Would You Data Scientist?

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

LinkedIn

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

LinkedIn

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.

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.

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

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.



This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

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