Anaconda releases 2021 data science report: Python is the most popular, open source is valued, and automation is expected

Recently, Anaconda released the 2021 State of Data Science report. The report surveyed more than 4,200 respondents using data science and machine learning tools in more than 140 countries, aiming to explore the development of data science and the overall trend in the business environment and academic institutions.

The following are the main insights of the report.

Most organizations value open source

According to the survey, the majority of respondents (65%) said that their employers encourage employees to contribute to open source projects by increasing funding for the development of open source projects. By using open source software, organizations can save a lot of time and resources.

The most popular language: Python

The survey showed that Python is the most popular programming language this year, and 63% of respondents said that they always or frequently use Python. In addition, 71% of educators teach Python, and 88% of students who receive Python teaching are preparing to enter the field of data science/machine learning. In other words, for data scientists, researchers, students, and professionals, Python's popularity is gradually increasing.

In addition to Python, SQL, R, and JavaScript are also very popular.

Automation is popular

When the news was discussing the subject that automation is taking over and will eventually replace humans, the field of data science did not panic about it. The survey shows that automation is popular in the field of data science, and practitioners do not regard it as a competitor, but as a complementary tool. 53% of respondents want to see more automation and AutoML applications in the data science field, and only 4% of respondents are worried about the impact of automation on the data science field.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, data science investment did not see a significant decline

COVID-19 has an impact on almost all industries, including healthcare, government, financial institutions, and so on. They all need to find suitable ways to process data and find solutions to new problems.

In terms of business organizations, 50% of the respondents said that their organization's investment in data science has increased or remained the same during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 37% of the respondents said that investment in this area has declined.

When asked about their level of participation in business decisions, 14% of respondents said that “all” decisions depend on the insights of them or their team, and 39% said that “many” business decisions depend on them. Anaconda said that the value of data scientists is recognized in the organization, which may be the reason why there has not been a sharp drop in investment in the data science field.

Report address: https://www.anaconda.com/state-of-data-science-2021