Comments on: Why becoming a data scientist might be easier than you think

By: Gaurav Jain

Gaurav Jain — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:19:34 +0000

i have done B.Tech in computer and want to know whether data scientist is a good carrier for me and how could i become a data scientist?
rply me at gauravpamecha20@gmail.com

By: Nagwa Abou El-Naga

Nagwa Abou El-Naga — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 20:53:25 +0000

Thanks to Professor Ng, who touches on an essential issue talking about the many talented people all over the world who just need an opportunity to distinguish themselves. In my teaching career I found that many students would die to find an affordable learning chance but their dreams ended up because of their financial situations that made them not able to cover the tuition fees and the long distance to reach places in the world that offer advanced learning experiences.
Nagwa Abou El-Naga

By: dylanhogg

dylanhogg — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Is there an accepted definition of a data scientist? The best definition that I’ve found is summarised by the Venn diagram originally created by Drew Conway (I may be wrong there) that encompasses 1. math/stats knowledge, 2. hacking/programming skills and 3. domain expertise.

In my experience Kaggle predictive analytics comps allow people to exercise the first 2 of these skill sets very well, while the third can be helpful but is non essential.

By: dylanhogg

dylanhogg — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 04:58:13 +0000

The best “definition” of a data scientist that I’ve found is the venn diagram originally created by Drew Conway (I may be wrong there) that encompasses 1. math/stats knowledge, 2. hacking/programming skills and 3. domain expertise.

In my experience Kaggle predictive analytics comps allow people to exercise the first 2 of these skill sets while the third can be helpful but is non essential.

By: Joseph Misiti

Joseph Misiti — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:10:45 +0000

Pascale – you can ping me at jmisiti at socialq dot com

Cheers Joe

By: Walid Saba

Walid Saba — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:25:28 +0000

first “sentiment analysis”, and now another hype word “data scientist”? God we’re good!

By: Guest

Guest — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 03:03:21 +0000

That’s exactly why these online classes are so good — smart people are everywhere and most of them, for different reasons, are not lucky enough to attend top universities. It makes the knowledge accessible to all.
Does that mean it’s easy to be a great data scientist? of cours not. ML is hard and applying it successfully in the real world is even harder. Not to mention that a data scientist needs to know
other stuff besides ML. It’s not just about collecting data and running your favorite algorithm in Weka.

By: xie1978

xie1978 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:35:56 +0000

I agree with you. The value of so called “Data Scientist”, is on how much value, namely the $$$, he/she can bring in based on data analysis. This is a combination of subject matter knowledge, analytic skill set, the capability to execute analytic plan in computing environment and transform analytic output into $$$ implications.

Kaggle does has it value in two folds. First, it is a power node in the social marketing network of the term Data Scientist. Second, it does specifically address part of the analytic skill set in the required portfolio

By: Pascale Scheurer

Pascale Scheurer — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:13:11 +0000

Joseph I found your blog post very informative. I agree with you that a course like this isn’t going to make you a fully fledged data scientist, but it would make it much easier to converse with an experienced data scientist, as part of a team or on the client-side.

I would be interested to know what you would advise to someone commissioning data analysis, who is expert in their own field but not in data science or programming.

By: Pascale Scheurer

Pascale Scheurer — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:01:00 +0000

Brilliant article, thank you Derrick. These free online courses offer an amazing opportunity. Particularly for parents who are stuck at home and don’t have much money, and for whatever reason need to create a change in their career path.

My husband and I (architect & engineer) are taking a two EdX and a Coursera course right now (Computer Science at Berkeley, AI at Harvard and Social Network Analysis at Michigan). We’re working on them together instead of watching TV in the evenings when our kids are in bed. We don’t have much money as we’re starting up a startup together and we chose to spend more time with our kids while they are small. It’s a lot of hours, but it’s fascinating and you just go at your own pace.

We were surprised at how engaging and funny the professors are, and how relevant the applications are. We’re amazed at what can be done with these tools now. We will both be able to apply the knowledge into our fields of architecture and engineering – or conversely, to apply into software development our combined knowledge of ‘IRL’ design, construction, project management, multidisciplinary team management and client interaction.

A word of warning: these courses are addictive!

[Shout to our brilliant professors: Coursera MichiganU Social Network Analysis = Lada Adamic, EdX Berkeley AI = Dan Klein, EdX Harvard CS50 = David Malan]