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From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

insightdatascience.com

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Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#21

Post by Blahah »

besquared wrote: post #8
Blahah wrote: post #4

Sweet, according to his list I'm over-qualified. Interesting to think it would be so easy to make the transition to data science. Except I can't imagine wanting to work on less important problems than the ones I work on now. Global food security vs. social network analytics. Yeah, fuck the money. edit: calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? We have hard problems, real outco…

You're everything that everyone hates in academia. Congratulations as I hear that self importance is one of the key ingredients to solving the biggest problems facing the world today.

I doubt that. Firstly because most people don't hate anything in academia, and secondly because you know very little about me.

Perhaps my short comment sounded more arrogant than I am... I'm motivated by wanting to help people. If given the choice between trying to help alleviate starvation for little money and trying to optimise advertising on some website for a shitload of money, I'll take the former.

Interesting that you think moral judgements are an indicator of self importance.

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#22

Post by eshvk »

lior60 wrote: post #11

Any possibility for a dev-minded MBA (finance) to make the data science transition? I was pretty good back in the data with respect to R

There is no magical set of qualifications to become a data scientist. Just learn enough linear algebra, probability. Show people you can code. Maybe setup some github projects. It is not like people in tech are doing something magical with all these fancy data scientists. A little bit of math, a slap and dash of code.

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#23

Post by Blahah »

scott_s wrote: post #6
Blahah wrote: post #4

Sweet, according to his list I'm over-qualified. Interesting to think it would be so easy to make the transition to data science. Except I can't imagine wanting to work on less important problems than the ones I work on now. Global food security vs. social network analytics. Yeah, fuck the money. edit: calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? We have hard problems, real outco…

Not everyone has the luxury of working in the field they got a PhD in. Two of my friends were looking into switching to data science positions because they were having problems finding positions in their fields. One was on her second post-doc as an astrophysicist, and the other is a soon-to-gradute biochemist. Both did find positions in their fields, but not before much fear and existential angst.

I can certainly see how the harsh realities of the job market might force one's hand. It sounds like your friends' priorities were the same as mine though...

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#24

Post by scott_s »

Blahah wrote: post #23
scott_s wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has the luxury of working in the field they got a PhD in. Two of my friends were looking into switching to data science positions because they were having problems finding positions in their fields. One was on her second post-doc as an astrophysicist, and the other is a soon-to-gradute biochemist. Both did find positions in their fields, but not before much fear and existential angst.

I can certainly see how the harsh realities of the job market might force one's hand. It sounds like your friends' priorities were the same as mine though...

Actually, no. One of them actually preferred a data science position, and was scheduled to interview for this very program. But that person's spouse was not okay with moving to California, so that option was out, and a post-doc position came through.

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#27

Post by dudurocha »

gburt2 wrote: post #25

"Recursive programming"... as in, programming using recursion? Why would this be important to "data science"? Surely loops are just as effective.

Are you serious? How would you iterate over a set of rules and a big data volume, without using recursion?

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#28

Post by rdouble »

Blahah wrote: post #4

Sweet, according to his list I'm over-qualified. Interesting to think it would be so easy to make the transition to data science. Except I can't imagine wanting to work on less important problems than the ones I work on now. Global food security vs. social network analytics. Yeah, fuck the money. edit: calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? We have hard problems, real outco…

calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist?

The pay is shit, you're at the whim of the funding moods of the day, and contrary to your last statement most of the results don't really ever go on to affect anyone.

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#29

Post by [deleted] »

acadien wrote: post #10
Blahah wrote: post #4

Sweet, according to his list I'm over-qualified. Interesting to think it would be so easy to make the transition to data science. Except I can't imagine wanting to work on less important problems than the ones I work on now. Global food security vs. social network analytics. Yeah, fuck the money. edit: calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? We have hard problems, real outco…

Ive got strong convictions too and the big data fad (real or not its still a fad) seems specious and unfulfilling. But as a PhD candidate who has had his funding cut and grant proposals continuously denied since sequestration, money of any kind is starting to sound good right now.

[deleted]

Re: From PhD to Data Scientist: Tips for Making the Transition

#30

Post by Blahah »

rdouble wrote: post #28
Blahah wrote: post #4

Sweet, according to his list I'm over-qualified. Interesting to think it would be so easy to make the transition to data science. Except I can't imagine wanting to work on less important problems than the ones I work on now. Global food security vs. social network analytics. Yeah, fuck the money. edit: calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? We have hard problems, real outco…

calling all data scientists - why not consider becoming a computational biologist? The pay is shit, you're at the whim of the funding moods of the day, and contrary to your last statement most of the results don't really ever go on to affect anyone.

I agree about the pay. It really sucks.

But the other things depend what you work on and where. If it's cancer or food security, the funding is there and not going away. And you can choose how direct the outcomes are by choosing the position.

I'm not saying everyone should do it, but if you're good enough to breeze into highly paid positions at top tech companies, you're good enough to get a really interesting position in computational biology.

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