Reply to: Entry level jobs in data science

[MyUserName]

Hi
I am a working professional and looking to get entry level data science jobs (python, sql, machine learning). Can someone suggest what would be a good approach to get a hit. thanks

Where I used to work might hire you if you want a permie role.

PM me if you are interested and I will give the HR director a shout.

[RasputinDude]

They don't, they behave entirely predictably. I have made a fortune from that.

Touché. What I should have written is "Populations don't always behave the way that you expect which means that you are missing something"

[minestrone]

Entry level jobs in data science? Go back to university, get a PhD in a rigorous scientific discipline and then do a few years post-doc research where you are training some sort of neural network and have a heavy understanding and use of statistics. Publish a few papers.

My experience is that a team of data scientists made up of biologists, chemists and physicists with one or two statisticians is optimal.

Don't think that it's just few big SQL queries, it's not. You'll need to be programming (albeit in something like python) and you will need to understand how to use R and (for some reason) LaTeX.

And yes, a lot of the time it is tedious and frustrating as there can be massive holes in the data, the populations behave in strange unpredictable ways that completely invalidate your hypotheses and you still have to make sense of what the data is telling you and your requests to run more experiments are denied because you have had long enough and marketing need to do some crap or other

They don't, they behave entirely predictably. I have made a fortune from that.

[minestrone]

I work with a "data scientist" he has remedial level maths and knows how to work a pivot table in excel. I shouted "I have got an honours in mechanical" at him once. Still feel a bit bad about that.

[northernladuk]

Permie? Correct me if i'm wrong but it's very unlikely unless he has experience. Nobody seems to be handing out entry level perm jobs like that anymore. More than likely gonna be an ftc,temp or internship role just to get the foot in the door. Similar to what graduates have to do.

Yeah but that's not going to give you the experience you need to secure roles against highly skilled and experienced people. You've got to try get in somewhere you can grown in to the role and get enough experience over time. Yes it's not easy but you need solid experience to then sell your skills to the highest bidder.

[GmartSuy]

Get a permie job that will offer you the ability to get training and gain some experience. Stick with it for a couple of years and then have a look at what's left of contracting.

Permie? Correct me if i'm wrong but it's very unlikely unless he has experience. Nobody seems to be handing out entry level perm jobs like that anymore. More than likely gonna be an ftc,temp or internship role just to get the foot in the door. Similar to what graduates have to do.

[Paralytic]

My experience in big companies is that the data scientists are told the expected results and are asked to produce a model that shows that result.

[RasputinDude]

Entry level jobs in data science? Go back to university, get a PhD in a rigorous scientific discipline and then do a few years post-doc research where you are training some sort of neural network and have a heavy understanding and use of statistics. Publish a few papers.

My experience is that a team of data scientists made up of biologists, chemists and physicists with one or two statisticians is optimal.

Don't think that it's just few big SQL queries, it's not. You'll need to be programming (albeit in something like python) and you will need to understand how to use R and (for some reason) LaTeX.

And yes, a lot of the time it is tedious and frustrating as there can be massive holes in the data, the populations behave in strange unpredictable ways that completely invalidate your hypotheses and you still have to make sense of what the data is telling you and your requests to run more experiments are denied because you have had long enough and marketing need to do some crap or other

[Old Greg]

I am a data scientist. And most people find what I do incredibly tedious. But it is highly stressful. One wrong move and everything falls apart.Attention to detail is critical.

We are the biggest supplier of aggregated financial data. And just taken on a new partnership dramatically increasing our scope.

At least the bar to entry is very low.

[hungry_hog]

A friend of mine has taken this track

Having worked as a BA, his route to it was to complete a Masters in DS. The Masters landed him an internship and that got him a full time job.

There are now lots of grads with a Data Science or Machine learning background, either doing those subjects directly, or affiliated courses (Comp Sci, Engineering, Physics) and in his option it has become a bit oversaturated.

Just be aware of what you are getting into, it's not a magic bullet solution

[ladymuck]

I wouldn't call myself a data scientist, as that implies a level of competence/training I don't have, but I do a fair amount of number crunching and data analysis that lots of people make decisions on.

It can be tedious interspersed with eureka moments and genuine thanks from people who use the output and see a real difference.

As BP says, attention to detail is crucial. As is the ability to understand the data and what it means. People don't like to see numbers, they want to see what the number means, what the trend is, a suggestion of what they need to do to make the number better. So, for some industries, it's not enough to know the coding side, you also have to know what it is you're looking at and whether the values you're seeing are good/bad/indifferent.

This guy, Hans Rosling, is a master at data visualisation and interpretation. But don't go thinking he knocked up that presentation after an afternoon in the pub...

[BrilloPad]

If it is the latter I’d have another think about it because I’ve paired with real data scientists doing that for a day job and to be honest I found it quite tedious.

I am a data scientist. And most people find what I do incredibly tedious. But it is highly stressful. One wrong move and everything falls apart.Attention to detail is critical.

We are the biggest supplier of aggregated financial data. And just taken on a new partnership dramatically increasing our scope.

[PlanB]

Hi
I am a working professional and looking to get entry level data science jobs (python, sql, machine learning). Can someone suggest what would be a good approach to get a hit. thanks

Do you have a genuine interest in data science? Or are you looking to catch the next wave of opportunity?

If it is the latter I’d have another think about it because I’ve paired with real data scientists doing that for a day job and to be honest I found it quite tedious.

It is crunching data and applying statistics to come up with insights. If that floats your boat then there are some remote mscs in data science if you want an intro without giving up the day job.

Make the move quick though because there are going to be hundreds of DS grads in the next few years. What they are all going to do God only knows.

[northernladuk]

Get a permie job that will offer you the ability to get training and gain some experience. Stick with it for a couple of years and then have a look at what's left of contracting.

[ladymuck]

How much experience of data science do you have?