Mining Data

A growing and wide ranging field in the financial area is data mining. Put simply, data mining is where companies gather information, usually using software, to improve their bottom line. They can do it for themselves or for others. And it has been shown to work in a number of ways.

For instance, when hiring potential employees, data mining can indicate to companies what personality types or personality traits may suit for a particular job. A trading company wouldn't want to hire a person who doesn't handle stress well for the pit. The pit is where traders scramble on the floor of say the commodities exchanges to acquire commodities like oil, gold or corn. In an eye’s blink a late buy can cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits. Data mining can also tell bank or financial employers which potential employees would be good in finance.

Data mining is also used to see patterns in consumer purchasing. This allows companies to target phone calls to people whom research shows are more likely to buy a product over the telephone. It's also used to hone advertisements. This is why Google stores website searches and visitations by its users. The information gained is a multi-million dollar gold mine.

In addition, data mining can be used to predict patterns which may signify that the market is about to experience a period of stock purchases. Of course, stock trading houses have long sought a model that predicts such a thing. The idea that a perfect pattern of stock buying or selling can be discovered is based on the thought that since people have emotions, they often behave with, to put it indelicately, a herd mentality. Whether a buying market or a selling market, if such a model could be found it would basically be the same as giving stock traders tomorrow’s newspaper today.

Still, the potential abuse, both ethical and financial in all of this is something which concerns some people in the government and others in private groups dedicated to individual privacy, Senator Franken, Democrat from Minnesota even held hearings dealing with internet privacy since the internet is the diamond mine where the data is.

Even so, data mining will be a growing field which offers lucrative jobs across the board. This is because what was once statistical analysis has become exciting for three reasons. One is that this generation likes the technology. They are tech savoy and love the devices which in past days would have filled rooms to accomplish the same things today’s gadgets do that are palm size.

The second reason is that there's a huge data overflow: before with clustering charts or other statistical research everything was based on a scientific study or phone polls. Now, information floods in from everywhere. This why computers are used in the field because the data couldn't be coalesced by even a team of experts without them.

The third reason that data mining's exciting is not only do the young like the machines and devices, but the technology driving it doubles every 18 months. So the opportunities from new technologies here will open up into previously unknown fields.

Think about it. From Caesar to Washington, men of power arrived for their duties using horses. Then along came the train, steamboat, car, plane and helicopter. True the buggy repairman lost his job, but how many jobs were opened up by increasing technologies.

If you are interested in Data Mining which hires individuals from PhD’s to technical school graduates, please see jobs at www.financialjobbank.com.

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