The work we do as programmers and analysts has just been described as the "sexiest job" going, according the Harvard Business Review (HBR)!
Check out the article here (by Thomas Davenport and D.J. Patil).
This concept is not new; in 2009, Hal Varian, the chief economist at Google was quoted in the McKinsey Quarterly as saying "I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians."
The focus of the HBR story is on "big data," but it's relevant to all of us, no matter if we work in industry, academia or government. I definitely think this article is worth your time to read.
Deep in the story, the author claims:
"Start with the fact that there are no university programs offering degrees in data science.".
I'm not sure what to make of that. I'd like to think my degree in Applied Statistics qualifies as data science; the problem may be convincing employers of that!
On the ASA page linked here, several university programs in analytics are highlighted (no "data science" label, though).