Episodes
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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
Niklasâ favourite piece of tech ever is the internet, not just for the amazing communication skills but because itâs 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 âwhat does an employer want to seeâ. Niklas advises that you demonstrate something youâre 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 youâre passionate about it you will work harder on it and can talk about it in a much more engaging way.Be well prepared. If youâre planning on doing a data science bootcamp then find out what youâll be doing on the course. If youâll 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 youâre more engineer minded then you should consider going down that path for a better change of employment.Data science was called âthe sexiest job in the 21st centuryâ which has attracted people who arenât as interested in the job itself, more the salary. If passion is your motivator you will be more employable.BEST MOMENTS
âI finished my masters at FC Barcelona, which was a dreamâ
âYouâre going in there to learn and youâre going to learn hardâ
âPython is the 2nd best language for every problem you can encounterâ
âNobody can learn by looking at someone else codeâ
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 theyâve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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This week on Would You Data Scientist, Wendy is joined by Nikolay Bashlykov, an expert in data science and machine learning. Find out Nikolayâs tips on getting into data and why he thinks that machine learning should not be the be all and end all of your skillset. Thereâs also Wendyâs usual deep dive into ethics, diversity, and the challenges you may face when you pivot into data.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Nikoleyâs 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 canât 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 youâre getting into data then itâs 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 donât do the things you learn, then you will probably forget it and wonât be able to demonstrate that you have done it. Once youâve 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
âMachine learning is not the Holy Grailâ
âLearn something new, start applying it straight away, and build on top of itâ
âI think machine learning will merge with software engineeringâ
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 theyâve faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Episodes manquant?
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 socialsABOUT 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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 RESOURCES
Joseph on LinkedIn
www.clubview.ioVALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socialsABOUT 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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 RESOURCES
Mousami on LinkedInVALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socialsABOUT 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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 ConferenceGoogle 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 socialsABOUT 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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 hereVALUABLE RESOURCES
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socialsABOUT 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.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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