Querying The Report Repository Demonstration And Hand-On Activity: Fill & Download for Free

IntroductionThe growth of data has been exponential. According to an IBM report, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created per day. This has created a new class of professionals — data scientists. The question is, is data science another ‘hot’ job or a new form of science? In the Hollywood movie 21, six students, brilliant with numbers, make money at the blackjack tables of Las Vegas casinos by using numbers, codes, and hand gestures. Can we call them data scientists?In this blog, we are going to understand the difference between data scientists and a statistician. This will help us in understanding the subtle differences between the two!Who is a Data Scientist?A data scientist is someone who is better at statistics than any software engineer and better at software engineering than any statistician. Data scientists generally analyze big data or data repositories that are maintained throughout an organization or website’s existence but are of virtually no use as far strategic or monetary benefit is concerned. Data scientists are equipped with statistical models and analyze past and current data from such data stores to derive recommendations and suggestions for optimal business decision making.Data scientists are mainly part of the marketing and planning process to identify useful insights and derive statistical data for planning, executing and monitoring result-driven marketing strategies.Who is a Statistician?Statisticians collect data and analyze it, looking for patterns that explain behaviour or describe the world as it is. They design and build models using data. The models can be used to help understand the world and to make predictions.It is proven that the celebration of birthdays is healthy. Statistics show that those people who celebrate the most birthdays become the oldest.A statistician develops and applies statistical or mathematical theories to obtain and summarize useful information to help solve real-world problems. They collect and analyze data and use it in several industries, such as engineering, science, and business. The numerical data collected helps companies or clients understand quantitative data and track or predict potential trends that can be beneficial in making business decisions.Difference in SkillsData Scientist1. EducationData scientists are highly educated — 88% have at least a Master’s degree and 46% have PhDs — and while there are notable exceptions, a very strong educational background is usually required to develop the depth of knowledge necessary to be a data scientist.2. R ProgrammingIn-depth knowledge of at least one of these analytical tools, for data science R is generally preferred. R is specifically designed for data science needs. You can use R to solve any problem you encounter in data science. In fact, 43 per cent of data scientists are using R to solve statistical problems. However, R has a steep learning curve.3. Python CodingPython is the most common coding language I typically see required in data science roles, along with Java, Perl, or C/C++. Python is a great programming language for data scientists.4. Hadoop PlatformAlthough this isn’t always a requirement, it is heavily preferred in many cases. Having experience with Hive or Pig is also a strong selling point. Familiarity with cloud tools such as Amazon S3 can also be beneficial.5. SQL Database/CodingYou need to be proficient in SQL as a data scientist. This is because SQL is specifically designed to help you access, communicate and work on data. It gives you insights when you use it to query a database. It has concise commands that can help you to save time and lessen the amount of programming you need to perform difficult queries.7. Machine Learning and AIA large number of data scientists are not proficient in machine learning areas and techniques. This includes neural networks, reinforcement learning, adversarial learning, etc. If you want to stand out from other data scientists, you need to know Machine learning techniques such as supervised machine learning, decision trees, logistic regression etc.8. Data VisualizationThe business world produces a vast amount of data frequently. This data needs to be translated into a format that will be easy to comprehend. People naturally understand pictures in forms of charts and graphs more than raw data. An idiom says “A picture is worth a thousand words”.9. Unstructured DataIt is critical that a data scientist be able to work with unstructured data. Unstructured data are undefined content that does not fit into database tables. Examples include videos, blog posts, customer reviews, social media posts, video feeds, audio etc.11. Business AcumenTo be a data scientist you’ll need a solid understanding of the industry you’re working in, and know what business problems your company is trying to solve.12. Communication SkillsCompanies searching for a strong data scientist are looking for someone who can clearly and fluently translate their technical findings to a non-technical team, such as the Marketing or Sales departments.Statisticians1. Deep theoretical knowledge in Probability and Inference2. Numerical Skills: This skill reflects the person’s general intelligence and its development ensures at a great extent the attainment of organizational goals.3. Analytical Skills: Analytical skills refer to the ability to collect and analyze information, problem-solve, and make decisions. These strengths can help solve a company’s problems and improve their overall productivity and success.4. Written and Verbal Communication Skill5. Good Interpersonal Skills: Interpersonal skills are the qualities and behaviours we exhibit while interacting with other people. They are considered to be one of the most sought after types of soft skills. We demonstrate them whenever we engage in any kind of verbal or nonverbal communication. In fact, qualities as basic as body language and attitude towards others greatly affect our chances of excelling at work.Difference in ToolsTools of a statistician1. SPSS (IBM)SPSS, (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is perhaps the most widely used statistical software package within human behaviour research. SPSS offers the ability to easily compile descriptive statistics, parametric and non-parametric analyses, as well as graphical depictions of results through the graphical user interface (GUI). It also includes the option to create scripts to automate analysis or to carry out more advanced statistical processing.2. R (R Foundation for Statistical Computing)R is a free statistical software package that is widely used across both human behaviour research and in other fields. Toolboxes (essential plugins) are available for a great range of applications, which can simplify various aspects of data processing. While R is very powerful software, it also has a steep learning curve, requiring a certain degree of coding. It does, however, come with an active community engaged in building and improving R and the associated plugins, which ensures that help is never too far away.3. MATLAB (The Mathworks)MatLab is an analytical platform and programming language that is widely used by engineers and scientists. As with R, the learning path is steep, and you will be required to create your own code at some point. A plentiful amount of toolboxes are also available to help answer your research questions (such as EEGLab for analysing EEG data). While MatLab can be difficult to use for novices, it offers a massive amount of flexibility in terms of what you want to do — as long as you can code it (or at least operate the toolbox you require).4. Microsoft ExcelWhile not a cutting-edge solution for statistical analysis, MS Excel does offer a wide variety of tools for data visualization and simple statistics. It’s simple to generate summary metrics and customizable graphics and figures, making it a useful tool for many who want to see the basics of their data. As many individuals and companies both own and know how to use Excel, it also makes it an accessible option for those looking to get started with statistics.5. SAS (Statistical Analysis Software)SAS is a statistical analysis platform that offers options to use either the GUI or to create scripts for more advanced analyses. It is a premium solution that is widely used in business, healthcare, and human behaviour research alike. It’s possible to carry out advanced analyses and produce publication-worthy graphs and charts, although the coding can also be a difficult adjustment for those not used to this approach.6. GraphPad PrismGraphPad Prism is premium software primarily used within statistics related to biology but offers a range of capabilities that can be used across various fields. Similar to SPSS, scripting options are available to automate analyses, or carry out more complex statistical calculations, but the majority of the work can be completed through the GUI.7. MinitabThe Minitab software offers a range of both basic and fairly advanced statistical tools for data analysis. Similar to GraphPad Prism, commands can be executed through both the GUI and scripted commands, making it accessible to novices as well as users looking to carry out more complex analyses.Tools of a Data Scientist1. R: R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS2. Python: Python is a popular programming language. It was created by Guido van Rossum, and released in 1991. It is used for: web development (server-side), software development, mathematics, system scripting.3. Julia: Julia was designed from the beginning for high performance. Julia programs compile to efficient native code for multiple platforms via LLVM. Julia is dynamically-typed, feels like a scripting language, and has good support for interactive use.4. Tableau: Tableau is one of the most fast-growing data visualization tools which is currently being used in the BI industry. It is the best way to change or transform the raw set of data into an easily understandable format with zero technical skills and coding knowledge.5. QlikView: QlikView is a leading Business Discovery Platform. It is unique in many ways as compared to the traditional BI platforms. As a data analysis tool, it always maintains the relationship between the data and this relationship can be seen visually using colours. It also shows the data that are not related. It provides both direct and indirect searches by using individual searches in the list boxes.6. AWS: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering to compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow. Explore how millions of customers are currently leveraging AWS cloud products and solutions to build sophisticated applications with increased flexibility, scalability and reliability.7. Spark: Apache Spark is a fast and general-purpose cluster computing system. It provides high-level APIs in Java, Scala, Python and R, and an optimized engine that supports general execution graphs. It also supports a rich set of higher-level tools including Spark SQL for SQL and structured data processing, MLlib for machine learning, GraphX for graph processing, and Spark Streaming.8. RapidMiner: RapidMiner is a data science software platform developed by the company of the same name that provides an integrated environment for data preparation, machine learning, deep learning, text mining, and predictive analytics. It is used for business and commercial applications as well as for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, and application development and supports all steps of the machine learning process including data preparation, result visualization, model validation and optimization9. Databricks: DataBricks was created for data scientists, engineers and analysts to help users integrate the fields of data science, engineering and the business behind them across the machine learning lifecycle. This integration helps to ease the processes from data preparation to experimentation and machine learning application deployment.Difference in SalaryData science jobs are not just more common than statistics jobs. They are also more lucrative. According to Glass Door, the national average salary for a data scientist is $118,709 compared to $75,069 for statisticians. A data scientist is a one-stop solution for business. Usually, the data scientist can get an open-ended problem, figure out what data they need, get the date, do the modelling/analysis, write good code to do this, get the results and report back to business.Career PathStatistician Career Path1. Statistical Analyst. Statistical analysts typically conduct data analyses, under the supervision of an applied or senior statistician or a knowledgeable practitioner, who might also serve as a mentor and role model. Over time, many statistical analysts strive to move from principally “backroom” positions to taking on increasingly more responsibility, conducting more advanced technical tasks, and working more independently.2. Applied Statistician. Applied statisticians bear primary responsibility for everything from helping ensure the right data are collected to analyzing the data (or directing such analyses) and reporting the findings. They interact closely with other technical staff and management and, ideally, are integral members of the project team.3. Senior Statistician. Senior statisticians, in addition to taking on the roles of applied statisticians, also assume broader responsibilities. They look at problems holistically and strive to relate them to the general goals of the organization. Senior statisticians play a proactive role in proposing new projects and ventures that will benefit their organizations or customers in the future. They are often deeply involved in the early stages of a project, helping define a problem quantitatively and suggesting the path forward to senior management. Later, they participate in putting together and presenting the findings. They are often considered the ultimate source of knowledge and wisdom in statistical matters.4. Statistical Manager. Managers of statistical groups are involved in securing projects — especially for the junior members of the group — and help define what is to be accomplished. They select the person(s) to do the work, provide guidance as needed, and assume overall responsibility for success. They also keep upper management informed of the group’s technical accomplishments, help foster the interests and aspirations of the group members, and develop a vision for the future. Their administrative responsibilities include staff recruitment and development and performance evaluations. The number of such positions is limited.5. Private Statistical Consultant. Some applied statisticians eventually go into business on their own as private statistical consultants. Consultants undertake special projects, often for organizations that do not have their own statistician or review the work of practitioners or other statisticians. Frequent use of statistical consultants is in addressing legal issues, possibly as expert witnesses.Data Scientist Career Path1. Data Scientists: There are data scientists who fine-tune the statistical and mathematical models that are applied to data. When somebody is applying their theoretical knowledge of statistics and algorithms to find the best way to solve a data science problem, they are filling the role of a data scientist. When somebody builds a model to predict the number of credit card defaults in the next month, they are wearing the data scientist hat. A data scientist will be able to take a business problem and translate it to a data question, create predictive models to answer the question and storytelling about the findings. Statisticians that focus on implementing statistical approaches to data, and data managers who focus on running data science teams tend to fall in the data scientist role. Data scientists are the bridge between the programming and implementation of data science, the theory of data science, and the business implications of data.2. Data Engineers: There are data engineers, who rely mostly on their software engineering experience to handle large amounts of data at scale. These are versatile generalists who use computer science to help process large datasets. They typically focus on coding, cleaning up data sets, and implementing requests that come from data scientists. They typically know a broad variety of programming languages, from Python to Java. When somebody takes the predictive model from the data scientist and implements it in code, they are typically playing the role of a data engineer.3. Data Analysts: Lastly, there are data analysts who look through the data and provide reports and visualizations to explain what insights the data is hiding. When somebody helps people from across the company understand specific queries with charts, they are filling the data analyst role.SummaryAn excellent analyst is not a shoddy version of the machine learning engineer; their coding style is optimized for speed — on purpose. Nor are they a bad statistician, since they don’t deal at all with uncertainty, they deal with facts. The primary job of the analyst is to say: “Here’s what’s in our data. It’s not my job to talk about what it means, but perhaps it will inspire the decision-maker to pursue the question with a statistician.”Follow this link, if you are looking to learn more about data science online!You can follow this link for our Big Data course!Additionally, if you are having an interest in learning Data Science, click here to start data science training in MumbaiFurthermore, if you want to read more about data science, you can read our blogs here

$76,140Salary Outlook. The BLS reports the median annual wage for computer programmers was $76,140 in 2013. The best-paid 10 percent in the field made approximately $123,490, while the bottom 10 percent made approximately $43,640.50. Systems Analyst or Systems EngineerThis role is sometimes referred to as a Computer Systems Analyst, with duties that might overlap that of an IT Project Manager, if overseeing installation or upgrade of computer systems. This role typically analyzes an organization’s computer systems and procedures; makes recommendations for process improvement; interacts with partners/ vendors and with programmers or programmer / analysts. Educational background might be technical, though this is more of an analytical than technical role that is focused on the business aspects of technology, including: analyzing the cost of system changes; the impact on employees; potential project timelines. Needs to interact with department managers on IT requirements; incorporate feedback from both internal and external users into business requirements documents; incorporate feedback from designers; contribute technical requirements; advise technical teams on their and their technology’s role in the organization; provide guidance to programmer / developers with use cases.Salary range: $ 50-108K49. Business Systems AnalystThis role focuses on specific computer systems – compared to a Business Analyst, who will analyze a broader range of processes and systems for an organization. Typically, it requires analytical skills and is business-focused, so often requires a BA background, not necessarily a Page on b.sc.. It does, however, require an understanding of computer systems and information, and more technical reporting and documentation procedures. Usually, understanding the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle), UML (Unified Modeling Language) and other technical concepts and skills are often a requirement. The role has optional certifications which bring increased opportunities and compensation.Salary range: $ 75-109K48. CRM Business AnalystAka CRM Analyst. CRM = Customer Relationship Management: front office functionality. This is typically a less technical role which may require a marketing or business degree — often a master’s — combined with statistics, but usually requires certain technical knowledge such as database and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, specifically. Typical responsibilities / skills: analyze customer relationship data – especially within product channels – using CRM software, and recommend strategy changes for building customer loyalty; define organizational procedures based on the data; document new procedures for internal use — typically for staff in sales, marketing and support.Salary range: $ 80-109K47. Software Systems EngineerTypical responsibilities / skills: development and upgrade of computer systems; either interact with data and system security staff or define necessary procedures for them to follow; design, develop and test software when necessary — often middleware; document procedures for internal use, and provide various system and operations documents; participate in various review meetings, including design, program and test reviews with inter-departmental co-workers; define a process for change management.Salary range: $ 76-111K46. Solutions ArchitectA Solutions Architect role is similar to other architect roles and can go beyond the scope of IT. experience with hardware and software systems is common requirement, as is an understanding of business operations. This role is sometimes but not always synonymous with a Director or CTO (Chief Technical Officer) position. Typical responsibilities/ skills; understand the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle); have broad technical knowledge of computer systems; conduct process flow analyses; transform business/ customer requirements into technical requirements (functional design document); understand and have experience with databases; interact with developers and bridge different IT architect roles.Salary range: $ 79-112K45. E-Commerce AnalystAka E-Commerce Business Analyst. Backgrounds for this role vary: computer science, finance, statistics, management, marketing, communications. While a bachelor’s degree is standard, a master’s degree is sometimes required. Typical responsibilities / skills: analyze customer e-commerce data for behavioral or other trends; setup or configure reporting or dashboards for easy internal access to such data; create customer profiles for demographic targeting; utilize Web analytics.Salary range: $ 79-114K44. ERP Business AnalystAn ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Business Analyst focuses on “back office” functionality for an organization’s various facets, including CRM, management, accounting, sales. Typical responsibilities / skills: have an understanding of typical business uses of ERP software; interact with various stakeholders to analyze business processes and gather requirements; incorporate business requirements to configure ERP software; interact with developers to build a reporting environment; document organization-specific customizations; conduct any necessary training sessions for use of ERP software and reporting environment. This role usually requires experience with a specific ERP solution.Salary range: $ 83-115K43. Pre-Sales Engineer / Technical EngineerSimilar titles include Pre-sales Engineer, PreSales Engineer, Pre-sales Technical Engineer. This role is for a product advocate/ evangelist who works with internal sales staff and possibly offers technical consulting to potential customers prior to a sale. They give product demonstrations to sales staff and potential customers and handle the technical aspects of RFIs / RFPs (Requests for Information / Requests for Proposal). So the ability to communicate with both technical and no-technical staff and customers is important, especially to pass on customer requirements to Product Managers. It requires some level of technical knowledge, especially about the systems/ software being offered, and may require some certifications. Post-sales interaction with a client is a possibility.Salary range: $ 82-116K42. CRM Technical DeveloperAKA CRM Developer. Most CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software has both internal and external (Web) components. Users can be internal (sales staff, support, admin, systems developers) and external (customers, vendors, partners, researchers). These are the users a CRM Developer needs to keep in mind when developing solutions. Typical responsibilities/ skills: experience with a specific CRM system; custom configure a CRM used by the organization; develop custom modules to extend CRM functionality; integrate CRM features into an organization’s own computer systems, including for customer use – which requires experience with a programming or scripting language, and either server, desktop/ laptop, Web or mobile (phone, tablet) development experience as necessary; document custom settings, modules and features for different levels of user.Salary range: $ 89-119K41. Portal AdministratorThis role is focused on Web portals and often requires knowledge of a specific portal software platforms. E.g., IBM WebSphere, Microsoft SharePoint. Typical responsibilities / skills: interact with Web and other systems administrators; create or oversee creation of necessary portal databases and user profiles; configure and manage portal applications; perform configuration and upgrade process tests; oversee integration of new technologies into the portal; document portal use policies and procedures (internal); handle relevant trouble tickets; train developers, content managers and end-users as necessary.Salary range: $ 91-121K40. Programmer AnalystAka Computer Programmer / Analyst. May have some overlap with a Business Analyst role, such as performing requirements analysis. In some organizations, there is a lot of overlap with a Software Developer role, and in other places, the two roles work together. Typical responsibilities / skills: design of applications from a high level first – such as by using flowcharts or other graphical views — as well as actual coding of software; testing and maintenance. Specific programming language skills influence salary ranges.Salary range: $ 69-122K39. Network Analyst or Network EngineerSometimes referred to as a Network Support Engineer. The role sometimes overlaps with Network Architect roles. Typical responsibilities / skills: work with a variety of types of networks including LANs, WANs, GANs and MANs; determine network capacity requirements and ensure that the infrastructure can handle it; monitor and administrate the network; troubleshoot problems. Depending on the size of the organization, a person in this role might also setup, install and configure all types of hardware, from servers and printers to desktops and laptops, routers, switches, support internal network users. Non-standard work hours are a possibility.Salary range: $ 58-124K38. Wireless EngineerTypical responsibilities / skills: analyze wireless networking and communication requirements; design and develop network infrastructure; capacity planning; recommend system improvements; document necessary processes; develop any necessary software such as drivers; monitor systems use and performance; setup and run wireless network tests. A senior position might lead a team of junior and intermediate engineers.Salary range: $ 46-125K37. Business Continuity AnalystThis role is primarily focused on focused on disaster recovery after a crisis with computer systems. Typical responsibilities / skills: develop strategies for disaster prevention and for resuming operations; ensure backup of data for the organization (process-wise); design and implement computer systems that will support continuous operations; interact with vendors when necessary; design and test recovery plans; report risk potential to senior management. The role may require risk management experience and knowledge of specific 3rd-party systems/ applications.Salary range: $ 87-125K36. ERP Technical Analyst / ERP Functional AnalystERP = Enterprise Resource Planning. This is a broad term covering many “back office” facets of an organization — some technical, some less so. This role is often focused on an area of expertise within ERP software, or could require broad knowledge, depending on the specific position. ERP use is common in manufacturing companies, hence why backgrounds for this role vary, including information technology or a variety of relevant engineering education, depending on the industry and the organization. Typical responsibilities / skills: understand business operations and how ERP supports them, to be able to develop improvements; interact with various stakeholders; apply continuous improvement principles, processing mapping, and engineering principles; perform troubleshooting. This role typically requires experience with specific ERP solutions is commonSalary range: $ 90-125K35. Database AdministratorAka DBA. Sometimes has overlapping duties with Database Programmer, Database Analyst and Database Modeller, and may report to a Database Manager and/or Data Architect. Typical responsibilities / skills: maintain an organization’s databases; design and implement databases, in coordination with a Data Architect; schedule and run regular database backups; recover lost data; implement and monitor database security; ensure data integrity; identify the needs of users and provide access to data stakeholders, data analysts and other users, as necessary. DBAs can have broad or specialized duties. E.g., divide tasks up: System DBA upgrades software for bug fixes and new features. Application DBA writes and maintains code and queries for one or more databases in an organization. The role may require certification.Salary range: $ 63-126K34. Software DeveloperTypical responsibilities / skills: produce the overall design of new software or modules based on requirements passed down; produce flowcharts, algorithms and anything else necessary for the actual coding. Junior developers might start out by maintaining (debugging) existing code / features rather than design new code. If code in an organization is not done separately by Computer Programmers, then it falls to the Software Developers — who might also do testing and debugging, or work with teammates who do that work.Salary range: $ 80-127K33. Telecommunications ManagerTypical responsibilities / skills: identify telecom needs for an organization, including voicemail; create policies for the installation and maintenance of telecom equipment and systems within an organization; take into account any compliance needs, especially for a publicly-traded company; oversee actual installation and maintenance of equipment (cabling, modems, routers, servers, software); manage of a team of telecom/ networking specialists; stay abreast of new telecom technologies for upgrade consideration; interact with vendors as necessary.Salary range: $ 76-128K32. ERP Technical DeveloperTypical responsibilities / skills: understand the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle); interact with business teams to understand requirements; analyze technical problems in ERP configurations and assess risk; write any necessary code for extending an ERP platform’s features, or to integrate with an organization’s applications. This position usually requires experience with a particular ERP solution and with one or more facets/ modules.Salary range: $ 94-130K31. Network ManagerDepending on company size, this role may overlap with Network Administrator. A Network Manager has overall responsibility for an organizations networks; ensures that networks are always running, especially if customers and/or partners rely on them; devises and implements a plan to either prevent or recover from a disaster. Overall, they are responsible for all the networks, local and non, that drive an organization, and for maintaining the hardware and cabling that goes with the networking infrastructure. That includes installing hardware and software, monitoring networks, etc., or managing a team of Network Analyst/ Engineers and/or the various Network Administrators. Certification may be required for some roles, depending on the networking technology used and especially if the role is significantly hands-on.Salary range: $ 94-130K30. Network Security AdministratorTypical responsibilities / skills: implement and follow a network security plan; document the networking infrastructure, including any firewall protocols and policies, monitoring and disaster recovery plans; use vulnerability assessment tools to determine potential risks; monitor and investigate security breaches; recommend organizational security policies; keep up to date on changing networking technology, and review software and hardware to be able to recommend upgrades when necessary.Salary range: $ 95-130K29. Project Manager, Applications DevelopmentThis role may overlap with Application Development Manager. This is a fairly technical role and sometimes requires a background as an application developer. An App Dev PM needs the ability to interact with co-workers from multiple departments, to keep them on track to achieve milestones, drive a project forward and resolve bottlenecks. They understand the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle), budgets, project management principles, basic psychology of motivating people. This role sometimes requires industry knowledge and solutions, e.g., Financial software.Salary range: $ 88-131K28. Systems Security AdministratorOverlaps with others administrator roles. Security administrators oversee access to an organization’s computer systems, whether by internal or external users. Typical responsibilities / skills: develop and configure automated solutions for granting user access rights; oversee internal/ external user access rights manually when necessary; have knowledge of traditional and leading-edge security techniques and tools; understand security auditing procedures; determine security risks; investigate security breaches. This position may require knowledge of specific security-related software and applications.Salary range: $ 95-131K27. Network Security EngineerThis role is typically responsible for network and server architecture; implementation, admin, upgrade of hardware and software, e.g., firewalls, etc.; enforcement of security policies set down by either the organization’s Network Architect, Network Security Administrator, or similar position; monitoring and analyzing network usage for security issues; troubleshooting network problems; contributing to the selection of new technology and/or upgrades; contributing to the documenting of systems and processes; providing technical support for IT coworkers. Certification may be required. Knowledge of computer telephony technologies such as VoIP may be required, along with an understanding of relevant compliance issues. May require some physical effort, for cabling and installation workSalary range: $ 99-131K26. Data Warehouse Developer / AnalystA data warehouse is a repository that combines data from several sources, internal and external, within an organization – e.g., sales and marketing – and is used for trend reporting. Typical responsibilities / skills for a Data Warehouse Developer: interact with business analysts to understand the necessary business logic; follow standards and procedures for databases set down by a Data Warehouse Manager; design and create databases for the purpose of data warehousing; design and run ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) procedures to extract external data and load into a data warehouse; test integrity of data warehouse; write and maintain any code necessary for data warehousing tasks including report generators. This position may require experience with specific 3rd-party applications, and often overlaps with Database Developer duties.Salary range: $ 60-133K25. Database DeveloperImage sourceThis role sometimes overlaps with Database Engineer or Data Warehouse Developer (see above job description) and can cover a broad range of tasks. Typical responsibilities / skills: data management and administration, data modeling, data warehousing, investigate data integrity issues; devise and conduct data tests for integrity, and follow an action plan for any necessary recovery; document access of specific databases for developers in other departments; work with logical and physical models of data; understand principles of distributed data, data redundancy; incorporate database updates as per stakeholder requirements; produce reports on analyzed business intelligence data; write database queries and complementary computer code to support internal applications, and which are possibly shared with developers in other departments. This may require knowing “back end” programming or scripting languages such as Java, Ruby, Python, Perl, etc., as well as knowledge of both traditional RDBMSes (Relational Database Management Systems) and newer NoSQL databases such as Cassandra, CouchDB, MongoDB, Hadoop and others. The role tends to require specific commercial database system experience, experience with database performance tuning and troubleshooting, and may require some forms of certification.Salary range: $ 73-134K24. Data ModelerTypical responsibilities / skills: creates the Conceptual Data Model representing an organization’s data requirements for various business processes; produces the plan for building the Logical Data Model(s) from the conceptual model. (The physical data model is the actual implementation (database) where data will be stored.) Data modeling (aka database modeling) covers business requirements for databases and is an organic process, so this role also requires adapting a database to business requirements changes.Salary range: $ 76-134K23. Project ManagerFor an IT project, this overlaps with Computer and Information Systems Manager. This is a broader role than for an Applications Development Project Manager and may not require as much of a technical background. Project Managers should have at least an understanding of — if not experience with — the computer systems or software being built / maintained. Responsible for defining, maintaining, and enforcing a project schedule; updating schedule when requirements change or project facets become overdue; keep projects on or under-budget. Other responsibilities and requirements: understand Agile development process (where necessary); run scrums; interact with multiple departments and many levels of co-workers, and convey to them the importance of their respective stakes while also keeping technical resources such as developers goal-oriented; update management on the status of projects, bottlenecks, requests for resources. IT Certifications such as PMP (Project Management Professional) can increase opportunities and salary.Salary range: $ 56-135K22. Web DeveloperThis is a wide-ranging role that can include “front-end” (Web browser: JavaScript, HTML, CSS and related technologies) and “back-end” coding, or require specialization. Back-end coding could be using Java, Ruby, Python or Perl, etc., and might involve database queries and manipulation. A person focusing on back-end web development might also develop APIs (Application Programmer Interfaces) which layout a blueprint of commands for allowing integration of a software platform beyond its own code — such as for building the mobile version of a Web application, etc. Some jobs labeled “Web Developer” also have an expectation of front-end design, though such a role is usually denoted as Web Designer / Developer. Another role in this category is a Web Applications Developer, which involves integrating 3rd-party Web technologies.Salary range: $ 60-135K21. Product Manager, Software DevelopmentAka Software Product Manager. Usually “owns” (the development and maintenance of) one or more software products / applications / platforms within an organization; works with marketing, UX / design, developers, project managers, etc., in a largely cross-departmental role. Other requirements and responsibilities: be an evangelist for the product — internally and externally where appropriate; research the market and understand what the user wants — either in terms of improvements or new features; be an influential personality and possibly have an entrepreneurial mindset; be outward-facing and understand both customer needs and strategies for acquiring customers; have broad knowledge of relevant from products from various disciplines, not necessarily deep knowledge of one discipline.Salary range: $ 99-136K20. Data Security Analyst / Information Security AnalystTypical responsibilities / skills: determine security risks for an organization’s computer systems, databases and networks; monitor external activity; install and configure security-related software (firewalls, encryption); understand compliance issues related to security, especially for a publicly-traded organization; make recommendations to management for security policies and procedures; design and run penetration testing (simulation of attacks); keep abreast of new attack techniques and implement means of preventing these.Salary range: $ 61-137K19. Applications DeveloperAka Application Developer. Typical responsibilities / skills: focus might be on middleware applications; interact with business analysts to understand and incorporate customer and business requirements; understand the SDLC (System Development Life Cycle); follow design specs and programming standards for coding applications; develop and test application-specific software and modules; interact with quality assurance specialists. Possibly requires experience with multi-tier environments. Requires an understanding of specific programming/ scripting languages and development frameworks, and possibly specific database packages.Salary range: $ 69-137K18. Technical SupportAka Help Desk Technicians. The focus of a support tech’s work is interacting with non-IT users, whether internal to a company or external. One group of technicians may support internal users of 3rd-party software, while another group may support internal and external users of company software. Responsibilities include being familiar with the software, hardware or systems they support, including keeping up to date with both new and retired features; knowing where to find the answers to questions that come in to the help desk; possibly contribute to a repository of FAQs (frequently asked questions).Salary range: $ 49-140K17. Manager, Design & UXAka, User Experience Design Manager. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversee the user experience for an application or portfolio of applications; interact with marketing/ business, technical and other departments to collect requirements and make recommendations; interact with product owner/ manager (sometimes UX owns the product); interact with technical managers, project manager, executive management; manage a team of UX Designers – hiring, management, resource planning, mentoring. This not always a strictly a technical role, though such a manager might have a background that combines management, interface design and coding — or at least be tech-savvy enough to understand what is and is not possible for an organization’s software products.Salary range: $ 94-140K16. Manager, Technical Services/ Help Desk/ Tech SupportThis is a general technical manager role and in some organizations, this title can incorporate other managerial duties including overseeing networks, managing network engineers, databases, database analysts and developers and more. Typical responsibilities / skills: manage help desk/ technical support teams for both internal and external users; budget for support staff equipment and software; be involved in corporate plans for hardware and software upgrades; define service call procedures and policies and monitor employee behavior on calls; ensure the updating of relevant documentation. The role usually requires industry-related technical experience and can require physical effort.Salary range: $ 76-141K15. Information Technology ManagerThis role usually requires a technical background and leads a technical team, which could consist of developers, testers, analysts and more – whether or not the organization is technical. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversee the technical aspects of internal projects; maintain corporate IT procedures, with documentation; hire and lead a technical team to support the procedures; manage resources within a budget; keep up to date with new technologies, for recommending possible internal upgrades; interact with various departments, vendors and possibly consultants /contractors. The role can require a master’s degree in computer science or a related field.Salary range: $ 99-142K14. Business Intelligence AnalystThis is not always a purely technical role, though background could be and often is in computer science or a similar field. Usually, it’s a business-focused role that analyzes and reports on data used within the organization. Reports are a key part of such a role and are targeted for executives who will make business decisions upon the recommendations. This could be IT process improvement, software and hardware upgrades, networking, etc. Typical responsibilities / skills: collection and analysis of business data for process improvement, similar to “continuous improvement” philosophy; ability to express technical topics in a form non-technical decision makers can absorb; ability to structure business intelligence for internally-defined purposes. The role can require an understanding of a specific software, particularly database systems, and may involved working closely with developers.Salary range: $ 101-142K13. Mobile Applications DeveloperThis covers multiple related roles which require knowledge of at least one mobile operating system and development platform, such as Android or iOS, and the underlying programming languages. In some roles, Mobile Web development skills are a requirement. Typical responsibilities / skills: design, write and maintain mobile application code; port features for an app from another platform (such as desktop, Web, phone, tablet, wearable computing) to the mobile platform in question; integrate databases (internal) and REST APIs (internal and external); produce API components as necessary and document usage for other developers (internal and sometimes external); devise and run code tests in simulator or hardware; work with Quality Assurance staff for additional; testing log and fix defects. The role can sometimes require design skills for a front-end position.Salary range: $ 100-144K12. Information Technology AuditorAka IT Auditor, Information Systems Auditor. Typical responsibilities / skills: reviewing and recommending compliance processes, especially for a publicly-traded company; determine and assess risk pertaining to technology, both for a single location and other corporate offices; audit an organization’s computer systems and infrastructure for secureness; comply with company audit policies (e.g., if in a divisional office); draft a security breech prevention plan; define audit procedures; report audit findings. This role is more likely to require a background in MIS (Management Information Science) or business administration, although IT skills are valuable.Salary range: $ 67-146K11. Quality Assurance Associate / AnalystSoftware Quality Assurance (SQA) work is on of those unusual sets of roles where compensation varies widely. Companies that appreciate the value of proper testing and “code coverage” pay more for a good Software QA Analyst/ Engineer than they might for a Software Developer / Software Engineer, and thus often require a seasoned developer/ engineer. Other companies pay less much less and tend to employe QA testers — although both variations are sometimes referred to as a Software QA Engineer. In QA work, these are overlapping roles. The tester role is focused on running pre-defined test suites and verifying the results, reporting bugs or interacting with Software Developers/ Engineers. A QA Analyst / Engineer is more like to be the person designing test suites and improving code coverage to verify that everything that needs to be tested is being tested. The latter role can require experience with programming/ scripting languages and/or Web or Mobile platforms.Salary range: $ 57-147K10. Database ManagerAka DBA Manager; has a role that overlaps with other database specialists. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversee how data assets are managed within a company, including data organization and access: internally-generated private and public data, as well as externally-created (user) private and public data; data modeling; database design; define and ensure data backup processes; monitor and analyze database performance; troubleshoot data integrity issues; manage a team of other database specialists, including Database Administrators. The role may require an understanding of one or more traditional DBMSes or the newer technologies, as necessary.Salary range: $ 107-149K9. UX DesignerAka User Experience Designer. This role comes in various forms: desktop, Web, mobile, wearables. Typical responsibilities / skills: design software interface flow, user interactions, screen layout and organization, screen interaction (between screens), overall appearance (visual design), and optimizes the user experience — typically through iterative improvements and user feedback, to create engaging user experiences; create wireframes or more realistic prototypes — possibly with the help of front-end web developers or a web designer with the necessary development skills; recommend design patterns that are both tested (on other Web sites or apps or desktop software) as well as appropriate to the software at hand; define A/B Split Testing studies to determine which variation of an interface is more engaging. In some companies, UX teams own an application instead of a designated “content owner” and can thus request changes from software developers directly as needed. This is not necessarily a strictly technical role, and is always a creative role that involves an understanding of user psychology. However, it can require technical skills, especially if combined with another role, such as front-end Web development or front-end mobile app development. At the least, an understanding what is and is not possible for a particular software platform is important.Salary range: $ 65-150K8. Manager, Software Quality Assurance (QA) / TestingAka Quality Assurance Manager, (S)QA Manager. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversee all IT-related quality assurance efforts within an organization — e.g., the entire application portfolio; manage a team of QA specialists (testers, QA analysts, leads, supervisors); interact with stakeholders; attend high-level project meetings for new/ updated computer systems; budget resources for inter-departmental efforts. Whether or not a QA Manager codes in their role, this position tends to require senior-level QA analyst experience.Salary range: $ 67-150K7. Data ArchitectDepending on the size of an organization, this role can overlap with that of over database specialists. Typical responsibilities / skills: provide a data architecture for an organization’s data assets, including databases, data integration (combining data sources into one view), data access; define the formal data description, structures, models, flow diagrams, and overall metadata; enable stakeholders to manage their portion of the databases or data warehouse, under guidance and data access policies; have logical and physical data modeling skills, whether they’re used in actuality or to oversee a Data Modeler’s efforts; defines data warehouse policies including for Information Assurance. The role usually requires senior experience as a Database Developer/ Analyst / Engineer.Salary range: $ 111-153K6. Manager, Data WarehouseAka, Data Warehouse Manager. Typical responsibilities/ skills: collect and analyze business data from external and internal sources; interact with stakeholders to understand and incorporate business requirements; database modeling, business intelligence skills, data mining, data analysis, reporting; oversee data warehouse integrity; oversee benchmarking of performance; manage a team of Data Warehouse Developer / Analysts.Salary range: $ 115-154K5. Network ArchitectAka Computer Network Architect. Depending on the size of an organization, this role can overlap with that of other network specialists. Typical responsibilities / skills: design internal and intra-office networks, including physical layout: LAN, WAN, Internet, VoIP, etc.; monitor network usage and performance, devise network tests and evaluate them; incorporate any new business requirements so as to upgrade overal network architecture; do any necessary cabling, routers, and install and configure hardware and software; follow or recommend a budget for projects; choose or recommend the appropriate network components; sometimes report to a CTO (Chief Technology Officer). Network Architects usually have five or more years of experience as a Network Engineer, and supervise various other engineers in implement a networking plan. Besides a Bachelor of Science degree, depending on the employer and the specific role, sometimes an MBA in Information Systems is required as well.Salary range: $ 78-156K4. Software EngineerAka Computer Software Engineer. In government positions and some more established corporations, Software Engineer and other IT positions are often divided into Levels indicating experience / rank. Each higher rank incorporates more responsibilities for the role. While there is a theoretical technical difference between a Software Developer and a Software Engineer, many organizations use the term Engineer when they mean Developer. True “software engineers” are certified by an engineering board. While a Software Engineer creates/ tests/ documents software just as a Software Developer does, the former is more likely to also optimize software based on their technical, mathematical and/or scientific knowledge. They produce more reliable software through engineering principles. The salary range listed here covers any use of the title Software Engineer.Salary range: $ 61-160K3. Manager, Information Systems SecurityAn Information Systems Security Manager oversees the security of company and customer data and computer systems in general. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversee all IT security needs for an organization; determine security requirements; document security policies; implement security solutions; manage a team of information security specialists. This role tends to require experience with computer or information science or a related field, experience with specific computer systems security software, and may require one or more certifications.Salary range: $ 115-160K2. Manager, Applications DevelopmentAka Application(s) Development Manager. Typical responsibilities / skills: oversees an organization’s internally-created software applications and platforms; gather application requirements; interface with VP Tech, marketing, project managers, managers of other teams; manage software analysts and/or developers for an organization’s application portfolio; monitor timelines and resources; schedule projects where necessary. This role often requires senior-level experience with developing applications and may require experience with database design.Salary range: $ 86-162K1. Applications ArchitectAka Application Architect. This title is sometimes misused and applied to what would otherwise be a software developer or software engineer position. Typical responsibilities/ skills: broad knowledge of software used within an organization; project management experience; senior-level software development experience; broadly oversee the entire software development (application portfolio) effort for an organization; define application architecture; interact with the various role-specific architects, project manager, customer representatives; interact with developers while enforcing architecture. This might require experience with specific programming languages and software development frameworks.Salary range: $ 66-183Ksource: Computer Science Zone

They are too gullible. As a nuclear engineer I saw that when millions of Italians opted against Nuclear power stations in referendums. They didn’t understand that such matters should be left to the real experts and not to ordinary people: referendums are nonsense in such cases. Such benighted antinuclear choice is at the base of all difficulties Italy is facing at present especially concerning the balance of payments with the foreign countries.I am a French citizen now and I know that French bashing is very popular in all countries where Big Oil and Big Coal control the press. The French government is one of the few governments that do their homework: building safe nuclear power stations that are a real solution of the greenhouse effect problem and France even provides energy for other European countries. Solar and Wind can help but are not a global solution: GOOGLE “Murks in Germany” and read about the solar-wind fiasco in Germany. Very remarkable are the Russians who try to force us to buy their mineral oil and on the other hand sell Chernobyl technology reactors to INDIA and CHINA. Big Oil and Big Coal strategy is clear now: great financing of Wind-Solar research in the universities which creates an army of professors who push for Wind-Solar. This goes on since sixty years ago and we see little results: it helps but it doesn’t solve the global warming problem. In the meantime we are pulled into one gulf war after the others and risk some real nuclear risks: those of proliferation and conflagration. When will western governments display a more responsible attitude? When will the peoples get more truthful and up to date information about nuclear power stations and nuclear energy production risks? Remember that almost nobody died at Fukushima and on the other hand tens of thousands people die of car accidents every year with little echo in the press: why can we accept cars and not accept reactors? Buildings and dams killed 20000 people in Japan because of the tsunami and this is all but ignored by the press: why does the press only insist on Fukushima where almost nobody died? Isn’t that strange? Aren’t Big Oil and Big Coal working on that? Until the people of the world keep believing that Wind-Solar is an alternative they can go on burning and approaching the moment we are all cooked.Quoting Michael Shellenberger on “Der Spiegel”:The Reason Renewables Can't Power Modern Civilization Is Because They Were Never Meant ToMichael ShellenbergerContributorEnergyI write about energy and the environment···“The Energiewende — the biggest political project since reunification — threatens to fail,” reports Germany's largest news magazine.DER SPIEGELOver the last decade, journalists have held up Germany’s renewables energy transition, the Energiewende, as an environmental model for the world.“Many poor countries, once intent on building coal-fired power plants to bring electricity to their people, are discussing whether they might leapfrog the fossil age and build clean grids from the outset,” thanks to the Energiewende, wrote a New York Times reporter in 2014.With Germany as inspiration, the United Nations and World Bank poured billions into renewables like wind, solar, and hydro in developing nations like Kenya.But then, last year, Germany was forced to acknowledge that it had to delay its phase-out of coal, and would not meet its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction commitments. It announced plans to bulldoze an ancient church and forest in order to get at the coal underneath it.After renewables investors and advocates, including Al Gore and Greenpeace, criticized Germany, journalists came to the country’s defense. “Germany has fallen short of its emission targets in part because its targets were so ambitious,” one of them argued last summer.“If the rest of the world made just half Germany’s effort, the future for our planet would look less bleak,” she wrote. “So Germany, don’t give up. And also: Thank you.”But Germany didn’t just fall short of its climate targets. Its emissions have flat-lined since 2009.Now comes a major article in the country’s largest newsweekly magazine, Der Spiegel, titled, “A Botched Job in Germany” ("Murks in Germany"). The magazine’s cover shows broken wind turbines and incomplete electrical transmission towers against a dark silhouette of Berlin.“The Energiewende — the biggest political project since reunification — threatens to fail,” write Der Spiegel’s Frank Dohmen, Alexander Jung, Stefan Schultz, Gerald Traufetter in their a 5,700-word investigative story (the article can be read in English here).Over the past five years alone, the Energiewende has cost Germany €32 billion ($36 billion) annually, and opposition to renewables is growing in the German countryside.“The politicians fear citizen resistance” Der Spiegel reports. “There is hardly a wind energy project that is not fought.”In response, politicians sometimes order “electrical lines be buried underground but that is many times more expensive and takes years longer.”As a result, the deployment of renewables and related transmission lines is slowing rapidly. Less than half as many wind turbines (743) were installed in 2018 as were installed in 2017, and just 30 kilometers of new transmission were added in 2017.Solar and wind advocates say cheaper solar panels and wind turbines will make the future growth in renewables cheaper than past growth but there are reasons to believe the opposite will be the case.It will cost Germany $3-$4 trillion to increase renewables as share of electricity from today's 35% to 100% between 2025-2050AG ENERGIEBINLANZENDer Spiegel cites a recent estimate that it would cost Germany “€3.4 trillion ($3.8 trillion),” or seven times more than it spent from 2000 to 2025, to increase solar and wind three to five-fold by 2050.Between 2000 and 2019, Germany grew renewables from 7% to 35% of its electricity. And as much of Germany's renewable electricity comesfrom biomass, which scientists view as polluting and environmentally degrading, as from solar.Of the 7,700 new kilometers of transmission lines needed, only 8% have been built, while large-scale electricity storage remains inefficient and expensive. “A large part of the energy used is lost,” the reporters note of a much-hyped hydrogen gas project, “and the efficiency is below 40%... No viable business model can be developed from this.”Meanwhile, the 20-year subsidies granted to wind, solar, and biogas since 2000 will start coming to an end next year. “The wind power boom is over,” Der Spiegel concludes.All of which raises a question: if renewables can’t cheaply power Germany, one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, how could a developing nation like Kenya ever expect them to allow it to “leapfrog” fossil fuels?The Question of TechnologyThe earliest and most sophisticated 20th Century case for renewables came from a German who is widely considered the most influential philosopher of the 20th Century, Martin Heidegger.In his 1954 essay, “The Question Concerning of Technology,” Heidegger condemned the view of nature as a mere resource for human consumption.The use of “modern technology,” he wrote, “puts to nature the unreasonable demand that it supply energy which can be extracted and stored as such… Air is now set upon to yield nitrogen, the earth to yield ore, ore to yield uranium…to yield atomic energy.”The solution, Heidegger argued, was to yoke human society and its economy to unreliable energy flows. He even condemned hydro-electric dams, for dominating the natural environment, and praised windmills because they “do not unlock energy in order to store it.”These weren’t just aesthetic preferences. Windmills have traditionally been useful to farmers whereas large dams have allowed poor agrarian societies to industrialize.In the US, Heidegger’s views were picked up by renewable energy advocates. Barry Commoner in 1969 argued that a transition to renewables was needed to bring modern civilization "into harmony with the ecosphere."The goal of renewables was to turn modern industrial societies back into agrarian ones, argued Murray Bookchin in his 1962 book, Our Synthetic Environment.Bookchin admitted his proposal "conjures up an image of cultural isolation and social stagnation, of a journey backward in history to the agrarian societies of the medieval and ancient worlds."But then, starting around the year 2000, renewables started to gain a high-tech luster. Governments and private investors poured $2 trillion into solar and wind and related infrastructure, creating the impression that renewables were profitable aside from subsidies.Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk proclaimed that a rich, high-energy civilization could be powered by cheap solar panels and electric cars.Journalists reported breathlessly on the cost declines in batteries, imagining a tipping point at which conventional electricity utilities would be “disrupted.”But no amount of marketing could change the poor physics of resource-intensive and land-intensive renewables. Solar farms take 450 times more land than nuclear plants, and wind farms take 700times more land than natural gas wells, to produce the same amount of energy.Efforts to export the Energiewende to developing nations may prove even more devastating.The new wind farm in Kenya, inspired and financed by Germany and other well-meaning Western nations, is located on a major flight path of migratory birds. Scientists say it will kill hundreds of endangered eagles.“It’s one of the three worst sites for a wind farm that I’ve seen in Africa in terms of its potential to kill threatened birds,” a biologist explained.In response, the wind farm’s developers have done what Europeans have long done in Africa, which is to hire the organizations, which ostensibly represent the doomed eagles and communities, to collaborate rather than fight the project.Kenya won't be able to “leapfrog” fossil fuels with its wind farm. On the contrary, all of that unreliable wind energy is likely to increase the price of electricity and make Kenya’s slow climb out of poverty even slower.Heidegger, like much of the conservation movement, would have hated what the Energiewende has become: an excuse for the destruction of natural landscapes and local communities.Opposition to renewables comes from the country peoples that Heidegger idolized as more authentic and “grounded” than urbane cosmopolitan elites who fetishize their solar roofs and Teslas as signs of virtue.Germans, who will have spent $580 billion on renewables and related infrastructure by 2025, express great pride in the Energiewende. “It’s our gift to the world,” a renewables advocate told The Times.Tragically, many Germans appear to have believed that the billions they spent on renewables would redeem them. “Germans would then at last feel that they have gone from being world-destroyers in the 20th century to world-saviors in the 21st,” noted a reporter.Many Germans will, like Der Spiegel, claim the renewables transition was merely “botched,” but it wasn't. The transition to renewables was doomed because modern industrial people, no matter how Romantic they are, do not want to return to pre-modern life.The reason renewables can’t power modern civilization is because they were never meant to. One interesting question is why anybody ever thought they could.Michael Shellenberger, President, Environmental Progress. Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment."Quoting Rod ADAMS of , Adams Atomic Engines, Inc.Nuclear energy makes a cameo appearance in Jeff Gibbs’s Planet of the HumansNuclear energy makes a cameo appearance in Jeff Gibbs's Planet of the Humans - Atomic InsightsApril 24, 2020 By Rod AdamsMichael Moore and Jeff Gibbs teamed up to produce a piercing, controversial, gut punching documentary titled Planet of the Humans. Partly as a result of the global closure of theaters, and partly as a result of wanting to make an impact on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, they released their film for free on Youtube.It’s worth watching. I watched it once straight through and have enjoyed spending additional hours reviewing and clipping key highlights.Like many Moore films, this one has a cast of white-hatted scientists and activists opposing black-hatted billionaires, bankers, corporate leaders and politicians. In what may be upsetting to some, this film’s black-hatted group includes the leaders of numerous major environmental groups including the Sierra Club, 350.org: A global campaign to confront the climate crisis, and Riverkeepers.Michael Brune of the Sierra Club, Al Gore, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from Riverkeepers are all shown as being willing recipients of contributions, donations and outright payments from billionaires including Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson, Jeremy Grantham, and the Koch Brothers, corporations like Archer Daniels Midland, and investment banks like Blackrock and Goldman Sachs.By implication, it also highlights the huge sums of money involved in the process of moving more material faster and farther. One component of the money churning process includes the inevitable need to replace machinery and infrastructure after its useful life is over.What we know that ain’t soThe narrator seems genuinely shocked to learn that much of what he has been taught about alternative energy isn’t true. Wind, solar and biomass aren’t successfully replacing fossil fuels or reducing human environmental footprints.Instead, they are dependent on fossil fuel-derived materials and fossil fuel powered machinery. Wind turbines and their towers are massive and have lifetimes measured in small numbers of decades. Solar panels covering vast quantities of land produce an inadequate amount of power, especially on cloudy days and during winter months.Even solar thermal energy plants like Ivanpah promise much more than they deliver. The mirrors are failing, and the power conversion system needs to routinely burn a large quantity of natural gas in order to keep systems warm and ready to run once the sun comes up.Physically large collecting systems for diffuse power sources require massive material inputs, and they don’t least very long. When they no longer function, the areas that were scraped clean to house the equipment are virtually unusable wasteland that no longer supports much life.Biomass and biofuels receive special animosityA substantial portion of the film is spent documenting the ways that burning biomass for electricity isn’t sustainable or carbon-neutral despite all of the messaging to the contrary.These scenes also document the forest industry’s generally successful efforts to influence perceptions of their industry. Often, those efforts have included creative carbon accounting as well as targeted contributions to non-profit groups willing to accept money in return for greenwashing.Those influence efforts include lobbying for subsidy programs or for redefining terms to qualify for already existing subsidy programs.The film credits Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org: A global campaign to confront the climate crisis, for helping to encourage a wave of interest among college students and administrators for converting on-campus coal furnaces to biomass burning furnaces.The evidence supporting this thesis is straight from the horse’s mouth in the form of video clips of McKibben speaking at Vermont’s Middlebury College in 2009. He lauds the opening of the the college’s new wood chip-burning boiler.McKibben: What powers a learning community? As of this afternoon, the easy answer to that is wood chips. It’s incredibly beautiful. To stand over there and see that big bunker full of wood chips. You can put any kind of wood in, you know oak, willow, whatever you want. Almost anything that burns we can toss it in there if we can chip it down to the right size.McKibben has taken offense at the way Planet of the Humans portrays him and his organization. He claims that his position on biomass burning has changed dramatically in the decade since he lauded his college’s wood chip-burning furnace. That change happened as soon “as more scientists studied the consequences of large-scale biomass burning”.He even claims that he and his organization have been attacked by the biomass industry as a result of negative pieces written in 2016, 2019 and 2020.But that defense is weak, especially considering a different scene in the movie where Gibbs gives McKibben ample opportunity to state his current position on biomass.Gibbs: I’d like to see us come out against any burning of trees for clean energy.McKibben: Alright, go ahead and do it. Although I confess I stoke my wood stove almost every night of the winter, so I’m not really the right person to ask.Gibbs: But that doesn’t mean it’s green energy for power plants.McKibben: I don’t know. That’s not what today is about.Dialog from “Planet of the Humans” time stamp 1:08:20Emphasis on human prosperity and population as part of problemBetween scenes depicting both environmental devastation and the financial flows that enable established infrastructure and materials interests to continue doing what they do best, Gibbs talks with scientists and activists to find out if there are any solutions.Almost unanimously, those interviewed experts suggest that humans are the root of the problem. They emphasize how our numbers have expanded almost geometrically since we began exploiting fossil fuels. They also decry our collective and individual desires for mobility and material goods.It’s easy to get the impression that since renewables have issues that are similar to those that handicap fossil fuels, the only path available is reducing both populations and standards of living.Though I may be guilty of seeing what I want to see, I caught a brief flash indicating that the filmmakers might be hoping for a more optimistic sequel.An alternative with a uniquely useful set of attributesAs a nuclear fission expert and enthusiast, I could not help wondering when Gibbs and Moore were going to address my favorite fossil fuel alternative.Finally, an hour and 22 minutes into the hour and 40 minute movie, nuclear energy made a 6 sec cameo appearance.But immediately after noting that GE produces both nuclear energy and wind turbines, the documentary moves on to show a GE spokesperson extolling the virtues of converting biomass – especially seaweed – into liquid fuel.A critical viewer might wonder why a corporation with a seven decade-long history of selling nuclear energy systems is more interested in talking about its interest in biofuels than in marketing advanced developments in nuclear energy.As shown in the film, corporations, billionaires and banks that have successfully educated customers about the virtues of wind, solar or biomass have ignored nuclear energy. None of the interviewed activists or scientists mentioned a desire to consider using nuclear as an alternative to both fossil fuels and the more heavily popularized renewables.Perhaps it is because nuclear fission, using elemental fuels that contain several million times as much energy as a similar mass of fossil fuels or biomass, changes everything.What’s so different about fission?Fission doesn’t depend on a massive infrastructure of ships, pipelines or railcars. Its conversion equipment is rarely exposed to the weather and its shielding and external hazards protection enables structures, systems and components that last many decades.Fission provides a virtually unlimited source of power to enable humanity to flourish while gradually shrinking our environmental footprint.Aside: Commodity businesses like energy don’t like anyone to know that accessible supplies are virtually unlimited. That knowledge doesn’t support high prices. End aside.Fission isn’t wildly popular, especially among people and corporations that have prospered by moving vast quantities of extracted or harvested material rapidly through supply lines that span the globe.Nuclear fission power also isn’t popular among nihilistic scholars who consider Albert Camus to be an inspiring visionary.People in the “peak oil” wing of Malthusian thinking almost purposely ignore fission. They forget that M. King Hubbert’s 1956 paper titled “Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels” was the seminal paper that inspired their worried projections.That paper included a virtually ignored pair of graphs that should have been the source of incredible optimism among thinking people. But some studiously avoid any and all causes for optimism, especially when it comes to respect, growth and development of their fellow human beings.This optimistic – scary to multinational petroleum interests – pair of graphs were on the last slide in a March 1956 presentation by M. King Hubbert to the American Petroleum InstituteAt least one other reviewer for Planet of the Humans thought about nuclear energy while watching a film that barely mentions it. Here is a quote from Peter Bradshaw’s piece in The Guardian about the film.I found myself thinking of Robert Stone’s controversial 2013 documentary Pandora’s Promise, which made a revisionist case for nuclear power: a clean energy source that (allegedly) has cleaned up its act on safety and really can provide for our wholesale energy needs without contributing to climate change, in a way that “renewables” can’t.Gibbs doesn’t mention nuclear and – a little lamely, perhaps – has no clear lesson or moral, other than the need to take a fiercely critical look at the environmental establishment. Well, it’s always valuable to re-examine a sacred cow.“Planet of the Humans review – contrarian eco-doc from the Michael Moore stable”by Peter Bradshaw, published April 22, 2020 by The GuardianGibbs’s single mention of nuclear was apparently so brief that Bradshaw missed it.I believe the film offers two clear choices, one overt and one that is barely visible.1. We can continue on our present path of depending on massive extractive industries. That path will end – whether we like it or not – with either reduced prosperity, reduced human population, or both.2. We can reject the lessons we have been carefully taught by people with vested interests and develop a truly different kind of power source. Nuclear fission is here and available, but rich and powerful interests see it as a serious threat that must be fought, ignored or both.But fission opposition backers are billionaires and we aren’t.As far as I know, there isn’t a single Atomic Insights reader that has to worry about having millions or billions of dollars worth of existing capital that will lose most of its value in a fission-powered world.We can see a much brighter future ahead.*********************************************************Update: (April 26, 2020 at 06:00 am) It seems that I was wrong about the possibility that Gibbs and his colleagues might have purposely left out nuclear because they want to introduce it in a sequel as a better path forward. Commenters like Meredith were right, Michael Moore, Jeff Gibbs and Ozzie Zehner, the creators of Planet of the Humans, simply don’t like humans and the well-powered society that we have created.Here’s the proof.In case you don’t want to take the time to watch, here is a summary of the individually expressed positions on nuclear energy.Moore has been fighting nuclear energy since the 1970s and calls it “madness”.Zehner became worried about nuclear energy as a result of his research into issues related to slurry tanks at Hanford. He believes it is almost impossible to separate weapons development from atomic energy development. He also believes nuclear power plants are enormously expensive because of the amount of material required to build the plants. He also believes that building and running the plants requires the efforts of “an enormous number of PhD scientists.” He states there is a significant, unattributed carbon and energy footprint associated with the education system required to produce those scientists and engineers.Gibbs is worried about the use of concrete and steel in nuclear power plants, the environmental impacts of uranium mining, thorium hype, micro plastics, pollution at Mount Everest, whaling, fish and soil depletion, and pollution in Antarctica produced by the small contingent of scientists there. (I realize that most of that list has nothing to do with nuclear energy, but Gibbs groups them all together in his antinuclear rant.) End Update.FacebookTwitterRedditBufferEmailFiled Under: Alternative energy, Biomass, Clean Energy, Climate change, Solar energy, Wind energyAbout Rod AdamsManaging member at Nucleation Capital, LP.Atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. Financial, strategic, and political analyst. Former submarine Engineer Officer. Founder, Adams Atomic Engines, Inc. Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast. Resume available here.Quoting James Conca:Amid COVID-19, Deep Borehole Disposal Of Nuclear Waste Marches ForwardJames ConcaContributorEnergyI write about nuclear, energy and the environment···The pandemic has certainly slowed America and the world to a crawl. But we will get back to some form of a working society, hopefully with a better perspective on what’s important. The temporary drop in carbon emissions from the lockdown of industrial and commercial activities around the world is one example, and has shown what is possible by decarbonizing society.For that, nuclear power is essential. And nuclear waste must be dealt with, relatively quickly and easily, which it can be. There are not that many reasonable paths forward, and deep borehole disposal is one of them.Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Isolation, announced the completion of a Post-Closure Safety Analysis for their concept of deep borehole disposal of nuclear waste. Deep Isolation is a company out of Berkeley that is working to dispose of nuclear waste in deep boreholes in the Earth’s crust, safer and at a lower cost than existing strategies.Schematic of a deep horizontal drillhole repository. A vertical access hole is drilled to depth, ... [+]DEEP ISOLATIONA Post-Closure Safety Analysis investigates and quantifies the safety and operation of the total system, and is required by law before any attempt at licensing.Today In: Energy·People May Be Spread Among Cargo For Social Distancing On Planes·Supply Chain Faces Up To Challenge Of Low Oil Price World·Duke Engineer Focusing On Robotics Sees Oil And Gas At The Forefront Of TechnologyTheir Safety Analysis indicates that spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors can be safely disposed using this method, and that it is viable in a wide-range of scenarios and conditions, as long as the repository is properly sited and carefully characterized, constructed, operated, and sealed.The safety analysis also indicates that the long-term safety would more than comply with the regulatory maximum annual dose requirement of 10 mrem per year (0.1 mSv/yr) to an individual at the surface drinking potentially contaminated water from a well over the waste at some time in the distant future. This dose limit governs all nuclear repositories and clean-up sites.PROMOTEDUNICEF USA BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramCelebrating Earth Day Amidst COVID-19Civic Nation BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramYes, You Can Request More College Financial Aid—Even During A PandemicGrads of Life BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramCOVID-19 widens the Opportunity GapThe time scale covered by the analysis starts with repository closure, contains the thermal period (when things are still hot), and then extends to ten million years, an amazingly long time that covers any dose, even if anything significant got out.The overall disposal system for spent nuclear fuel (see figure) includes a single or an array of deep horizontal drillholes bored into the host rocks using off-the-shelf directional drilling technology.Individual nuclear fuel assemblies are encapsulated in customized, corrosion-resistant canisters, which are placed end-to-end into the relatively small-diameter, cased and potentially backfilled horizontal disposal sections of the drillholes.The deep borehole disposal process begins with a vertical access hole drilled and cased from the surface through confining geologic units to a point a few hundred meters above the target repository depth.The hole and surface casings are to guide the drilling and to protect freshwater aquifers. Below the kickoff point, a smaller-diameter hole is drilled that gradually curves until it is nominally horizontal. The radius of curvature is large enough to avoid any impedance during casing installation and waste canister emplacement. After the casing in the curved section is cemented in place, a final smaller-diameter drillhole continues near-horizontally for a few hundred meters to several kilometers.The horizontal repository portion has a slight upward tilt that provides additional isolation, and isolating any mechanisms that could move radioactive constituents upward. They would have to move down first, then up, something that cannot occur by natural processes deep in the crust.For larger-diameter canisters, the horizontal section may be drilled in two stages: a first small-diameter stage for characterization and testing of the disposal section followed by a reaming operation to create a diameter large enough to house the canisters.This casing is also cemented in place, potentially with monitoring systems embedded or attached to it, which communicate real-time data about the repository condition to the surface during the pre-closure and evaluation periods.About 10 drillholes are required to dispose of the waste from operating a 1,000 MW nuclear power plant over about 30 years. Globally, there are over 450,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that await disposal, or re-use in future fast reactors, followed by disposal of that waste. And there is currently no operating disposal solution for either.Radiation release for the 3 most important nuclides, (I-129, Cl-36, Se-79) with a fault intersecting ... [+]DEEP ISOLATIONTo say these analyses are complicated is an understatement of astronomical proportions. Refer to the report for details, but it models the key radionuclides over space and time, under different conditions, with and without through-going faults, with and without canister breaching, all at different depths, temperatures and pressures.The figure above is an example of these analyses. It shows that, even under the worst conditions, radioactivity releases are a thousand times less than the normal background radiation of anywhere in America. Normal background in America is over 300 mrem/yr (3 mSv/yr), and is above even the top of this graph.The idea of deep borehole disposal for nuclear waste is not new, but Deep Isolation is the first to consider horizontal portions of the wells as well as vertical, and is the first to actually demonstrate the concept in the field showing that the technology is not just theoretical. The field demonstration occurred last year when it placed and retrieved a waste canister from thousands of feet underground.As geologists, we know how many millions of years it takes for anything to get up from that depth in the Earth’s crust, especially in tight rock formations like shale. And we have plenty of tight rocks in America.So what better way to use this technology than to put something back into the Earth that you want to stay there for geologic time. “We’re using a technique that’s been made cheap over the last 20 years,” says Muller. “We could begin putting this waste underground right away.”Like all leading climate scientists, Muller understands that the world must increase its use of nuclear energy to seriously address climate change or succeed in any Green New Deal, and knows that solving the nuclear waste problem is essential.Indeed, when queried, the “waste issue” is all that most people really worry about.Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.James ConcaI have been a scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes, radiobiology and shielding for space colonies, subsurface transport and environmental clean-up of heavy metals. I am a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, Adjunct at WSU, an Affiliate Scientist at LANL and consult on strategic planning for the DOE, EPA/State environmental agencies, and industry including companies that own nuclear, hydro, wind farms, large solar arrays, coal and gas plants. I also consult for EPA/State environmental agencies and industry on clean-up of heavy metals from soil and water. For over 25 years I have been a member of Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the NRDC, the Environmental Defense Fund and many others, as well as professional societies including the America Nuclear Society, the American Chemical Society, the Geological Society of America and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.Quoting QUORA about Chernobil:If Chernobyl was declared uninhabitable for 20,000 years due to radiation, how come the forest thrives there and the wild animals have returned?Let’s parse out the two core facts of this statement:1.Chernobyl was declared uninhabitable for 20,000 years due to radiation2.The forest and wild animals are alive there.The question is: can these be true at the same time?Yes. In Fact #1, you will note the verb is “declare”. Some said this.“Chernobyl is uninhabitable for 20 thousand years!”There. I just declared that too! Does declaring something mean it is truthful or accurate?Check this: this is Hiroshima after mid-1945. A nuclear bomb was detonated over it.Uninhabitable for 20,000 years? Not even.(Note the structure, preserved.)Sure, a nuclear weapon is devastating. And also, the materials in a nuclear reactor are very different.But the point is, there is a lot of worry and concern and misinformation about nuclear energy. And so it causes people to say, “This area will be uninhabitable for 20,000 years.” Not because it’s true. But because it sounds cautious and emphasizes the danger of nuclear power.The area near Pripyat and Chernobyl have a thriving forest and probably more wild life than any area in Europe right now. This area is often known as “The Exclusion Zone.”This area covers almost 1,000mi.21,000mi.2. However, because of the nature of radioactive sources, much of the exclusion zone has little radioactivity. In fact—zooming in—you have to be very close to Chernobyl to detect dangerous doses:You will note that the large scale here is 1,000 meters. Meaning that within about 3 miles of the reactor site, possible exposure doses are down to 100 millirems/hour. This is still relatively high. About the amount of a single chest x-ray per hour.But you can see how zoomed in that map is. As you go further and further away, the radiation drops off quickly. There are “hot spots”—that appear somewhat randomly. These are areas where there is some energetic material. Either because waste was processed at that site, or because weather and time have moved material and dust around.So what has happened… is that much of the Exclusion Zone is a de facto wildlife and nature habitat. Yes, they are exposed to radiation. But it has not significantly affected the animal populations. In fact, the populations have grown.And that is because the creation of the Exclusion Zone protects this animal life from something much more dangerous than fall-out from a Soviet-era nuclear meltdown: human beings.Well, not exactly. See, there are some humans who simply refused to move out of the Exclusion Zone and still live there. Of course, they don’t live right next door to the reactor.