AMA. How does a day to day pan out for a data scientist, Who is data science not really for, Does FOMO really affect my career in DS
Some people say Data science is a new field and doesn't have a well defined career path unlike SDE . Is it true ?
Well not true at all. Like SDE, eves DS has the same hierarchy up the ladder. We have someone called a Principal Data Scientist analogous to Principal Architect who is more matured and experienced. His/Her role would be more of defining the scope and deliverables and broadly how many people would be required. So any career as a matter of fact has all these roles associated to it. Just the names are different:-)
Also, SDE has been in the block for more than 20 years DS also is finding its way in many organisations to become a separate vertical in itself especially in Indian companies
Tell me data science is super hyped up field? Industry leaders don't know how to use data?
Well!! There are two answers to the above questions.
It isnt hyped up its being marketed a lot as a sexy and cool job. thats where my problem is. it isnt sexy or cool. its as frustrating as it is for a SDE or a Business analyst. half our time goes in to data cleaning which is pretty boring but u cant begin analysis without pre processing.
Secondly I would not like to bad mouth industry leaders here but yes, most of the industry leaders i met and worked with are managers who know what needs to be delivered. They have less hands on experience. They know the broader picture but when it comes down to the roots thats where things are hazy. But I have also worked with people who do not call them as industry leaders and are brilliant in getting hidden information from the data thru simple charts and new variables.
Do companies hire people who are not coming from a tech background?
What are the tools you use ?
Can a Business Analyst work as a DA and vice versa
well, not all companies do. but if you not from a tech background things wont be that easy like it was for me. I also was from a Mechanical background and still made it. Took me 3 extra years but the grind was worth. Tools we use are many in the market. i use python and azure for cloud and model deployment
Who is data science not really for?
Not for people who grt confused looking at data and do not know what to with it or generate insights without using any tool
In which sector is your work..IT/fintech/retail? Your tech stack? How often do you build models/validation/regular maintenance work on existing model pipelines.. in a month? Do you also deploy model at scale on the cloud yourself or is there is a data engineering team to do that?
