I was coming from academia with no real competitive background in machine learning/predictive analytics/statistics when I started applying for data science positions. I was coming from a post doc in computational neuroscience, and had done ML/your run-of-the-academic-mill stats as part of my thesis, but never had formal training in it. I landed a lot of interviews (and applied for an ENORMOUS amount of positions), but it took me a while to land a really solid offer. So just keep at it.

Once I got that offer and 'data scientist' was listed as a position on my resume, I've had at least one or two recruiters reach out to me each week. Not just your 'bulk tech recruiter', but individual hiring managers/team leads from companies who had no interest in me prior to the title change.

Hell, I had a manager I had already interviewed with from another company (and got rejected) reach out to me TWICE to come back in. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure he remembered that I had interviewed there only a month earlier.

All after I had the title change on my resume. What I'm getting at, is for me, the title change really opened up doors. I figure 'data science' is such a huge buzzword now, recruiters look more for that buzz word than they do for the actual content of what you've done on your resume. I'm sure it will die down at some point.

This may be more prominent outside of silicon valley where I am, and (in my opinion without any facts to back it up), where I feel more weight is given for the title than the substance.