Data Science Salary VS. UX Design Salary

Most of us have heard of Data Science before, but have you heard of Cloud Computing? Cloud Computing is a newer term for IT services like databases, servers, networks, and data storage. Just think of when you back up your iPhone to ‘the cloud’.

Data Science offers insights into an organization's performance based on data. Cloud computing provides services for a range of data-driven processes. Both professions deal with data but in two different ways. From a business standpoint, data science is the why, and cloud computing is the how. Although from a user-centered approach, UX Design is the why. 

Data Analytics, UX Design, and Cloud Computing work together to add value to an organization.  We will dive into the salaries of data-driven professions. 

Setting salary in these professions is a less talked about detail in the job process, yet a pivotal one. So what determines your salary? It is affected by a variety of factors discussed below.

What is Data Science?

Data Science is the process of gathering and interpreting data using modern techniques to make actionable business decisions. 

Data Scientists tackle the following tasks:

• Identifying problems - which means finding opportunities to improve.
• Determining correct data sets and variables - make sure the data and what they are testing are helpful to the company.
• Analyzing trends - trends help us understand what is working and what is not working.
• Communicating with stakeholders - Effectively communicating trends, problems, and other discoveries with stakeholders.
• Interpreting data to discover solutions - a data scientist needs to understand the data. Often statistical analysis software such as Rstudio, or SPSS, will be used.

What is User Experience (UX) Design?

User Experience Design focuses on forming solutions to everyday problems, researching, and testing these solutions. It is concerned with the user-product relationship and creating easy-to-use designs.

Does UX Design or Data Analysis Have a Better Salary?

Data Science has an average salary of $123,726/ yr. For beginners with 0-1 year of experience, the average salary is $107,309 / yr. 

UX Design has an average salary of $128,156/ yr. For beginners with 0-1 year experience, the average salary is $93,746 / yr. UX Design has a slightly higher average Salary.

What Is the average salary for Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing has an average salary of $88,261 / yr.

How to Set a Salary in Data Science?

Salary typically depends on a few factors:

• Experience - as you can see by the salaries above, past work experience makes a huge difference. You can’t expect your first job to be as high as the average, but solid negotiation skills can make sure you are fairly paid.
• Job title - Various titles within a profession will have different pay based on responsibilities and level.
• Industry - There are several industries you can go into no matter your profession. You’ll notice a data analyst in legal work has a much different average salary than a data analyst in personal consumer services.
• Company size - a larger company earning more has the means to pay more and offer better benefits.
• Region - The region you work in greatly affects your salary.  Different areas have higher or lower demands for specific positions.
• Education - Usually, the more educated you are, the higher pay you will receive. This does not always mean formal education; education can be measured in skills and certificates as well as degrees.

How Does Data Science Compare to UX Design?

Similarities

• UX Design and Data Science are both data-driven professions. Each uses data to make discoveries and base their work around the data.
• Both use analysis, surveys, testing, and logged behavior. In other words, each profession conducts research. 
• Both explain phenomena observed in the data.
• Both create meaningful and interpretable inferences about data, relationships between variables, and explanations for changes or patterns in the data.
• Both Visualize data to understand problems and create effective solutions.

Differences

• Data is used with two different goals in mind. Data Analytics aims to improve business metrics. UX Designers use data to please their users.
• UX researchers, including quantitative ones, are mainly interested in understanding how people use our products. Data scientists are interested in the timing, variety, and magnitude of users’ signals. UX Design is much more focused on the user's feelings.
• Data scientists are more interested to know what product features were used on a much larger magnitude, and what the various users' journeys were while they were interacting with the product.
• The main difference is UX Designers are concerned with user intentions and feelings. Thus requiring the designers to be empathetic and think as if they were the user. Whereas Data Science is a more automated process.

You may have found Data Science and UX Design to have more in common than what meets the eye. Including their salary. If you are more empathic and people-oriented, UX Design could be right for you. If you have more of a passion for data and helping a business be the best it can be, you might be a perfect fit for a Data Science position.

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Author:
Brynn is an aspiring UX designer who loves the beach, cooking, and meeting new people. She loves her avocados on a big salad or in a breakfast burrito.