London data science salary

[Star555]

For someone with a recent postgraduate degree (MSc or PhD) in physics and considering taking some online classes in data science/machine learning and then applying for data science jobs in London (in normal post-COVID times):

What is a reasonable starting salary for a Data Scientist job in London? (Assuming no prior data science job experience, but MSc or PhD in physics.)

Bump

Try searching on Glassdoor for average base salaries and filter by location?

A close relative does this. If you don't already have the corporate or data science experience and aren't going into one of the really competitive city firm graduate scheme, it's plus/minus average starting salary. I think that's around 28k. You might get lucky and find someone who will pay you more if you're a bit older (post PhD?)

It'll be very different depending on whether you have an MSc or a PhD. PhD will obviously be a higher starting salary as you have at least 3 years more experience. Data science jobs range massively depending on the company and how much responsibility there is within the role. With no industry experience but a PhD you're looking at anywhere from £35K plus in London if you look on Glassdoor. More with a PhD and post doc.

Thanks all! Aside from the salary, given the competitive nature of the field, how likely do you think someone with a MSc/PhD in physics (and no prior industry experience) would be to even land a London data science role in the first place? Is the London candidate pool overwhelmed by lots of people with years of data science/computer science experience, leaving no room for career-changers looking to enter the field?

Which do you have, MSc or PhD?

@Star555

Thanks all! Aside from the salary, given the competitive nature of the field, how likely do you think someone with a MSc/PhD in physics (and no prior industry experience) would be to even land a London data science role in the first place? Is the London candidate pool overwhelmed by lots of people with years of data science/computer science experience, leaving no room for career-changers looking to enter the field?

Companies are always looking for talent - and if you've got the right intellect, personality, and attitude to work for the role, career changing will not be a huge obstacle. The jobs market is not flooded with talented people - that's a myth...talented candidates are hard to find and always in demand. In this case the candidate would be best applying to a graduate trainee program. One thing I'll say about PhD candidates is that in the applications I have received from them (we had only asked for an undergrad degree)- they come across as hugely academic - as of course they are - but slightly out of touch with business. Overly long CVs and covering letters 10 pages in total for one applicant - including long lists of texts they have reviewed in a subject that is not relevant to our industry...punchy and to the point they were not. More academic qualifications is not always better.

@Star555

Thanks all! Aside from the salary, given the competitive nature of the field, how likely do you think someone with a MSc/PhD in physics (and no prior industry experience) would be to even land a London data science role in the first place? Is the London candidate pool overwhelmed by lots of people with years of data science/computer science experience, leaving no room for career-changers looking to enter the field?

I work for a big high street bank, and used to look after graduate recruitment in this area. We have accepted people with a similar background to you into our graduate scheme, with a view to them learning on the job. I'm not sure you'd get a role at the level above without any experience (for my employer anyway, can't speak for everyone!). Does it have to be in London? Remember you'd be working from home to start with now and lots of places (mine included) are never intending to go back to the office full time.

I work in an area with quite a lot of data science overlap although more data engineer than data scientist. Judging by the job adverts I see, salaries are all over the place. Lots of people expecting the moon on a stick for not very much money.

MSc & PHD shouldn't be lumped together as the same qualification. That's like comparing a degree to GCSEs

Thank you all, this is good to know! @PoppityPop I have MSc and have recently started working towards PhD, but with Covid and all I've been having a hard think about alternate job prospects! @Mydogruns do you have recommendations for how to get more in touch with business -- perhaps taking an online course in business? Also, do graduate trainee programmes usually take PhDs? @TooMinty I would like to move to London in a few years after hopefully getting PhD, not right now.

How did you arrive at Data Science as a career? In addition to business knowledge, you could also look at courses like DataCamp to increase coding knowledge if you haven't got extensive R or Python experience in your degree. But for a grad scheme attitude and coming across as a good team player and willing to learn are most important.

@Star555

Thank you all, this is good to know! *@PoppityPop I have MSc and have recently started working towards PhD, but with Covid and all I've been having a hard think about alternate job prospects! @Mydogruns do you have recommendations for how to get more in touch with business -- perhaps taking an online course in business? Also, do graduate trainee programmes usually take PhDs? @TooMinty* I would like to move to London in a few years after hopefully getting PhD, not right now.

I think you need to contact recruiters in the companies you are interested in and ask them if they take Phds - I can't see why not - it's just that it might not mean they are willing to give you preferential treatment over a Grad or an MSc if it isn't something with a Physics basis - would you expect higher pay than a Grad? I would imagine you would have great modelling/analysis skills - have you considered Consulting with one of the Big Four or Banking? What are your relationship skills/interpersonal skills like - do you enjoy collaborating or working alone? Why did you decide to do a PHd?

You are correct for my employers, a PHD in Physics wouldn't get you a higher salary, just standard grad scheme rate.

We recently recruited for a more junior position, a numerate degree with at least one year's work experience (for us that was really an "at least", we'd prefer 2 years) we are not big enough to do a new Grad justice and take them through a Grad scheme training programme. One of the applicants told us in their covering letter that they didn't need experience because they had a Masters that was better than work experience anyway. It was worded in such an arrogant way - that will never go down well.

Mind you it goes both ways, another applicant told us that looking at our website it was clear we were all very academic and what we were lacking was someone like them with a good dose of common sense and practical experience to sort us out!

Top tip - don't tell the company they have no idea what they are doing, when you have no clue about what they do!

I have a PhD in a STEM field. Most of my PhD peers found that unless you went to a German speaking country, the PhD didn't count as experience (biomed excluded). You start as a graduate, but older.

If you're struggling with you PhD, it's ok. Most people do. It's also ok to leave it if it isn't working out. There's an academic's common room board on here if you want more support from that side. My honest answer is that the PhD won't gain you much in the world of work apart from loosing 4 years of pension, maternity accrual and experience. If you stick with the PhD, academia isn't an easy career choice. If you're not sure about leaving, how about applying for internships for the summer term? If your supervisor won't support you taking 6 weeks out, you've maybe found the problem with your PhD! It's very common to do internships during PhD, and they're even mandatory for some of the ERC grants, so it shouldn't be weird.