FUTURE JOBS READERS Level 3-⑤ Data Miners

What Is Data Mining? What is data mining? Computer data A coal miner What is data mining? Data mining is an area of computer science. It is like coal mining, in which people extract coal from the earth. But data miners work for businesses to extract information from data. Coal

Why do companies need to use data miners? Analyzing a problem on a computer Why do companies need to use data miners? Companies are collecting data every day. All this data can quickly build up, and companies don’t know how to really use their data. A data miner analyzes data to find useful information to help solve problems for clients and even find answers to problems the clients may not know about yet.

A Day in the Life of a Data Miner –Ⅰ How do data miners analyze data? Thinking about information They use computer programs. The computer programs find patterns in large sets of data. Then the data miner explains the patterns and makes a report for the client. Analyzing data to make a report Do computers do all the work? No, data miners must understand the information that the computer gives him or her and be able to explain what it all means to a client.

A Day in the Life of a Data Miner –Ⅱ Sitting at a computer Lots of jobs to do No, among other things to do at work each day, a data miner might brainstorm ways to solve problems. learn new programs. meet with clients. design new processes. Do data miners just sit at computers all day working?

What Kinds of Data Do They Mine? -Ⅰ An ice cream factory A department store Many kinds of data Working at a manufacturing company What kinds of data do data miners mine? All kinds of businesses have data that data miners can work with. Data miners can help manufacturers who want to make their production and storage better. department stores understand the habits of their customers to improve sales.

What Kinds of Data Do They Mine? -Ⅱ Weather information A university program A police car and an officer Who else can data miners help? They can help universities make their programs and classes better. researchers make predictions about weather several years from now. governments stop terrorist attacks.

Education and Training -Ⅰ What kind of education do data miners need? Students studying A university degree Which university programs are related to data mining? A data miner needs a lot of education. First, you have to study for four years to get a university degree. However, that is not usually enough. Most data miners continue studying to get a master’s degree. At many schools, data mining programs are taught by the computer science department and the statistics department.

Education and Training -Ⅱ Communication Giving a presentation A computer error What skills do data miners need? Good communication Data miners must be able to clearly explain things to clients and often present their research at conferences. Creative thinking Data miners work on many difficult problems and must come up with new ways to solve these problems. An eye for details Data miners have to be careful about details because even a small error can cause a whole project to fail.

The Future of Data Mining A connected world More and more data What does the future for data mining look like? As the internet and social media become more and more important, companies are collecting more and more information. As data sets get bigger and bigger, we will need new programs to do data analysis. Data mining will need smart people to make better and faster mining programs.

Vocabulary client n. coal n. a person who uses the services or advice of a professional person or organization coal n. a hard black substance that is dug from the ground and burned as fuel to provide heat

Vocabulary conference n. computer data n. a large meeting, often lasting a few days, where many people make presentations computer data n. information, especially numbers and facts; information stored in a computer

Vocabulary errors n. extract v. a mistake to remove or take out something

Vocabulary miner n. statistics v. someone who works in the industry of removing substances from the ground, or information from a computer file statistics v. the science of using information discovered from collecting, organizing, and studying numbers