Would You Data Scientist?

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.

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.

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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 RESOURCES
Joseph 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.

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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 RESOURCES
Mousami 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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.

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.