Jay Feng created a viral project using Seattle crime data and later got into data science. He later founded "Interview Query" helping data scientists get jobs. We'll talk about how he landed his data science job through his blog, and his journey from data scientist to founder. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on ⁠www.dalianaliu.com⁠ for more on data science and career.

Daliana's Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu⁠

Daliana’s LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/⁠

Jay Feng's LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-feng-ab66b049/⁠

Jay Feng's YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DataScienceJay⁠

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:01:11) From engineer to data scientist

(00:03:10) Got a job through a project

(00:05:35) Daliana's portfolio project with Zillow

(00:09:13) From data scientist to entreprenuer

(00:13:19) "Tinder" for job

(00:15:01) How he chose companies to work for

(00:15:56) Why he became an entreprenuer

(00:17:37) How many hours does he work

(00:18:54) Challenges when building "interview query"

(00:20:18) Speed vs scale

(00:22:11) Growth hacks he used

(00:24:22) YouTube vs newsletter

(00:27:21) Lessons he learned as a CEO

(00:29:16) How to grow from tech employee to founder

(00:31:59) How he defines success

(00:34:38) If you have a business idea for Jay

Erik Gafni builds AI systems and teams. He founded Eventum AI (https://bit.ly/eventum-ai), an ML consulting company working with high-growth startups. We talked about GenAI projects he worked on, how he built production ML systems, how to scale ML teams, and his journey from biologist to ML researcher.

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:01:59) Is GenAI overhyped?

(00:04:28) Ascent translation with AI

(00:11:58) Social media app with AI

(00:14:00) Stable diffusion model evaluation

(00:15:57) "Consult-to-hire" model

(00:17:35) AI in biotech

(00:22:46) Self-supervised learning

(00:31:22) How he hires people

(00:33:19) Research vs production

(00:35:57) Is AGI coming?

(00:37:30) New trends in GenAI

(00:41:45) Data quality in GenAI

(00:42:58) Philosophy in LLMs

(00:49:48) OpenAI vs Open Source

(00:53:58) Mistakes he made

(00:57:41) How did he get into ML

Jay Feng is the CEO of interview query, a service that help data scientists get jobs. Previously he worked as a data scientist at Nextdoor, Monster. We talked about data science job market, the rise of AI engineering, and the softskills people overlook during interviews. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.

Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu

Daliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/

Jay Feng's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-feng-ab66b049/

Jay Feng's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DataScienceJay

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:11 Data science job market in 2024

00:09:13 Build projects with AI

00:16:19 Softskills in interviews

00:23:18 Daliana's story on "socializing ideas"

00:28:38 Common mistakes in interviews

00:35:30 Product DS vs ML interviews

00:36:27 Product analytics interview questions

00:39:18 Career transition in DS

00:43:04 Jay's career journey

00:45:38 Is there a principal data analyst?

00:51:52 AI engineer

00:54:28 New roles vs obsolete roles in DS

01:04:46 Is data science dead?

We are joined by two data scientists who have firsthand experience with layoffs. We’ll talk about how to negotiate severance packages, how to handle stress, strategies for job hunting post-layoff, and how to reduce risks in full-time employment.

Working with Daliana on personal branding: https://forms.gle/heNuZzaHjaAMQwLu6

Her email: [email protected]

Guests:

Susan Shu Chang:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-shu-chang/

Newsletter: susanshu.substack.com

Sundar Swaminathan

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sswamina3/

Website: https://www.sundarswaminathan.com/⁠

(00:00:00) Introduction

Jenny Wu is a data analyst turned sales engineer for data products at Hex. We talked about sales engineer vs data analyst, how to design a career based on your personality, and how to transition into a customer-facing role.

(00:00:00) Introduction

Barry McCardel is the cofounder and CEO of Hex(free trial: hex.tech/dsshow), a collaborative data workspace. Their customers include FiveTran, Notion, and Anthropic. We talked about what does the future of data team look like, how to tackle challenges of data team collaborations, and how to leverage AI in data science’s workflow.

(00:06:08) Are data science teams getting smaller?

(00:09:54) What is Hex?

(00:24:29) Should data scientists be full stack?

(00:31:23) How data team measure ROI

(00:41:39) How to hire your first data team?

(00:53:55) GenAI in data science workflows

(00:59:03) Future of data scientist

(01:02:30) New features in Hex

Siddhartha Sharan is a Senior Data and Applied Scientist at Microsoft, helping product teams make data-driven decisions. Currently he is working on an AI product built with OpenAI APIs for sentiment analysis. We talked about how he evaluates AI products built with large language models at Microsoft, product data science, and how he went from a business background to data science. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.

Sid’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthasharan/

Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu

Daliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/

(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:05:20) How does Microsoft evaluate AI product
(00:16:17) Using OpenAI API for sentiment analysis
(00:25:29) Microsoft data science team culture
(00:26:52) DS, PM collaboration
(00:28:29) Three steps to build trust in data science
(00:30:13) How did he got into Microsoft
(00:34:09) Level up in Genetech
(00:36:09) ML engineer vs Product DS
(00:37:43) Core skills in product DS
(00:40:20) Hiring
(00:42:47) How to deal with burnout
(00:45:03) Should you over work to earn trust?
(00:45:44) Daliana's story about first day at Amazon
(00:49:54) Will AI replace data scientists?
(00:51:32) Data scientist's role of GenAI
(00:54:32) How to keep up with GenAI

Jess Ramos is a Senior Data Analyst at Crunchbase, a LinkedIn Learning Instructor, and a content creator in the data space. She has a bachelor's degree in Math, Spanish, and Business from Berry University and a master's in Business Analytics from University of Georgia. Today we’ll talk about SQL in the real world, data analyst vs data scientist, is job hopping bad, how she negotiated her salary. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.

Preparing to Get a Job in Data Analytics: shorturl.at/sCNPT

Solve Real-World Data Problems with SQL: https://bit.ly/3Zq6wnd

Big Data Energy Newsletter: https://bit.ly/46x4rIR

Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu

Mehdi Noori is an applied science manager at the Generative AI Innovation Center at Amazon. I used to work with Mehdi while we were at the Machine Learning Solutions Lab at AWS. So before Amazon, Mehdi was a data scientist working on marketing intelligence. Mehdi has a PhD from University of Central Florida in civil engineering and sustainability. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter for more on data science and career www.dalianaliu.com

Mehdi Noori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehdi-noori/

Predicting Soccer Goals: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/predicting-soccer-goals-in-near-real-time-using-computer-vision/

My friend Misty moved to a farm in Portugal after her 20 years of career in finance. We talked about her experience moving from the busy corporate life to the farm life where she does a lot of manual work. Was it challenging, how does her finance work, and what is her advice to other people who also want to explore a different path outside of the modern city life. I hope this episode will give you a different perspective about your career.

Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:11:41) Life on the farm

(00:15:46) Her finance plans

(00:22:55) Her career journey

(00:27:14) What do accountants do

(00:32:29) I thought I would be happy

(00:41:25) Daliana's personal view about finance; when it's enough for you

(00:44:41) Does she feel lonely on a farm?

(00:48:39) What if she didn't leave the corporate world?

(00:54:07) Does she regret her decision