Ainun Najib, the head of data for ride-hailing company Grab in Malaysia, said the reason for the talent shortage might be the education system, which was not designed to produce data scientists.

He said the phenomenon was not limited to Indonesia, as data science was relatively new and had only grown significantly in recent years.

“With no formal background in education, data scientist talents turned to other fields. Academics are now trying to fill that void,” he said.

Algoritma, a startup company, was founded at the end of 2017 as the first data science academy in Indonesia. Ainun said Grab tried to create an environment that would attract talent.

“Grab employees come from 45 countries,” he added.

Andreas Hadimulyono, a Grab warehouse engineer, pointed to mapping and traffic data that could be used to locate the best routes while using Grab’s transport services.

“In this instance, we use data on locations, traffic and time.

Which route to take

Even choosing a particular exit at one mall could make a difference in [deciding] which route to take. All of that is based on data,” he said.

Ainun said data scientists needed to master three different skill sets: business science and the understanding of marketing and consumers; analytical ability related to mathematics and statistics; and technical ability, particularly in coding and hacking.