Applying for accreditation as an Advanced Data Science Professional
Introduction
I recently applied for and gained accreditation as an Advanced Data Science Professional (ADSP). This is a new (and currently the only) accreditation available to data scientists in the UK, and it launched in 2022. It came about due to the formation of the Alliance for Data Science Professionals (AfDSP, a partnership between relevant professional bodies) and the need for industry-wide standards incorporating an ethical approach. Here I outline the broad requirements for gaining this new accreditation and how I found applying for it. Full details of the standards are available on the AfDSP website.
Requirements
You can apply for ADSP if you meet all of the following criteria:
- Educated to at least degree level in an appropriate subject
- Typically have at least five years’ experience of working in a data science role
- Can provide at least two years’ experience of continuing professional development (CPD)
- Can meet the requirements below.
There are five skill areas listed in the standards, and to gain accreditation, deep skills must be demonstrated in three (including Evaluation and Reflection) and general skills demonstrated in the other two. Definitions of “deep” and “general” skills are provided. The five skill areas are:
- Data privacy and stewardship
- Ensuring the protection of personal and sensitive data
- Managing sensitive data
- Data stewardship and standards
- Definition, acquisition, engineering, architecture, storage and curation
- Data collection and management
- Data engineering
- Deployment
- Problem definition and communication with stakeholders
- Problem definition
- Relationship management
- Problem solving, analysis, statistical modelling, visualisation
- Identifying and applying technical solutions and project management approaches
- Data preparation and feature modelling
- Data Analysis and model building
- Evaluation and Reflection (cross-cutting consideration to be evidenced throughout)
- Project evaluation
- Ethical behaviour
- Sustainability and best practices
- Reflective practice and ongoing development
In addition, you need to discuss ethics and efficacy throughout the application and as an ADSP you need to demonstrate the following level of responsibility:
- That you’re fully accountable for your own work and that of others, including ethical considerations
- Undertake a range of complex work activities that have a significant impact.
Wow, that’s a LOT to have to demonstrate!
My approach
Applications are made through individual professional bodies, which in my case was the Royal Statistical Society (RSS). I decided that I would demonstrate general experience in skill areas 1 and 2, and deep experience in 3, 4 and 5. Once I started the application it became apparent that having deep experience in section 4 was also a requirement of the RSS (so worth noting if you’re applying through them).
I chose one example from my work for each of the deep skill areas 3, 4 and 5. As my experience was lighter for skill areas 1 and 2 I chose a few smaller examples for each.
For each skill area I then tried to ensure that most points for that skill area were covered, that I was also covering ethics and efficacy, and that it demonstrated the appropriate level of responsibility. However I didn’t try to meet all the criteria as I took heart from the sentence in the standards which reads “it is not essential that an applicant meets all the criteria at the higher level, but that on balance, the totality of their evidence for each section meets the required level”.
Ethical consideration
In addition to demonstrating an ethical approach in the above skill areas, there was specific question on the RSS application: “Give a recent example of how ethical considerations influenced or determined any decision(s) or course(s) of action.” Helpfully I had a recent example I could use for this.
Continuing professional development and references
If applying for ADSP you need to demonstrate at least 60 hours of CPD for each of the last two years. I used the CPD guidance and template provided on the RSS website.
Two references are required which cover the past five years of work.
My thoughts
It is clearly a lot of work to apply for ADSP, even if you have the required skills and experience. It took me a number of weeks to work through the form and requirements and it was challenging to ensure that I was including the cross-cutting considerations of ethics and efficacy, at the responsibility level needed. However I have been a data scientist for a number of years so I am pleased that I am now able to demonstrate my experience through this new accreditation.