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I've heard it said, "A data scientist is a better statistician than a typical programmer and a better programmer than a typical statistician."

I 'graduated' from the Data Analyst Nanodegree @ Udacity in my spare time, and have experience with both. I lack a background in math beyond university Calculus, though, so that seems the major barrier for me to get a foothold in the industry.

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It depends on how companies staff their data science teams. I’m comfortable with a lead data scientist that oversees “less math” data analysts who build the models.

If you get the high level concepts of stats and linear algebra, it should be enough that someone else with a PhD can help fill the knowledge gap.

The other way to phrase that is "A data scientist is a worse programmer than a typical programmer and a worse statistician than a typical statistician." If you need a programmer, hire a programmer. If you need a statistician, hire a statistician. I wouldn't ever hire someone who took a bootcamp that is "a better plumber than a typical doctor and a better doctor than a typical plumber."

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