP, GM; Michael Rappa, NCSU/Institute for Advanced Analytics; Greta Roberts, Talent Analytics; Nick Wzientek, CAP, Vistar; and Melissa Moore, INFORMS executive director, complete the board.

Karisch (2017 president of the Analytics Society) and Barton (2017 INFORMS VP for Sections and Societies) will serve as ex-officio members.

For information, click here.