Data Science Articles

As the year end approaches we decided to dig through the 2017 archives to figure out what were the most read articles of the year. It is an interesting mix - deep-dives into what’s going on in Data Sci ...

You are a new junior data scientist and you want to get started the right way. You want to make sure you don't make the same mistakes others have made early in their data scientist careers b ...

You are familiar with the basics of data science and now you want to level up. You're familiar with applying off-the-shelf ML algorithms and have gotten your feet wet with data wrangling and ...

Hello Friends! We are starting this blog to shed light on how people are using Data and Data Science to change the world. Please get in touch if you would like to share your story! To get us ...

We continue answering questions for the nontraditional data science job candidate who recently asked us about how to become a data scientist when their educational background was in marketing and soc ...

When looking for a data science job, you will have to chose what job seniority to apply to. There are junior data science jobs, there are mid-level data science jobs, and there are senior data scienc ...

You have experience working with data but when you read job postings they all seem to want things you've never used or barely even heard of. You've manipulated, organized, and mined various ...

Your resume is a specific marketing communication Before we launch into advice on how to craft a stand-out resume, it is important to remind ourselves of the purpose of a resume. After all, kn ...

You know you need to tailor your resume to each company you apply to, but you don’t know where to start. Some people have suggested finding out which Data Scientists are working there today, but a ...

Many times I've been told by a recruiter that I wasn't qualified for the job because I don't have a phD (even though the job listing often says an MS is sufficient)… You’re about to gradua ...

"I'm looking for a summer internship ... I've been looking at some of the big companies (Google, Amazon, etc) but I suspect that there are a lot of interesting places I don't know about..." ...

"My academic cv is very much focused on papers published and not so much on skills and experience. From what I understand a business resume should focus more on experience and skills. Any thoughts/ ...

If you're starting out building your Data Science credentials you've probably often heard the advice "do a Kaggle project". And, those folks are right, its a great way to start to get your hands dirt ...

I am currently a Master's student in Statistics, and am interested in and trying to get into the Data Science job market. I am wondering what would be the best means of showcasing my skills. ...

Do I need a strong math background to pursue a career as a data scientist? We see a lot of questions like this. Its hard when you're trying to break into the field to know exactly ho ...

You want to combine your experience in your current professions (called field X) for this article, with your rapidly increasing knowledge of data science. However, you're not sure if data science is ...

What gaps in my current background/skill set should I be working on so that I can get a data science job? Your background and desired career path are slightly different than other people's. ...

"I would like to know if one has to be a committer in some Apache project to gain the acceptance as a Data Engineer in the eye of a Hiring Manager" A fellow reader recently asked us this ...

You're spending hours on your resume and still have no job interviews to show for it. You've been having trouble landing Data Science job interviews and think your resume may be hurting you. You'v ...

"I've spent all afternoon trying to make this thing look good - and it's still an eyesore!" You've not had the best afternoon :( You've spent it moving, and re-moving text around your resume; you' ...

You're heading out to a Meetup and wondering what you should do to make the most of the networking opportunities. Or, perhaps you have an informational interview with a Data Scientist and/or Hiring M ...

You've spent the morning reading blog posts - going back-and-forth on whether to include a Summary Section on your resume as you read one opinion after another that contradict each other. You've look ...

Wondering exactly what should be on your Data Science Resume? Spending a lot of time scouring resume advice sites but not finding anything specific to Data Science? It can be hard (not to mention tim ...

"Surely I don't need a cover letter - my resume will speak for itself" - Data Science Job Applicant You've been putting this bit off for weeks. You thought you'd get the resume right a ...

Aaagh! Yes, we're still talking cover letters. In the previous post (Tip #1) we shared how to tailor your Cover Letter for each application. Now, time for Tip #2… 2. Sa ...

Ok, last one on cover letters for now! In the previous 2 posts (Tip #1, Tip #2) we shared How to tailor your Cover Letter for each application and How to Say Something New; Do ...

Ok, you’re getting close to done. You finally have a fleshed out resume and cover letter but you’re still feeling a bit insecure about it… Have you presented a compelling *and* accurat ...

“I know project work is important to put on my resume, but I don’t know what (or how much) to write” You’ve been told the Projects section is important to include on on your resume, but th ...

I’ve done a few projects off my own back to try to be taken seriously. Which of these should I be putting on my resume?” The Projects section will be more or less important for you ...

You've got an interview and you've found out an exam will be given to you. All that you've been told is that, at some point of your choosing in the next few weeks, you'll be given 4 hours to ingest a ...

You have decided to start a data science training program. Maybe it's a bootcamp, maybe it's a fellowship, maybe it's an apprenticeship, or maybe it's a professional degree like a masters program. In ...

Congrats on taking the plunge! If in 9 months you need to be employed as a data analyst, then we can do some backwards planning: Month 10 - Start Job Month 9-10 - Receive offer(s), decide, mov ...

A recent graduate in New York City wanted to move to New Orleans (NoLa) with his girlfriend and approached me to help him find an entry level data science job in New Orleans. A big fear he had was t ...

We continue answering questions for the nontraditional data science job candidate who recently asked us about how to become a data scientist when their educational background was in marketing and soc ...

You find yourself overwhelmed with all the various tools mentioned in data science forums. You were hoping MATLAB would be enough, but you are inundated with advice of how to get started. You get ad ...

It's hard to know the right approach to use when looking for a data science job You have decided to look for a new job in the data science field and are finding it very hard. As someone new ...

Do you feel like you do not stack up well against other people looking for a data science job because you have no "real world experience"? You have a good combination of academic background ...

"What Is The Best Way To Land A Data Science Job?" You've done a bit of statistics, mathematical modeling, and programming so data science seems like a field you would enjoy working in. Bein ...

You've started looking around on data science job websites, but they're all looking for senior level positions You've started looking for a Junior Data Science job on job websites. Almost al ...

You're going to industry events to network with data science hiring managers and they don't seem very interested in someone with your background. You've been told networking is crucial to ge ...

Employers want you to be value-adding from day 1. They don't have time to wait 90, 180, or even 360 days for you to start adding value. To that end, having a data science portfolio which showcases yo ...

Congratulations - you interviewed for a data science position at a company and got hired! Not only that, you are the first data scientist this company has hired. There are no other data scientists a ...

You are looking for personal data science project ideas to build into your porfolio. As someone lacking large amounts of professional experience, you don't have tons of work experience to point to, s ...

You know you should have some data science projects on your resume/portfolio to show what you know. The only problem is that although you've taken some intro courses at your school, gone through some ...

You're relatively new to DS, you're about to start project, and you're looking to make sure that you're going to be on the right track so that you don't fall into bad habits and methods early on and ...

When interviewing for a data science job you will have to show your programming abilities. You will have to show your math and stats abilities. You will also have to show your business expertise. It ...

We recently interviewed Matthieu Scordia, a Data Scientist at Dataiku about his background, work at Dataiku and the role they're currently hiring for. Matthieu himself graduated with a master's ...

We recently posted an analysis of the most-read articles on our newsletter for the past two quarters. We were curious to understand what was getting the most clicks and if there were any consistent ...

Over the past few months we have been lucky enough to conduct in-depth interviews with 15 different Data Scientists for our blog. The 15 interviewees have varied roles and focus areas: from start-up founders to academics to those working at more established companies; working across healthcare, energy, retail, agriculture, travel, dating, SaaS and more...

Do you find yourself thinking I'm a bit of an unlikely candidate to do Data Science because I don't have a PhD in Computer Science or Mathematics? Do you feel like almost all of the companies hiring Data Scientists are looking for people with advanced degrees, so you find yourself wondering if you should go through 5-6 years in a PhD program? As you look at the "Data Science Venn Diagram" or the "Becoming a Data Scientist – Curriculum via Metromap" do you find yourself wondering if you have what it takes to make it?...

A Day in the Life of a Functional Data Scientist Richard Minerich explains how ideas and tools from functional programming can save time, prevent subtle mistakes in data science, and how he incorp ...

Over the past few months we have been lucky enough to conduct in-depth interviews with another 15 different Data Scientists. The 15 interviewees have varied roles and focus areas: from start-up founders to academics to those working at more established companies; working across content discovery, gaming, genomics, health and fitness, entertainment, mobile/communications and more…

Last year I made a list off the top of my head of awesome things other people did. I loved doing it so much that I'm doing it again for 2014...

We've compiled the latest set of "most read" articles from the Data Science Weekly Newsletter. This is what is most popular thus far in 2015 - a mix of interesting applications of data science, advice on how best to get into the field, and unique explanations of some of the core concepts / techniques…

Nick himself is a senior engineering manager, heading up the data engineering efforts on the engineering team at Graphiq. Nick joined the company in January 2013 after graduating from UCSB with a PhD in computer science in the area of data management and data mining. Nick received his Bachelors of Science in computer science and engineering from Ohio State University...

Carlos himself joined Patreon in May 2015 after completing an MBA at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. His professional experience includes statistical modeling of natural catastrophe risk, management at a music technology company, and strategy consulting. He also plays the drums for Pomplamoose, the band co-founded by Patreon's CEO Jack Conte...

A nontraditional data science job candidate recently asked about how to become a data scientist when their education background was in marketing and social media. Before answering our friend’s questions about whether they need a degree or what topics/languages they should learn, it’s helpful to step back to look at the bigger question: How do I get hired as a data scientist with a nontraditional background?...

You took a free online course to add to your credentials in hopes of getting a data science job. Perhaps, you’re like a friend who asked us a few weeks ago “Is DataCamp.com okay to put on a resume?” especially since the DataCamp website is focused on teaching R for those wanting to becoming a Data Analyst. Maybe instead of a DataCamp course, you’ve taken one of the free MOOCs?...

You applied for and received an interview for a data science role. Congratulations! If you’re like most people though, this is when the thoughts of “how do I really stand out so that I can get the job” kick into high gear. Instead of thinking about it a few times a day when your mind drifts from your other work, these thoughts now consume almost all of your waking hours. You think about it as you get out of bed in the mornings, as you go through your schedule during the day, and finally as you brush your teeth at night. It might even been causing you to stay awake at night because you can’t stop thinking about how to finally get the data science job that allows you way more money than you ever made as a graduate student while at the same time allowing you to play with math, statistics, and computers...

Obviously a great deal of tech companies (from the Facebooks and Netflixes of the world all the way down to startups that started last week) are located in the San Fran area so it makes sense that there will be a big pull for data scientists there. Add to the mix that a big proportion of venture capital money is in that area, and it really does make it seem like that’s the only place to get a data science job...

You have started to get interested in data science recently, and always find it interesting spending time thinking about the best way to analyze your data. Your background isn’t computer science, though you’ve studied lots of statistics and have may have every run a few experiments. You do a bit of programming and are decent at math. So you find yourself pondering what you can do after you finish your current project and would like to change fields for a different number of reasons...

When you read online descriptions of data analyst jobs do you feel like you’re not qualified? Do you feel like a cycle repair technician because you aren’t working with terabyte databases, running PhD-level math equations, and implementing your own machine learning algorithms? Do you feel like you are missing out on the sexy parts of data analysis, while all you do is the grunt work?...

Where do you go after you've started learning basic data science? You are already doing some exploratory data analysis with Python or R. You've done some modeling and machine learning as well. You may even have built data pipelines with a combination of R, Python, SQL, Unix, and other software. The question is - where do you go next?...

A prospective employer will look at your online profiles. This will help them get a bigger picture of you than what was in your resume and profile you filled out for your data science job application. When they find your data science portfolio they will judge your work. Which brings up a very important question - should you focus on quality or quantity?...

You are going to build a data science portfolio in order to showcase your skills. You will use it in order to attract potential employers, as well as something to speak about during the actual interview. You've read the article How To Choose A Data Science Project For Your Data Science Portfolio and have a few ideas of projects. The question now becomes, what do you do next... This article, will cover the basics of the bottom up approach - starting with the data...

You want to create a data science portfolio to showcase you can “do” data science. That you know how to take in a data set, clean it up, use various techniques to extract useful information from it, and then communicate the results. The problem is that you aren’t sure where to start, what projects to do, what languages to use, or even what techniques to use. You’ve read on several blogs people using just one or two algorithms to make awesome things and so you’re thinking of picking small interesting projects, but you’re afraid it’ll just be a waste of time.

You really want to avoid going back to school just to work on projects that will be your portfolio. You are busy. Interviewing is hard. Data Science is new and means different things to different people. And most of all, you're worried that since you are learning skills on your own time at home, you may not be learning the right things. So when you construct your data science portfolio, it may be all wrong...

Do you find yourself wanting to move into Data Science but keep hearing "get some data, analyze it, and you'll be fine..."? Have you developed many of the base skills for data science, such as programming, data analysis, and/or visualization but are unsure of how to apply them? Are you looking to differentiate yourself from the ever-growing pile of aspiring "data scientist" who have taken the usual Coursera classes and done Kaggle competitions?‍...You are not alone...