Would You Data Scientist?: Recent Episodes
Wendy Gannon
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
Take two. This week, Data Scientist and Founder of KIZO Agency, Niklas Fischer joins Wendy on Would You Data Scientist to talk about his passion for data in sports, General Assembly, bootcamps, how people can actually learn to code, neurodiversity in data, and his advice for anyone looking to pivot or get started in data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Niklas’ favourite piece of tech ever is the internet, not just for the amazing communication skills but because it’s become the home of open sourced data.
- Niklas wanted to work in sports data science and studied in Barcelona, where as part of his masters degree he was able to work with FC Barcelona. After this he went on to work at DAZN, the Netflix of sports.
- Students often ask “what does an employer want to see”. Niklas advises that you demonstrate something you’re passionate about, whether it be what he did with sports or even using AI to predict which character said which line in Star Trek. As long as you’re passionate about it you will work harder on it and can talk about it in a much more engaging way.
- Be well prepared. If you’re planning on doing a data science bootcamp then find out what you’ll be doing on the course. If you’ll be using Python, then refresh your memory in the weeks before you start.
- There are more data engineer roles than there are people to fill them. If you’re more engineer minded then you should consider going down that path for a better change of employment.
- Data science was called “the sexiest job in the 21st century” which has attracted people who aren’t as interested in the job itself, more the salary. If passion is your motivator you will be more employable.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I finished my masters at FC Barcelona, which was a dream’
‘You’re going in there to learn and you’re going to learn hard’
‘Python is the 2nd best language for every problem you can encounter’
‘Nobody can learn by looking at someone else code’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Niklas on LinkedIn
General Assembly
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by Nikolay Bashlykov, an expert in data science and machine learning. Find out Nikolay’s tips on getting into data and why he thinks that machine learning should not be the be all and end all of your skillset. There’s also Wendy’s usual deep dive into ethics, diversity, and the challenges you may face when you pivot into data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Nikoley’s favourite piece of tech ever is around encryption when processing data. The technology allows you to analyse the data without actually seeing what the data is, this is very good for privacy, especially in the medical fields where you can’t break confidentiality.
- The real challenge in data is explaining why your machine learning model worked and getting your client to understand that in a simple way. You need to make sure you actually solve the customers business problem, rather than just talk tech at them.
- If you’re getting into data then it’s important to gain experience as early as you can, especially if you can show the initiative to get stuck in yourself. The more you get to work with real data taken from real sources and the more you can speak to and learn from people within the industry, the better your applications will look.
- When you learn something new, actually put it into practice. If you don’t do the things you learn, then you will probably forget it and won’t be able to demonstrate that you have done it. Once you’ve learned something new and done it, that then becomes the neck brick in your foundations that you can build on top of.
- Be persistent. Every year the industry grows and the technology develops. There will be opportunities in data for people who keep going.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Machine learning is not the Holy Grail’
‘Learn something new, start applying it straight away, and build on top of it’
‘I think machine learning will merge with software engineering’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
https://practicum.com/
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Head of Data Science & AI at Sia Partners, Simon Hessam Hessami joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist, not just to talk about his career in data but also to discuss being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. As it’s Pride Month, it’s important to talk about how to make sure LGBTQIA+ people aren’t facing any challenges in the workplace, especially those challenges that can be easily avoided with a little understanding. There’s also all the usual questions on how to get into data, the applications of technology, and evil billionaires.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Simon believes that through doing a masters degree you will gain value from any internships you do and it can be a good path to getting into or pivoting into data science.
- When you’re working with clients or customers you need to keep in mind that you’re solving their problems for them using data. You need to understand their needs and bring their needs into your solution to actually answer the question they want you to answer. There’s more people skills needed in data than you might think.
- When you are yourself and embrace who you are, you’re more comfortable in any environment. Simon feels like society is changing towards LGBTQIA+ issues and the conversations he has had with people about it would not have been possible 20 or 30 years ago.
- When you are LGBTQIA+, it can feel like you need to come out again every time you start a new job. Also you might have to face the challenge of people using the wrong pronouns for you. Wendy’s tip is to not assume anyones pronouns, if you’re in HR, ask what they prefer and introduce them to the team as that. If you don’t know, they/them are always safe to use.
- Translating from technical to non-technical is so key for data. You need to be able to explain what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and most importantly what the result is. If you can’t convince someone that your solution is the best solution, they’re not going to use it.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Working for a non-profit balanced out my Karma’
‘You need to understand their needs and bring all this together in your solution’
‘Love yourself and express that to everyone in your circle’
‘Every time you start a new job it’s like you have to come out again’
‘For data science experts it’s important to deliver the message well, it’s more important than having the best model’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Simon on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
“Turning ideas into real data solutions & services. As a mathematician & data scientist, I aim at making data understandable by giving them an analytical spirit. My background in mathematics and statistics helps me to develop tools, models and machine learning algorithms with strong predictive and analytical capabilities.
With over ten years of academic & industry experience in data science and business. I have solid experience working in developing AI-powered solutions in different services and industries such as marketing, finance, supply chain, healthcare, and pharmaceutical. I also founded a non-profit tech platform to facilitate personal data sharing with academic institutions to support impactful research. I am also very interested in Metaverse and data privacy.
Today, I am the Head of the UK & Ireland AI Center of Excellence in Sia Partners. Sia Partners is a next-generation management consulting firm and pioneer of Consulting 4.0, offering a unique blend of AI and design capabilities across multiple industries.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Head of Data Science at Intechnica, Tom Matcham joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to talk about his work, how he got into data, the difference between C and C++, and video games. Find out Tom’s advice for dealing with frustration, how to get hired in data, and how a degree in data might not actually be as helpful as you’d think.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Tom’s favourite piece of tech is the programming language C. He doesn't get much of a chance to use it anymore but he loves the responsiveness and simplicity of it. It’s like being as close to the hardware as you can be.
- Tom had a dream to start a business for video game designers so they could make adaptive experiences via pre-built machine learning tools which he started while he was doing his masters. He entered a competition through Imperial College for funding and won.
- As a hiring manager Tom doesn’t believe that you need a masters to pivot into being a general data scientist. If you want to go into something highly specialised having one in that topic would be an advantage, but for more broad jobs it’s not a necessity.
- A data science degree could even be detrimental to your development according to Tom. He believes the curriculum doesn’t focus enough on the problems you face day to day in data. He also believes there is far too much of a focus on statistical distributions that just don’t make sense in the real world.
- Tom recommends the textbook Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails: Real World Pre Asymptotics, Epistemology, and Applications by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
BEST MOMENTS
‘You don’t make the same mistakes twice’
‘It took me of 5 years of bashing my head against a wall’
‘9 out of 10 businesses that hire data scientists, so not use them in any capacity’
‘There’s nothing scientific about data science at all’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails: Real World Preasymptotics, Epistemology, and Applications
Jai programming language
Tom on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Tom is an experienced data scientist with considerable expertise in commercial research and data analysis. Extensive knowledge of consumer analytics for apps, websites and video games; developed novel algorithms for the analysis of event data. Wide range of skills that covers every step of the data science process - from collection, ingestion and cleaning to advanced analysis, modelling, low-level optimisation and deployment. An adept programmer with considerable knowledge of six programming languages and expert level knowledge of Python, R and C. Three years' experience bootstrapping data science startups to revenue-generating software.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
James Edgell, Lead Data Scientist for the UK's largest hotel brand Whitbread joins Wendy on Would You Data Scientist this week to tell you about his career in data. As it’s mental health awareness week, Wendy and James also have an open and honest conversation about depression, loneliness, burnout, and stress. If you find yourself struggling with any of the issues raised please see the help links in the resources below.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- James joined Whitbread, the company that owns Premier Inn, as an analyst with the goal of becoming a data scientist. His role now focuses on customer data science relating to optimising marketing activities and working with the brands contact centre to ensure they don’t lose customers who have complaints.
- While at University, James lost someone close to him causing depression to trigger and took a year out. Taking this year out allowed James to remove the pressure of University while dealing with depression and when he went back he was able to succeed to the level he wanted to.
- Covid was actually really good for Wendy, it allowed her to spend time resting and recovering from burnout and if it hadn’t happened then she wouldn’t have had the time to stop.
- There is a stigma around taking antidepressants but all it’s doing is balancing the serotonin levels in your brain to a normal level. We wouldn’t judge someone taking iron tablets if they had an iron deficiency.
- As a hiring manager, James looks for someone who can demonstrate a passion for learning. He describes data as a marathon, where you need to keep going and keep learning because new things will always come up. You can’t just run the race.
- James both does and doesn’t think that you need a masters degree to get into data. He feels the communication side he was taught has been so valuable, not that it can’t be picked up on the job, but it will take longer. On the other hand it’s not something he actually considers when hiring candidates.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I’m so happy when I find someone a job they love’
‘Comparing yourself to other people is just not helpful’
‘You have a health check up, why not have a mental health check up’
‘I’m getting to work with really cool data science techniques and learn new things everyday’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Ripple suicide prevention - https://www.ripplesuicideprevention.com/
Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org/
Want to check out the meditation app Waking Up with me? You'll receive free unlimited access for 30 days. https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/da0b6d
James on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today’s guest Sayali Sonawane has just been promoted to Data Science Manager at Sykes Holiday Cottages. Sayali joins Wendy this week to talk about how she got into data, how she found working in data at a time when businesses didn’t even know what to call it, and the usual chat about ethics, diversity, and Apple.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Sayali’s data career began at Manchester University. She initially planned to study computer security, but during induction week she attended some of the data science courses, although it wasn’t called that back then, and realised that she wanted to do that instead.
- The biggest challenge Sayali faced was returning home after her scholarship and finding that there weren’t many data science roles. When she did manage to get a job doing that, her job title wasn’t data scientist and she had to ask to have it changed to that.
- The scholarship Sayali received is applied to by about 30 or 40 thousand people, and only about 5% are accepted.
- Having a good network and even a mentor can be so helpful for finding the right role for you and developing your skills. That’s one way going to University can help you, a good professor will mentor you.
- Three ways to reduce bias are: 1. Choose representative data. 2. Choose the right learning model for your company. 3. Know that no company is trying to make a bias data group, so test it out in the real world, and if it has flaws, then try again a different way.
BEST MOMENTS
‘You need to get the value out of the data to help the business’
‘There was only one company where it wasn’t 50/50 with gender’
‘The real skill is if your models can be used in the real world’
‘Do not underestimate the power of networking and mentorship’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
Sayali on LinkedIn
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark Stevenson is the Head of Applied Data Science at the global sports streaming company DAZN. He joins Wendy this week on Would You Data to discuss his work at DAZN, how he thinks you can pivot into data, what he looks for when hiring, and why you should take a lower paying role for your first position.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- As a hiring manager Mark looks for problem solvers, people with persistence, and someone with a suitable level of coding and data knowledge. He also looks for people who can collaborate in a team, a skill which is highly transferable.
- The work Mark does at DAZN includes using data to work out which users are likely to cancel their subscriptions and how to keep them, and which sports events people are going to want to watch.
- If you’re looking to pivot into data then you should have a portfolio of work you’ve done off your own back around data. Mark, as a keen football fan, did his own analysis of sports data.
- You can’t expect your first role in data to be as well paid as your previous role, however taking the lower paid position now, will pay off in 2 or 3 years time.
- When hiring Mark tries to be as blind on background and where you were educated as possible. And when looking through the answers of tech tests, he doesn't care about the answer being right, it’s about if you can talk through how you came to those conclusions.
- When posting jobs, Mark runs his adverts through a filter to see if he has used any gendered words. Male gendered words tend to put female candidates off applying.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The barriers to entry for the industry have reduced’
‘Some people are good to go down the applied route and some that education route’
‘Getting your foot in the door now is going to pay off’
‘People grow to appreciate what you can do rather than your experience’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
https://markrstevenson.com/
https://openai.com/dall-e-2/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Mark is an applied machine learning leader, a technologist, a futurist and a techno-optimist. He enjoys using maths and algorithms to make businesses better and can speak to both the data side of things and the business side of things. Mark is currently the Head of Applied Data Science at the global sports streaming company DAZN. Before that, he worked across industries at the globally renowned consultancy firm PwC.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Head of Data Science and Engineering at Collinson, Mohit Joshi joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist. Listen into the discussion on Apple, the attitude you need to get into data, if a master's degree will help you get hired, and all the usual questions on ethics, bias, and Earth destroying supervillains.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The job role of a data scientist changes so often with new parts of the field being expanded into all the time. One data scientist's job may be completely different to another’s.
- You can only get an answer to a question when you have the data. Mohit thinks curiosity around answering questions is a good sign that you would enjoy and be good as a data scientist.
- If you have the interest and the talent then you can become a data scientist, a masters degree will only be complementary and give you some more understanding. It’s not a requirement, the only requirement is how much hunger you have to learn.
- Mohit thinks the conceptual understanding around data is more important than the ability to write code. That can be taught but the intelligence around it cannot.
- The work a data scientist does for a business is not instantaneous.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Data Science is an open ended subject’
‘Have an ambition to help the people you’re hiring grow’
‘People are caring less about salary and looking for more in terms of flexibility’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
Mohit on LinkedIn
ABOUT THE GUEST
“A Data Science enthusiast with master’s in operational Research having experience delivering solutions by leveraging Big Data Applications, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning Techniques. My broad research interests are in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning with a passion for turning data into products, actionable insights, and meaningful stories. Expertise in domains such as statistical modelling, Cost optimization, linear modelling, and operational Research.
I have over 6 years of experience working in Data Science, Big Data. Data Engineering and analytics field. I have been managing a team of Data Scientists and Data Engineers in the UK and Overseas. My work involves improving products and services for our customers by using advanced analytics, standing up big-data analytical tools, creating and maintaining models, and onboarding compelling new data sets.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Natalia Koupanou is a Senior Data Science Manager at Tide. She joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to discuss her role at Tide, how she pivoted into data, how you can too, the rise in fintech, the three pillars of data, hiring failures, and so much more. You can find Natalia’s article ‘The secret sauce for growing from a data analyst to a data scientist’ in the resources below.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Tide is the leading provider of UK SME business accounts and one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in the UK. They’re used by over 370,000 businesses and have raised over £200 million in funding.
- Data science has three pillars, software engineering, maths and statistics, and domain expertise. Depending on your background you should focus on one of those pillars. If you’re missing one then you should develop your skills in it.
- You should be doing things outside of work and study to develop your skills in data. Employers really like people who have the motivation to grow.
- Employers shouldn’t make hiring decisions on how long someone has worked somewhere or if there are gaps in their CV. Someone leaving a job quickly could be because of failings within the company itself, not with the employee.
- Mitigating bias within your data set can lead to an incomplete data set. There is a trade off between accuracy and fairness.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The key advice is to get your hands dirty’
‘They look for talent and the motivation to grow’
‘Your work can speak for itself sometimes’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Bianca on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
The secret sauce for growing from a data analyst to a data scientist
Natalia on LinkedIn
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode, Wendy is joined by Sathish Sankarpandi. Sathish is head of data science at The Orbital Group, which incorporates digital marketing and innovation. They discuss all things data science, the power of data science in the world of healthcare and why all data scientists need to always be learning and evolving.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The Orbital group work across the globe, mostly focusing on products for healthcare.
- Data science can be really powerful tool within healthcare, from drug discovery to diagnosing someone’s illness.
- Sathish grew up having an interest in tech, computers and algorithms. Building on this by writing code and forming predictions whilst doing a PHD is how he got into the profession of data science.
- Any project that Sathish works on that touches human lives gives him great satisfaction. He is always very proud when something he has worked on has helped improve or make someone’s life easier.
- Building a portfolio that demonstrates your experience and skills as a data scientist is one of the best ways to show employers why they should hire you.
- You can stop bias affecting your data science in a variety of ways. One of these is by looking at the model you create. Eventually, Sathish believes that models will learn to ‘un-bias’ themselves in the future.
BEST MOMENTS
“A computer can do magical things”
“Data scientists are good people, the whole sector…everyone wants to make a difference in the world”
“If you can explain things to your grandma, then you actually understand it”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bianca Ferri is Lead Data Scientist at SparkBeyond and joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to discuss diversity in the workplace, why AI isn’t scary, the advantages of University, and how networking can be so helpful when you’re getting started in data science.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- One of the early data projects Bianca worked on was using genetic algorithms to find the optimal design of massive oil rigs. From this she began working on the machine learning side of the business as a customer facing data scientist.
- It’s all about networking. Talk to people and try to get involved, even if it’s not high end complicated stuff, it will help you get familiar with data and people will get to know you.
- Bianca believes that University will give you a middle ground to learn things in a safer environment.
- If you allow bias data into your data set, then you will have a bias outcome. For this you usually need a real person to oversee and check the data.
- Don’t doubt yourself or compare yourself to anyone else.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I was lucky enough to direct my career towards data’
‘Offer your help even if it doesn’t sound like the most exciting work at the start’
‘Just ask someone if they can help you, but don’t take the mick’
‘It’s not just the content or the outcome, it’s who you’re working with’
‘I never felt like being a woman was holding me back’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Bianca on LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How does keeping your GitHub page up to date make you more employable? Yiannis Pitsillides, Lead Data Scientist at Endeavor joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to discuss that topic, the future of data, photography, his advice for starting out in data science, and Yiannis shares the story of how he worked his way up to where he is today.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The main hurdle Yiannis had to overcome when getting into data was the formula and the maths side. He found learning this alongside the other components was very difficult to do together.
- His biggest piece of advice is that you can find so much open source code on Google.
- When pivoting to data, Yiannis recommends having something on your CV that shows you can handle software and the maths side. Also Yiannis looks for a GitHub profile to look through a candidate's skills.
- The worst advice Yiannis ever got was to throw himself into deep learning, that’s too much for anyone just starting out in data to take on.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I highly recommend you update your GitHub profiles’
‘Stick to the basics’
‘I think I’ve only ever met two female data engineers’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Yiannis on LinkedIn
Yiannis on YouTube
https://www.widsconference.org/
https://www.womenintech.co.uk/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Joseph Cooper is the Head of Data Science at Club View. He joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to share his advice for getting into data, tell you about the work he does at Club View and how he’s trying to beat sports clubs' own models, and find out his thoughts on diversity and the future of data science.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Being made redundant or losing your job is not the end of the world, it can be the start of something bigger and better.
- Joe’s advice is to get hands-on experience with algorithms. Early on in his career, he tried to build some of the classic algorithms by hand, not using packages, just trying by hand with python.
- Joe didn’t do statistics or maths at university so getting that hands-on experience really taught him and gave him that basic understanding.
- Joe has found that diversity on the other end of the job application has been lacking. The people posting the jobs and conducting the interviews were mostly white.
- If you have a diverse team, then bias in your data will be picked up much quicker.
BEST MOMENTS
’If you understand the workings behind something then you can do a better job of it’
‘There’s a lot of room for change’
‘There’s room for people to enter the field and grow within it’
EPISODE RESOURCESJoseph on LinkedIn
www.clubview.io
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
“Head of Data Science at ClubView, where we are pushing the boundaries of what machine learning can offer sports teams. If you are interested in roles then we are keen to offer opportunities to data scientists that are willing to learn and grow with the company.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Does sending messages to companies on LinkedIn when you’re looking for a job really work? Predictive Analytics Manager in Data Science at Vodafone, Mousami Mishra joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to tell you not to be afraid to slide into those DMs. Find out how the sponsorship program can work for foreign hires, how some CVs are thrown out before a human even sees them, and how often a company will actually reply to a message out of the blue.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Mousami took a role on lower wages than she was on before to get her foot in the door at a data company. It wasn’t a downgrade, just a first step on a new ladder.
- Coming to the UK was the easier part for Mousami as her husband had got a job, but getting a job herself was the hard part.
- When her husband was applying for jobs he found that by reaching out to companies on LinkedIn, about 1 in 10 companies were willing to offer work visas and even offered remote working from other countries. The message here is don’t be afraid to message a company and ask to be sponsored to come and work for them.
- You can get a free CV template from Qwerk Recruitment, just get in contact with Wendy.
- Being a data scientist in today's world means different things to different people and different companies. One data scientist might not do any of the same day to day jobs as another.
- Don’t be afraid to cold message people on LinkedIn.
BEST MOMENTS
’Data science is hard to get into in the first place, but if you have no background’
‘Your CV is an ongoing piece of work’
‘Work on as many freelance projects as you can’
EPISODE RESOURCESMousami on LinkedIn
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Mike is a commercially astute data and analytics leader, specialising in predictive modelling and credit risk management, and has a broad knowledge across data science, business intelligence and data architecture principles. Over his career, Mike has embedded over 60 models, enterprise-wide, which have made millions of decisions across over £70bn of assets.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How do we know if we’re being affected by imposter syndrome? How do we start to work on removing those doubts from our work life? This week on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by Data Science & Analytics Leader at MarketFinance, Mike Holmes. Hear Mike’s story of dealing with imposter syndrome, his work in data, his thoughts on improving diversity, and how one of the first things he had to learn was 2+2.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Imposter syndrome is loosely defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments. Many question whether they're deserving of accolades.
- Dunning-Kruger effect, in psychology, a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general.
- One of Mike’s best tips to getting over imposter syndrome is to tackle one problem at a time. Break the big problems down into smaller manageable tasks. Don’t feel overwhelmed by them, anyone can take it one step at a time.
- When you’re starting out in data science, Mike’s advice is to learn how to do one thing and do it well instead of trying to learn everything at once. This way you know the process of how to learn new things in the field.
- As a team, Mike believes it helps for some people to have PHDs, this is just to increase the diversity of the group. But as an individual, it doesn’t matter.
- Assumptions and limitations are important to note down early on in the process. You can then refer back to it to make sure that the outcome doesn’t have bias built into it.
BEST MOMENTS
’It delivered a huge impact to our customers, what more could you want than that?’
‘You’re not going to progress in life if you don’t do the things that are a bit scary’
‘Job titles can be misleading’
‘What skills are we missing? How do we make the team stronger?’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Mike on LinkedIn
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Mike is a commercially astute data and analytics leader, specialising in predictive modelling and credit risk management, and has a broad knowledge across data science, business intelligence and data architecture principles. Over his career, Mike has embedded over 60 models, enterprise-wide, which have made millions of decisions across over £70bn of assets.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Gerardo Lemus is a data science consultant at Lamat UK and joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist to explain in simple terms what a blockchain is, what a token is, how NFTs are generated, and what is web3. He also tells us about his work in data and what advice he would give to someone pivoting into the field. Apologies for Gerardo’s creaky chair!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Blockchain is simply put, a ledger of numbers denoting where something is coming from, where it is going, and how much of it there was. It needs to be maintained and updated constantly. This ledger then compares to other ledgers and comes up with a consensus.
- A crypto token is a virtual currency token or a denomination of a cryptocurrency. It represents a tradable asset or utility that resides on its own blockchain and allows the holder to use it for investment or economic purposes.
- A non-fungible token is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, that can be sold and traded.
- It’s not a surprise that we see many large companies as unethical, they exist to make as much money as possible, and to do that they will naturally take any opportunity to cut corners.
BEST MOMENTS
’One of the problems with blockchain is that you have the fanatics and the sceptics’
‘I built a model in 5 minutes but it took me hours and hours to explain how I did it’
‘Develop your web3 skills now so you’ll be at the top of your game when it comes’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Coded Bias on Netflix
How Facebook got addicted to sharing misinformation
My first impressions of web3
Gerardo on LinkedIn
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Gerardo specialises in solving high-value problems in finance by applying numerical methods made possible by recent advances in data science, artificial intelligence and computing power.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sorcha Gilroy is the Head of Data Community and Data Science Team Lead at Peak and joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist. Hear Sorcha’s story of getting into data, being a woman in data science, finding allies in the industry, and Sorcha tells us the advantages of using R.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- It’s never too late or too early to learn a new skill set. You might find that learning R of C++ will open new opportunities in your career.
- Although Sorcha and half of her team did take the PHD route, she doesn't think it’s necessary to get into data science. Peak offers a data science graduate scheme which you can find in the notes below.
- Curating data beforehand is very difficult, so your best bet is to test and edit the data for bias afterwards.
- A lot of the responsibility of addressing issues with biassed data is put on those people in misrepresented groups. It shouldn’t be on them to fix it, it should be the people making the data sets job to make sure there is no bias.
BEST MOMENTS
’I’ve fallen in love with R in the last few years’
‘If you’re not in you can’t win’
‘Data science teams are never gender balanced’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Sorcha on LinkedIn
Peak Data Science Graduate Scheme
Jobs at Peak
peak.ai/community
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Sorcha Gilroy: “Peak helps the world's smartest companies put the power of AI at the centre of all commercial decision making, with Decision Intelligence, a brand new category of AI technology. It unlocks the power of a business's most valuable asset, its data, by helping people make decisions over complex information faster, more consistently, more accurately than ever before.
I joined Peak in 2019 as a data scientist and now as a team leader, I manage a team of data scientists. We work with a wide variety of customers delivering AI solutions to help them make better decisions.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Can a neurodiverse person get into data science? And when you do, how do you make sure people see you for your ability, not what they see on the outside? This week on Would You Data Scientist, Meltem Ballan joins Wendy to tell her inspiring story of seeing something and deciding to go and get it. She also answers all the diversity questions you can think of around neurodiversity and how it impacts data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Neurodivergent simply means someone who thinks differently from the way the majority (referred to as neurotypical) expect. ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette's syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions. They're diagnostic labels used to explain the diverse ways of thinking, learning, processing and behaving.
- If you are a neurodiverse person looking to get into data science, Meltem’s advice is don’t try to fit in, just feel like you belong.
- Meltem had an opportunity early in her career when she joined a new company and they didn’t have a desk for her to sit at. She ended up being invited into the head of the department’s office to work there and ended up being mentored by him and learning things she wouldn’t have otherwise.
BEST MOMENTS
’Eveybodies feedback is only based on what they can see outside’
‘I’m a human centric data scientist’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Meltem on LinkedIn
Women in Data Science on LinkedIn
ndpositive.com
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Meltem Ballan
“Accomplished digital technology leader, entrepreneur and startup advisor with a doctorate in complex systems (specialised in computer vision, visual cortex and natural language processing), and proven success as a data science and AI leader.
Co-founded a cloud-based AI/ML platform startup to create a community to increase the efficiency and fairness of AI/ML algorithms used in brain imaging studies. Managed large multinational and multidisciplinary projects in automotive, aviation, healthcare, software and marketing. Advised companies on technology development and M&A strategies.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Data Analyst and founder of 10in6 Inc, Victoria Cocco joins Wendy on Would You Data Scientist to tell us all about the work she does and how she went from business analytics to data analytics. Also join in the discussion including how women feel in the workplace, data collection, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Don’t Look Up, and Pokemon.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Find the software that you like and use it until you can’t use it anymore, you don’t need to constantly upgrade and update. If you do that you might have a semi new feature but you’ll constantly have to re-learn how to use the software.
- As a data scientist you need to understand what you want to know as the end result. What are you trying to prove or solve?
- Victoria believes that you can take a few years within an industry and then go and get a masters degree in it, even better if your company will pay for you to get one.
- Both Wendy and Victoria have come from working backgrounds which have not been gender diverse and have had problems because of it. A more diverse team stops this kind of behaviour and allows more women to progress.
- There are fewer women with higher education degrees than men, this can be for a multitude of reasons but none of them reflect on the ability of the person. If job posts are requiring degrees, then you will naturally get fewer women applying.
BEST MOMENTS
’I went from a business analyst to a data analyst. That’s propoly the root of data science’
‘Not everything is a breakthrough, sometimes it’s just a great step forward’
‘We’ve hired the top of the class and I can’t say they’ve done much better than anyone else’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Victoria on LinkedIn
Women in Data Science on LinkedIn
Open Data Science Conference
Google earth for developers : https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/tutorials/community/intro-to-python-api-guiattard
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What is it that data science recruiters are looking for in an ideal job candidate? Ben Auffarth is Head of Data Science for Loveholidays and joins Wendy on this week’s Would You Data Scientist. Ben talks through what he looks for in a potential new hire, as well as how you can develop after pivoting, and how we can keep AI diverse.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Ben’s advice for someone looking to pivot is to develop your weaknesses. For example if you come from research you should work on your programming and software engineering. Setting a goal and making a plan of how you can achieve that can help you develop.
- In the current recruitment Ben is doing, there is a wide range of skill sets within the candidates. Some are very strong on the technical side whereas some have better developed communication skills which are also important for therole.
- All candidates being equal skills and education wise, Ben would look to hire people who show potential, have a great attitude, and show that they are socially interested.
- How many years of experience you have is a pretty irrelevant thing to have in a job posting. Just because someone has been doing something for longer it has no bearing on the quality of their work.
BEST MOMENTS
’They needed people doing their data who were also good at programming’
‘If you can bounce off each other in a team then you can work so much better’
‘Attitude is the most important thing’
‘A CV just tells you how well someone can write a CV’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Ben on LinkedIn
Find Ben's book here
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Ben is a data scientist with more than 15 years of research and work experience in England, Japan, Germany, Sweden, and Spain. He gained industry experience working with betting markets, credit scoring applications and natural language processing. He has a record of delivering machine learning and decision models through to production systems. Before switching to the industry, Ben was working on research in machine learning problems, models of the brain, and neuroscience wet lab experiments on learning.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What is the difference between a data engineer and a data scientist? This week on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by Alley Robinson to answer that very question. Alley is currently pivoting from software to data and shares her experience and tells us how she moved into the field. As always Wendy will have some great interview tips as well as some guest stumping hypotheticals.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The difference between a data scientist and a data engineer is that a data engineer sets up the architecture for the data and loads it into different databases for data scientists to then analyse. A data scientist is also more likely to interact with stakeholders, customers, and clients as well.
- An engineer is usually super techy, whereas a data scientist has a balance of the tech and the communication skills.
- Alley is going to start her Masters in 2022 but also thinks that the practical boot camps will help you get to where you need to go.
- When you’re in the interview process remember that you’re interviewing the company as well as them interviewing you. You need to see that they’re a good fit for you and how you like to work and your career prospects.
- Alley has found that the teams that are more diverse have been more successful. This could be down to a diversity of ideas and the safe environment that creates. This kind of workplace encourages more ideas as there isn’t a fear of being shot down.
- Alley's biggest piece of advice for someone wanting to get into data is to just go for it, keep up to date with what’s going on and if you can explore it by yourself then you should.
BEST MOMENTS
’Shifting into data was something I’d never expected’
‘If your job description is always in the same place then you’re going to get the same kinds of applicants’
‘You don’t have to be stuck in one thing for your whole career’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alleyrobinson/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It’s the first podcast of 2022! So this week it’s a little different on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by Emily Dale, Analytics Professor at Rockhurst University. Find out how fulfilling and engaging working on the other side of education is, as well as what other data roles you could do that don’t have the title of data scientist.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Emily was only studying data science for two classes before she got her first job in data science. The course went so fast and you had to keep up. You don’t have to do a full degree, study what you need to.
- While working in telecommunications, Emily used data to figure out that people in the US who don’t often travel far from their home are more likely to switch cell plans after traveling just once.
- If you like data science then you don’t have to have a data science position. Look past the job title, employers are looking for business intelligence developers, data engineers, and managers who are able to speak analytics. Go with what you enjoy.
- We need more diversity in teaching to get more diversity in students, which will lead to more diversity in job applicants.
BEST MOMENTS
’Being a teacher, the good outweighs the bad every time’
‘I love the realistic aspects of how we can apply data science in business’
‘I learn more from my failures than I do my successes’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Emily on LinkedIn
Data Feminism
MS in Data Analytics from Rockhurst
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Annie has done exactly what this podcast is aiming to promote, she pivoted to data science using the skills she had developed in previous roles. Annie is Global Head of AI & Behavioural Sciences at MRM and joins Wendy on this week’s Would You Data Scientist to talk about her experience pivoting and the work she’s doing in the industry. Listen in to find out how a mentor can help your personal and career development as well as tips on getting hired.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Annie did a data science boot camp run by Pivigo when she was pivoting from science to data science. She’s done exactly what this podcast is about, using your transferable skills to pivot into data.
- The technical skills are the foundation to data science but the problem solving and critical thinking are vital for the role.
- Both Wendy and Annie have worked with mentors and careers coaches recently to help them make decisions. It’s such a help having someone trusted you can talk to and gain advice from.
- It’s great that the tools for data science are open to everyone, but often people throw in information and don’t understand what the data is saying and what the consequences are.
- Having an analytical background and showing that you have an interest for data, for example through doing a boot camp, can really make you stand out to a recruiter. Prove that you’ve solved a problem that you’re passionate about using data and communicate it well in the interview.
BEST MOMENTS
’The microchips now are more powerful than what flew Apollo to the moon’
‘I have amazing female role models all around me in the tech sector’
‘You’re not just treating the data as a fuel’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Annie on LinkedIn
Pivigo
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at AGI Innovations and Aigo.ai, Peter Voss joins Wendy on this week’s Would You Data Scientist. Find out all about the work Peter does in AI and how the chatbots he creates are truly personal and don’t invade privacy. Also listen in for tips and resources for getting your career in data science off the ground.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Peter wants Aigo.io to become a triple personal assistant. The first personal is that you own it and it serves your agenda, not a cooperation. The second personal is that it is customised to you as an individual. The final personal is for privacy, a sounding board for your decisions so that you don’t have to involve anyone else in your personal business.
- Peter’s company is committed to not selling people’s information to advertising and gives people the ability to delete their own history within the software.
- Getting into the consumer market is very expensive and high risk. One way Aigo could get into peoples hands is through universities that have contacted Aigo about using it as a personal assistant for students and staff.
- There are so many data science companies looking for people who are truly motivated, passionate, and interested in the field. If you can demonstrate that then you’ll only be increasing your chances.
- The way a job description is written and where it is posted can have a massive impact on the kinds of people who apply. Companies who want a diverse set of applicants should look at the wording they use in the description and post in multiple different places.
BEST MOMENTS
’If you don’t have the qualifications then you need to be prepared to come in at the ground floor’
‘I’m completely self taught and love learning’
‘The best way to combat bad AI is to have many different AI’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vosspeter/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl3XKNOL5rEit0txjVA07Ew
https://twitter.com/Aigo_ai
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE GUEST
Peter Voss is a Serial Entrepreneur, Engineer, Inventor and a Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence. Peter started out in electronics engineering, but quickly moved into software. After developing a comprehensive ERP software package, Peter took his first software company from a zero to 400-person IPO in seven years.
Fueled by the fragile nature of software, Peter embarked on a 20-year journey to study intelligence (how it develops in humans, how to measure it, and current AI efforts), and to replicate it in software. His research culminated in the creation of a natural language intelligence engine that can think, learn, and reason -- and adapt to, and grow with the user. He even coined the term ‘AGI’(Artificial General Intelligence) with fellow luminaries in space.
Peter founded SmartAction.ai in 2009, which developed the first AGI-based call centre automation technology. Now, in his latest venture, Aigo.ai, he is taking that technology a step further with the commercialisation of the second generation of his ‘Conversational AI’ technology with a bold mission of providing hyper-intelligent hyper-personal assistants for everyone.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and AI pioneer, Peter often writes and presents on various philosophical topics including rational ethics, free will and artificial minds; and is deeply involved with futurism and radical life-extension.
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Noon van der Silk is the senior software engineer at Tweag and joins host Wendy on this week’s Would You Data Scientist. Join the conversation on machine learning, teaching, how university degrees can give people from some backgrounds a leg up, as well as all the usual chat on ethics and how to best stop an evil super villain. Also find out Noon’s thoughts on where the UK stands compared to other countries in terms of diversity in data science.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Noon ended up teaching AI and machine learning with the aim of giving people intuition and motivation. They could find out the details by themselves but he wanted to make sure they were confident to explore the topics on multiple levels.
- Noon had the experience of being turned down for a job because he didn’t have a degree, which as you know, Wendy doesn’t agree with.
- If a degree is a must have on your job description, then you should re-evaluate that. A degree for a degree's sake doesn’t mean anything, it’s just an expensive line on your CV.
- University can give some people access to jobs that they would not have had before.
- People who pivot jobs can be exceedingly valuable because they have built up a completely different skillset to the people already in that team.
- When Noon was working in Melbourne, he found that the diversity was heading in the right way but when working in the UK he found that the working group was not very diverse. The excuse seems to be trouble finding the right people.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I thought there is no way computers can learn anything’
‘Statistics seems easy but when you learn the details you think what is going on here’
‘Don’t be afraid to follow that and squish it into AI somehow’
‘How can I be directing this towards positive purposes’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Noon's favourite piece of tech XMonad
Tweag.io
Noon on LinkedIn
R;pple Suicide Prevention Chrome Extension
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kate Pozeznik doesn’t dread Mondays anymore and neither do her clients, that’s because she helps people advance their careers in pursuit of their unique versions of life success. Kate is the founder of Quirk, not to be confused with Qwerk, and joins host Wendy as the guest on this week’s Would You Data Scientist. Find out how you can pivot your career, what are the transferable skills you didn’t even know you had, and so many more great pieces of advice. Stick around until the end of the show for a unique discount from Kate.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Kate started Quirk when she noticed that professionals within IT weren't very good at articulating the value they bring to their employers and weren’t getting the promotions and job opportunities they deserved.
- Kate customised her LinkedIn profile and CV to exactly suit the role she wanted and managed to get the recruiter to reach out to her before she even had to apply.
- There are so many skills that stay-at-home parents learn that are transferrable to “real world” jobs. Our society still doesn't truly value the skills of empathy, compassion, organisation, time management, and so many more that stay-at-home parents learn.
- Even if you have gaps in your employment there will be transferrable skills that you've picked up and that you can tell people about.
- Surround yourself with positive people who want to see you succeed.
- Within data science there are so many roles. If you’re looking to pivot then you should do personal value exercises that evaluate what is important to you. This will keep you focused on following career paths that are right for you.
BEST MOMENTS
‘They want to enter a role that will constantly change and evolve’
‘It requires growth for you to be successful’
‘I was so amped to do this that these things didn’t stand in my way’
‘Show how excited you are about data science’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Listeners of Would You Data Scientist get a discount on Resume Reviews, just get in contact with Kate to arrange yours.
Kate@quirkpersonalbranding.com
Kate on LinkedIn
https://www.quirkpersonalbranding.com/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Data Science leader Gurleen Sabharwal is guest this week on Would You Data Scientist where her and host Wendy Gannon give you their advice on getting into the field of data. Find out about how Gurleen has developed online chat bots, how your diverse skillset can help the whole team, data privacy, and the cultural differences between working environments.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Everyone brings different skillsets to the job. You can use them to your advantage when going for a position and to help other members of the team. Your skillset becomes a skill the whole team can learn from you.
- What is it that you would like to work on? What problems do you want to solve? Research the different data science industries and work out what fits in with what you want from the job.
- Before applying for a job have a portfolio of all the work you’ve done solving problems with data. Show your skills and your passion with examples.
- Showing that you can solve problems with data is more important than a Master's degree according to Gurleen. It can help, but isn’t essential.
- Remember, working in data science can do great things for women.
BEST MOMENTS
‘There’s a lot of imposter syndrome from women and people from none technical backgrounds’
‘If you want to do something simpler to explain things to the business, then do that’
‘Your location information is being shared’
EPISODE RESOURCES
Gurleen on LinkedIn
Cassie Kozyrkov - Chief Decision Scientist at Google
ABOUT THE GUEST
Gurleen is a customer focused data science leader with extensive experience in enabling data driven decision making at large organizations.
She has over 14 years of experience with large B2B and B2C businesses where she has helped them to:
- Build large high performance and diverse data science / analytics teams.
- Convert business problems into data science / analytical solutions by leveraging strengths in ML/ AI, predictive and data analytics.
- Create seamless personalized customer experiences across all touch points (including chatbots).
- Perform data led storytelling to bring compelling insights to key stakeholders for business adoption.
- Enable cloud adoption by embracing change.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dr. Selina Parmar is Head of People at Sideways 6 and joins Wendy on Would You Data Scientist this week. Selina doesn’t have a background in data science, she works on the recruitment side of the business. She’s here to tell you all about how she goes about hiring data scientists and what you can do to make yourself more employable.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Selina looks for candidates that are willing to learn and display that at every stage of the process. She also likes candidates who also interview her to find out more about the company and why they are a good fit for each other.
- Real work examples are super important. Make it clear what you’ve done and how you’ve tackled challenges. This also shows that you’re good at documenting your work.
- Research the company when you apply, in your cover letter make sure you’re showing that you match their company values.
- Growth, mindset, humility, and motivation are the four most important things Selina looks for in an applicant.
BEST MOMENTS
‘CVs are a necessary evil right now, but I don’t know if they’ll be needed in the future’
‘Tell people what you’re actually evaluating them against’
‘It’s an essential that you’re hiring the right kinds of people for your company’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/selinaparmarphd/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Selina Parmar is Head of People at Sideways 6, a company that exists to build better businesses through employee ideas.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined all the way from Portland Oregon by guest Danielle Nelson, senior data scientist at Rented. Find out why a piece of climbing equipment might be the best bit of tech ever, and how you can get into data science even if your degree is in 13th century French literature.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- If you want proof that you can retrain from any career into data science, Danielle studied linguistics and French literature, then had a career as a marine biologist, listening to the echo location of whales and catching frogs.
- Rented provide dynamic pricing for property managers for vacation rentals. They essentially use data to generate the optimal price for any given day to ensure the property is booked.
- Danielle’s rule is that if she can’t explain how a model works to her husband, then she won’t use it.
- The more you can make the work you’re doing capable of being integrated with the larger system of where you’re working, the better.
- A good hiring manager would love to see your impact in your application, what was the outcome of your work. Did you save a company X amount of money or did you help save this endangered species. Tell them the consequence, and they’ll ask how you did it.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I saved critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whales by listening to them’
‘There’s lots of different flavours of data science’
‘The way you word your transferrable skills is important’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellevnelson/
https://www.rented.com/art/
If you’re interested in working for Rented or have any questions for Danielle then e-mail Danielle@rented.com
ABOUT THE GUEST
Danielle Nelson is a skilled statistical data scientist with ample visualization and modeling experience, an eye for aesthetics, and a strong quantitative background. Passionate about data equity, awesome data visualizations, weaving stories from data points and analyses, and using data to make a better world.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Director of Data Science at Vertafore, Scott Ziemke joins Wendy on this week's episode of Would You Data Scientist to get in depth about data science in the insurance field. Find out how data differs from sector to sector, how it’s sometimes the same, and how data differs from academia to the world of work.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Vertafore has the largest insurance policy data set in the world.
- One of the biggest use cases in insurance data science is re-marketing, essentially catching people who may leave for a better deal elsewhere and targeting them with something to incentivise them to stay.
- Academic data sets still don’t measure in complexity to an enterprise data set. The scale and size of the data problems are much greater in the industry than people are used to seeing while studying.
- Some kinds of data science apply to all businesses. For example, every company has a HR department and there is HR data science.
- If you’re looking to get into data science then get experience hands on with a real-life data set. Employers will generally look for the person with experience rather than just the learning.
BEST MOMENTS
‘All our competitors use data’
‘Analytics can do something that a human could never process’
‘Most people don’t have good data’
‘How do you populate your résumé with experience as quick as possible’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottcziemke/
https://www.vertafore.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Scott Ziemke: “I am a hands-on, analytics leader with over twelve years of expertise in data science and innovative analytics strategy.
From small-scale projects to industry-changing initiatives, I have spent my career providing services and building products using data science algorithms and technologies. My passion is leading teams that acquire, engineer, and monetize data.
Vertafore is an industry-leading SaaS fintech, part of the Roper Technologies portfolio.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Qwerk Recruitment Website
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week on Would You Data Scientist, Senior Data Scientist at nPlan, Gerard Cardoso joins Wendy to talk you through the benefits of a master's degree and intensive boot camps. You can also hear about how the data differs between different industries and how nPlan stack up on the diversity scale.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Gerard had a more traditional route into data science by studying Maths at the University of Bath and then a master's in Business Analytics at UCL.
- Boot camps have become a more popular way into data science as opposed to doing master's degree. Gerard believes that the master’s offers a better theoretical understanding of data science and that will make it easier to question why things aren't working. By having a more hands on background through a boot camp you will have a better idea of the application side.
- Data scientists often forget about the business side of the industry. You can have all the technical skills in the world, but you need to understand the business and how the numbers relate to it.
- Gerard believes that having a side project in data can help when it comes to finding a job. Showing that you’ve applied data science to something you’re passionate about can show your interest in the job and also show your personality.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Boot camps give you that more real world applied experience’
‘Data always supports whatever your business objective is, not the other way around’
EPISODE RESOURCES
nPlan
ABOUT THE GUEST
“My academic background is in Maths at University of Bath and Business Analytics at UCL. Data Science married my love for statistics and programming, so it felt like a natural fit for me.
Since UCL, I have been working as a data scientist deploying machine learning solutions in companies, both big and small. At Founders Factory, I advised and worked with early-stage companies on their journey to implementing AI and ML. This has led me to be writing a book about why data strategies are so crucial for startups, and how to go about building one. At nPlan, I am part of the Data Science team where we are inspiring the world of construction to forecast correctly and empowering them to tackle risk through ML.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Data science educator Dr Stylianos Kampakis joins Wendy this week on Would You Data Scientist. Listen in as Stylianos tells you about his career in data science and as an educator. Find out his advice for getting into data science and hear how he thinks the industry will look in the future, and how data is so important for Blockchain.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Data science isn’t all about the algorithm or writing codes, it’s about how useful it is to the business.
- Build up a portfolio of your work. Dr Stylianos Kampakis thinks having a PHD can be useful for applies to certain companies but a well put together portfolio of work can be just as good in some situations.
- Dr Stylianos believes that data science will be easier in the future because of the advancement of the technologies involved.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I kind of figured out things along the way’
‘We have a 50/50 split in terms of gender diversity’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://bitclout.com/u/eyeXmachina
https://thedatascientist.com/
https://tesseract.academy/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-stylianos-kampakis/
ABOUT THE GUEST“I help identify problems in organisation and fix them using data science and/or blockchain. I have helped all kinds of organisations: from big organisations like Vodafone and the US Navy or British Land, to start-ups.
I help bridge technology and management and have worked with companies of all sizes, from startups to corporates. My work has helped startups raise more than $20million. I have run more than 100 successful seminars and talks for the C-level and companies of all sizes.
I am also an AI educator and mentor, having taught multiple students over the years, and helping them get jobs in this area.
My data science/AI work has helped startups raise more than $20million. I have run more than 100 successful seminars and talks for the C-level and companies of all sizes. I have also taught more than 100 students over the years, helping them become data scientists.
I am also affiliated with some of the top universities in the world, like London Business School, Cambridge and University College London.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week’s episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Shuai Yuan, Director of Data Science at FreeWheel. Shuai manages a data science team working on optimization problems from the side of the buyer. Join the discussion on why you should get into data science, how you can get into it, and what different avenues the field offers. As always there will be chat on ethics and what you can do to impress recruiters.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Shuai’s career got going while studying a PHD in Information Retrieval, studying sponsored searches, display advertising, and real time bidding for search engines.
- Shuai believes there are three avenues within data science that can cover a lot of roles. They are machinery researcher, machinery engineer, and data analyst.
- FreeWheel recently hired someone without any full-time work experience in data science. She was able to demonstrate her skills by showing a personal work portfolio she had built in her own time. Even though the applicant hadn’t had any actual experience, she had ticked that box off her own back.
- There is a war online for the user's attention, websites are bombarding people with ads to try and get noticed. The problem with this is that the user's attention is finite and they get tired of seeing large numbers of ads. The best way to be seen is to realise that it can be about quality, rather than quantity.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Python is such a lovely langue and enables so many things’
‘Everyone is trying to fight for the user's attention, the user's attention is a limited resource’
‘We need to encourage people from different backgrounds to apply so we have more choice’
EPISODE RESOURCES
www.freewheel.com
ABOUT THE GUESTShuai Yuan is the Director of Data Science at FreeWheel. You can connect with him on LinkedIn using the link below.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuanshuai
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week’s episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest A nna Decker Wilson, Customer and Partner Data at Cisco. Hear all about how Anna became interested in Data Science and as always there will be chat about ethics and tips on how to get your foot in the door.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Anna thinks you should learn as much as you can, it’s such a broad subject that by knowing more you’ll find your passion.
- Try to answer the questions ‘What am I good at’ and ‘What do I want to do’.
- Remember that data science can’t solve every business problem. Make sure you’re answering the questions you can actually answer.
EPISODE RESOURCES
and please check the LI link to https://www.linkedin.com/in/annadeckerwilson/
https://www.eqrx.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST
“I've been fortunate to have worked in a variety of positions enabling and driving data-driven decision-making in biotech, marketing, and agriculture. I enjoy tackling new problems in new disciplines and love learning about new topics and challenging myself. As a manager, I love helping people grow, discover their strengths, and thrive in their work environment.
Research-wise, I am particularly interested in deriving causal effects in complex, high-dimensional, messy data and communicating these results to non-technical audiences. I thrive in collaborative environments where we are working together to answer important questions that don't have straightforward answers.
Outside of data science and machine learning, I perform improv and sketch comedy, ride old steel bikes, and (re)-watch Parks and Rec.
I just joined EQRx to help improve our healthcare system and the way medicines are created. I'm excited to leverage modern data science and machine learning to make the process objective, data-driven, and more efficient.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week’s episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Stuart Davie, Director of Data Science at Peak. Listen in to find out Stuart’s advice for getting into data science, his opinions on what the data science landscape will look like in the near future.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Data science is so big and moving so fast, you have to keep learning. New tools and technologies are being invented all the time and if you stand still then you will be left behind.
- Stuart sees more specialisation in the future of data science. With the field being so broad there has to at some point be a more standardised route into a specific subject.
- Peak would like their applicants to have relevant experience, but not many do in the field so they accept applications from graduates and offer internships.
- At Peak, Stuart is aiming for 50% male female gender split in their recruitment.
- Peaks graduate program usually opens around April for a September intake.
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-davie/
https://www.peak.ai/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Peak helps the world's smartest companies put the power of AI at the center of all commercial decision making, with Decision Intelligence, a brand-new category of AI technology. It unlocks the power of a business's most valuable asset, its data, by helping people make decisions over complex information faster, more consistently, more accurately than ever before.
Stuart is the Head of Data Science at Peak. Leading a large team of Data Scientists and AI Engineers, Stuart is responsible for building and deploying technologies that can help businesses get a true competitive advantage, by turning tech into outcomes both quickly and at scale.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this week’s episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Kriti Doneria, a Tech Speaker who works in Responsible AI and Data and Decision Science. Join the conversation about how much experience you need to get a job, and if you need a degree or not. Also, should we be scared of the possible applications of deep fake technology?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Can an Applicant Tracking System replace the job of recruiters? Or does the application miss out on candidates who might just be bad at writing their resume.
- Bias in recruitment processes can filter out candidates who would be perfectly good for the job. Questions like do they have a degree or how many years' experience does someone have are inherently bias questions which disproportionately exclude people from minority groups.
- Car crash test dummies are mostly designed on male's body types which has led to women being injured more in accidents. When female body types have been used, they are often put in the passenger seat.
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kritidoneria/
ABOUT THE GUEST
“Experienced Data Science and Analytics professional with a knack for translating data into actionable insights. Proven track record of successfully delivering business value using machine learning dovetailed with business intuition.
Top skills: Python, SQL,Hive, Pyspark, Hadoop. Self Driven, Go-getter and Stakeholder management
Previously , Kriti was a part of EDA function at American Express in the Global Commercial Customer Data Science team whose charter is to ensure that they have the best-in-class analytical models powering prospect acquisition marketing for the commercial portfolio of American express in US.
Kriti has been involved with Fortune 100 Pharmaceutical client (US Market) at ZS Associates., building end to end scalable deployment solutions around prescriber segmentation and targeting, propensity modelling and product prioritization modelling projects leveraging structured and semi structured big data.
Kriti also has experience with food-services (tree based key assortment driver analysis), retail (clustering, regression and association rules mining) and eCommerce (churn analytics and market basket analysis).
She is well versed with Python, SQL, Hive, Pyspark, Hadoop, Stakeholder management, advanced data science and best in class algorithms.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Andreas Galatoulas, Data Science Director at AECOM. Find out how the data curious mind can work out if you’re single or not just by looking in your shopping basket. Also listen out for Andreas’s tips on how to get into data science.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Andreas works in a team where there are lots of people who know how to model and mainly focus on that. You can be amazing at it but having communication skills can really make you stand out. Andreas also recommends that you have your own portfolio ready to go.
- The algorithms involved in something as simple as reading the news on your phone is highly manipulated. Confirmation bias works on a wheel, you click on a link because you’re interested, then you see those kinds of links more often, then eventually all you see is what you want to see. The algorithm won’t show you wider ideas and wider thoughts than the one’s it knows you will engage with.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Your models are just glorified Excel spreadsheets’
‘Why did you buy this product? I don’t believe you have a girlfriend’
‘People are not aware of how they give their data away’
EPISODE RESOURCEShttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andreas-galatoulas-2b680a29/
https://aecom.com/
https://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/gender-bias-decoder/
ABOUT THE GUEST“Through my career I have worked in different industries to help them gain useful insight from their data. Lately, I am working in insurance where my roles are focused on transforming the companies from their traditional business to data driven. As a mathematician, I have worked with data in different roles in my career either as a developer, analyst and product manager. I am data enthusiastic and when I see data I am looking for patterns and exploring them further so that the businesses can reach their potentials. I have excellent project management skills and am trained and experienced in running and launching projects using agile methods.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOSTWendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
PODCAST DESCRIPTIONInterviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they’ve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Paul Agapow, Biomedical and Epi-informatic Data Science Leader focusing on solving complex cross-disciplinary problems at AstraZeneca. Find out Paul’s tips on getting into data science and his brilliant explanation on how pharmacy drugs get to the market.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-If you’ve done a masters in anything even remotely related to data science, then you can make a go of it. But keep in mind, regardless of your qualifications you should tell employers what you did and what problems you solved, rather than the tools you know how to use. The main value of a master's degree is just showing a minimal low bar on your skills to employers.
-Companies know they need data science but they don’t necessarily know why they need it or how it should be used. If you can show an employer that you know the questions they need answered through data science, they will they will want to bring you into the team.
-Data is rarely unbiased. While doing data studies on patients, Paul comes across a certain type of person most often. WEIRD, or white, educated, from industrialised nations, rich, and democratic. The other way to look at it is that there is a large amount of this type of person who are likely to show up to early drug trials.
-90% of genomic data is from the US or Europe. And breaking it down further, 86% is from the US, UK, and Iceland. This is a very narrow data set and for better results the sample size should be larger and more diverse.
BEST MOMENTS
‘It takes $2 Billion and 10 years to go from a drug candidate to a drug on the market’
‘Some of the projects data scientists do are so off the wall!’
‘If you think you've even got a 10% chance of getting in then apply for the job’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-agapow/
https://www.astrazeneca.com/
https://www.meetup.com/Bioinformatics-London/
ABOUT THE GUEST
“Originally a biochemist and immunologist, I was fortunate enough to stumble into computer science and informatics, realizing how powerful and vital they would become in biological research. Following many years working on computational biology in the context of infectious disease and epidemiology, in academia, government and industry, I'm now a Health Informatics Director at AstraZeneca, based in tropical Cambridge UK. There I work on a wide range of innovative projects, exploring the possibilities of biomedical Big Data and its application to personalized medicine and therapies, in particular the use of novel algorithms and machine learning in discovering patient subtypes and predicting outcomes.”
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Áine Phelan, Manager of Behavioural Science at Afterpay, working on Strategy and Data Science. Find out about the long road that led Áine to data science, and what difficulties women face when applying for jobs in the industry.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-Áine had a long route into data science, moving to Sydney from Ireland and working as an analyst. Then working as a teacher then back into analytics. It was only after she discovered an interest in data science that she considered a career in it. The route into these jobs is never straight forward.
-As a woman in business there is always the challenge of overcoming perfectionistic thinking. Many women will be put off a job of they don’t fit every category, whereas men are more likely to apply even if they tick fewer boxes.
-Áine recommends the book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’ by Caroline Criado Perez. Linked in the Episode Resources.
BEST MOMENTS
‘You need to be thinking outside the box at this moment in time’
‘What’s very motivating about where I’m working currently is that there’s a desire to make people’s lives better’
‘You need to overrepresent the underrepresented’
EPISODE RESOURCES
afterpay.com/en-AU
Áine Phelan on LinkedIn
Invisible Women Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Women in Data Science Worldwide Facebook group
The God Delusion
Women Don't Owe You Pretty
ABOUT THE GUEST
Áine is a data professional with 15 years' experience including rocketship FinTech, ASX Top-20 Financial Services and some of the world's leading Telco carriers and vendors.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years. Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Lukas Innig, Director of Data Science Practice for Central Europe at DataRobot. Find out about automated machine learning and listen to Wendy and Lukas discussing data science ethics.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-The work of a data scientist should be taking business problems and translating them into data problems, and vice versa. What happens in between, the data prep for example, can be automated, especially with the creation of more advanced tools.
-Machine learning models will replicate bias in the data. When creating your data sets you have to identify where possible bias may be and how you can either balance the bias or exclude it all together.
-There may be an argument to re-visit old data sets and models to search for historic bias.
BEST MOMENTS
‘If you study maths you can do everything, but also nothing specifically’
‘I know I've worked hard to get where I am, but I never would have got here without luck’
‘If I was an evil billionaire, I'd have the money to make sure nobody knows about it’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-innig-b2b46056/
https://www.datarobot.com/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Vera Hazelwood, Director of Data Science Communities at AstraZeneca. Hear all about how Vera helped in the building of tsunami warnings in Southeast Asia using data science.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Vera trained and worked as a mathematician for thirteen years before making the shift into data science, as it was a new field, she never specifically studied it.
- There are lots of publicly available data sets so it’s possible to download the data and get more familiar with how it all works before going into a career. Doing things in your own time, off your own back will only benefit you in the long run.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to someone in data science and ask questions. It’s such an open community and you’ll find the majority of people are happy to help.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Data science can be quite easy for someone who understands maths with an abstract way of looking at things’
‘Be prepared to create your own credibility’
‘The amount of millionaires and billionaires who aren’t on TV and aren’t on the news who actually invest in worthy causes is brilliant’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-hazelwood-5908b5b/
https://www.astrazeneca.com/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Victor Moron Tejero, Senior Director in Data Science for Choregraph. Victor is the hiring manager in his current role so this is a must listen to find out what advice he has to give. Also join the conversation on data science abroad, and what Victor thinks the data science landscape will look like in 10 years' time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-When getting into the industry Victor took courses on machine learning to understand the problems that people have and how data science can solve them.
-It’s very likely that two data science job roles are extremely different. When looking for your first role in data science don’t be put off if you can't find the right role right away. Even if you get to the interview stage and aren’t successful, it’s important to ask for honest feedback. It might be that the specifics of a role just don’t suit the specifics of your skillset.
-Start simple, don’t over complicate things just because you can. A lot of people try to solve a problem without trying the simplest solution first. Then that allows you to move outwards in complexity when working on your model.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Everyone in data science is lovely and so open to mentor and help you learn’
‘If you have a diverse enough team then you can use that to make your results as accurate and diverse as possible’
‘Artificial intelligence is neither artificial, or intelligent’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/victormoron/
https://www.choreograph.com/
https://www.codecademy.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Victor describes himself as dedicated, curious, highly motivated and solutions orientated professional with experience in data analysis, mathematical modeling, algorithm development and programming in dynamic fast-paced and international environments. Seeking to develop a career in a tech/digital company with entrepreneurial spirit.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Christian Cardone, Chief Data Scientist at NovaFori. Hear Christian’s advice for getting into data science and narrowing down your field to maximise your learning potential.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-Data science isn’t just about modeling, that’s only about 20% of the job. The rest is about how you put it together, what considerations do you take into account to make sure it works. You need to monitor your models, will it be relevant in one or two years.
-When going into data science you should have an idea of what you want to do. It’s impossible to know everything so it will be advantageous to narrow down your field to what you enjoy or what you’re talented at.
-LinkedIn is a good resource to use to find out more about the vast data science field. Follow the people working in the field you’re interested in and read and comment on their posts. Some people are happy to explain and give advice if you show an interest. It’s an open-sourced community.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I like to see how things are matching together and how you can use that to find a solution’
‘We don’t even know what 50% of the roles in 10 years' time will be’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-cardone-453884119/
https://www.novafori.com/
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Alexander Radev, expert in data science. Hear their conversation about how to 'get into' data science and how companies should start developing their own talent rather than letting them leave for more experienced jobs.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Alexander believes having a statistical background isn’t enough you need to do some software engineering to fully understand data science.
In the next 10 years Alexander believes that companies should gradually build their teams and train and promote people who want to be leaders. In the current market, people tend to leave and switch companies to move up.
BEST MOMENTS
‘What was there last year might not be the same as what there is this year’
‘We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do, we hire smart people to tell us what to do’
‘There are companies where I would work for them and take their money, but I wouldn’t use them and give them money’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aradev/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Alexander is an expert data scientist and data science leader who builds and develops world class teams and who delivers scalable data pipelines and data products for companies with no-nonsense attitude, realistic expectations and practical approach towards data, insight, machine learning and AI.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Shoreful Islam, Founder and Managing Director of Subatomic Analytics, Chief Data scientist and Practice Lead at Tribal Worldwide London, and also Chief Product and Data Officer at OutThink. Hear Shoreful’s advice on how to get into the world of data science through demonstrating understanding. Also find out how a Marvel superhero helped name Shoreful’s business.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-For a graduate with a degree in maths or computer science, it can be easy to get into data science. But it’s often the case that you’ll move on to consultancy work eventually where the softer skills are important for those kinds of relationships.
-Build a personal portfolio where you can show off your skills and more importantly answer a fundamental question of your own that you could apply to a business. Have a reason to show off your technical expertise. Show the employer you can do more than just show off the data, show them you know how to apply it for them.
-Shoreful has someone on his team that was trained up through an apprenticeship, you don’t necessarily need a degree unless you’re specialising. And you don’t need to go out and get a master's degree unless the company is specific about wanting one.
BEST MOMENTS
‘How do you use the analysis to add value to the organisation’
‘Avoid assuming everything is a technical problem’
‘Everyone knows they need data scientist in their company, but they don’t know what they need it for’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shorful/
https://outthink.io/
https://www.tribalworldwide.co.uk/
https://www.subatomicanalytics.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Having worked across client side, agency side as well as public bodies in the area of data, analytics and insights, Shoreful has helped organisations use data to deliver results. He has worked as a researcher and analyst to being on the board of organisation, so understands the detail and bigger strategy of what an organisation is hoping to achieve. He has always had to create and grow teams in all my roles, from growing and running a data and insights division for a large agency of over 100 people to creating his own data science team of around 30. Currently, working with a Cyber Security startup, building out their product and analytical capabilities and also running an analytics consultancy, Shoreful enjoys helping companies use data and advanced analytical techniques to run a better organisation. He also likes working with analysts, strategists, creatives and techies, getting his hands dirty optimising analytical methodologies, brainstorming solutions, or sitting at the board with C-suite to help them determine how they can realise their vision and help them create a strategy to deliver it.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Preriit Souda, Director of Data Science and Strategic Insights at PSA Consultants. Join the discussion on the ethics involved in data science, using and learning the right tools for the job, and encouraging curiosity about data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-As it’s a relatively new career, the data science work force has grown from a pool of other careers such as computer science and statistics. You’ll find many of the people who got on at the ground floor don’t have a traditional route into the field.
-The difference between a good data scientist and a bad one is their domain knowledge. You may know how to use Python, but a really good data scientist will be diverse in their skillset and what tools and methods they can use. The more tools you know the more qualified you are.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Be inquisitive about the data’
‘Sometimes the biggest fanciest tools aren’t the ones making a change’
‘Life isn’t simply in the black and white, it’s in the grey’
EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.linkedin.com/in/preritsouda/
https://www.psaconsultants.co/
https://www.udemy.com/
https://www.coursera.org/
https://generalassemb.ly/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Preriit Souda is the Director of Data Science and Strategic Insights at PSA Consultants. In this role Preriit works with commercial brands, governmental departments, and political entities. Also partnering with insight agencies and strategy firms.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by guest Jonothan Leslie, Director of Data Science at Pivigo. Find out about how Jonothan got into data science, his advice for someone just starting out in the industry, and how he thinks data science can be used to help those in disadvantaged groups.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- It doesn’t hurt having a masters in data science but it’s necessary to work in the field. It might be the placements involved in them that companies want to see on your applications.
- Try to find where the most pressing gaps are in your portfolio of experience and try to fill them. In Data science there are so many different things to learn and it can feel like a chaotic experience trying to learn everything. Be strategic in your plan and focus on the things you need to know but don’t know yet.
- Jonathan is a fan of seeing data science work that benefits society or disadvantaged people in some way. He worked on a project where they tried to detect wildfires from satellite imagery, which is a problem that can affect a lot of people and having this knowledge could make a widespread positive impact.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The algorithm that detected supposed criminality was trained on a bias data set’
‘I’m sure having a more diverse team helps your data science be more inclusive’
EPISODE RESOURCEShttps://www.pivigo.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-leslie/
https://s2ds.org/
ABOUT THE GUESTJonathan leads a team of data scientists who are responsible for the design and delivery of data science initiatives both for clients and across the Pivigo organisation. They specialise in the use of data analytics, statistics and predictive methodologies to drive business decisions in a wide range of contexts. Their work utilises exploratory data analysis, data visualisation and machine learning to gain insight from existing data and to help their clients make informed strategic decisions.
He is involved in community outreach programmes, mentoring the S2DS data science training programme and volunteering as a data science mentor to those at early career stages.
VALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.