HOW TO BECOME A DATA SCIENTIST

Wednesday, April 15th

6:15-8:30p 1062 Delaware St.

Co-Founder & CEO Zipfian Academy

Ryan Orban @ryanorban

VP of Operations & Expansion Galvanize

Why are we talking about data science?

Perfect Storm

! "Cheap Storage

Competitive Advantages

#Abundant

Data

Technology

Year Capacity (GB) Cost per GB (USD)

1992 0.08 $3,827.20

1997 2.1 $157.00

2002 80 $3.74

2007 750 $0.35

2012 3,000 $0.05

Source: http://www.jcmit.com/diskprice.htm

Technology

Source: http://www.jcmit.com/diskprice.htm

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

1992 1997 2002 2007 2012

Capacity (GB) Cost per GB (USD)

! "Cheap Storage

Competitive Advantages

#Abundant

Data

Unprecedented Data Growth

! "Cheap Storage

Competitive Advantages

#Abundant

Data

Data Science Job Growth

Source: LinkedIn Analytics

! "Cheap Storage

Competitive Advantages

#Abundant

Data

Enter the Data Scientist

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering Research

Unicorn

Data Science

Data Science Unicorn

• Ask good questions. What do we not know? What would we like to know?

• Define and test an hypothesis. Run experiments with data.

• Scrape, munge, transform, and clean data. Instrument.

• Explore Data, Discover Unknowns

• Model Data, Understand Data Relationships

• Create Data Products. Tell Relevant Business Stories.

10 Things [most] Data Scientists Do

What do people look for in a data scientist?

Broad-range generalist

De

ep

exp

ert

ise

T-Shaped Skillset

T-Shaped Skillset

Machine Learning, Statistics, Domain Knowledge

Softwar

e

Engin

eering

Busin

ess A

cum

en

Distrib

uted

Comput

ing

Comm

unica

tion

Data Science Roles

How to I become a data scientist?

Master the fundamentals.

1

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering Research

Unicorn

Data Science

Mathematics Statistics

Mathematics & Statistics

Statistical Distributions

(Non) Parametric Tests

Significance & Hypothesis Testing

Bayesian Methods

Linear Algebra

Multivariable Calculus

Graph Theory

Probability

Mathematics & Statistics

Learn the tools of the trade.

2

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering

Research

Unicorn

Data Science

Python R Julia

Java C++/GoScala

Prototyping

Production

Software Engineering

Python R Julia

Java C++/GoScala

Prototyping

Production

Software Engineering

Python R Julia

Java C++/GoScala

Prototyping

Production

Software Engineering

Learn to Code

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering Research

Unicorn

Data Science

Distributed Computing

Supervised (SVM, Random Forest)

NLP / Information Retrieval

Algorithms & Data Structures

Data Visualization

Data Munging

Machine Learning & Software Engineering

Machine LearningSoftware

Engineering

Validation, Model Comparison

Unsupervised (Clustering, Topic

Modeling)

Demonstrate expertise.

3

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering Research

Unicorn

Data Science

DataTauGitHub

Math & Stats

Computer Science

Domain Expertise

Machine Learning

Software Engineering Research

Unicorn

Data Science

DATA SCIENCE HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Mathematics, Statistics, Probability

FOUNDATIONAL

Software Engineering, Machine Learning, ETL, Data Transformation, SQL

FUNCTIONAL

Distributed Computing: Hadoop, Cascading, Spark, GraphLab

SCALABLE

Make an impact, communicate results, identify business objectives

EMOTIONAL

Learning data science on your own can be long and winding

road.

Open-Source Data Science Masters

SlideRule

Building the modern, educational campus for digital innovators and entrepreneurs

TRADITIONAL UNIVERSITIES ARE DISCONNECTED

ISSUE #1

ONLINE SCHOOLS LACK COMMUNITY + MOTIVATION

ISSUE #2

BOOT CAMPS LACK A LARGER ECOSYSTEM

ISSUE #3

AN URBAN CAMPUS & EDUCATION

PLATFORM

Galvanize provides immersive educational programs in web development and data science.

IMMERSIVE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Full stack development curriculum provided over an immersive, six month full-time program

• Strong Test-Driven Development (TDD)/agile software development environment

• No prior coding experience required

FULL STACK

Data science program (previously Zipfian academy) taught over 12-week immersive schedule

• One year accredited program resulting in Masters degree (Engineering/Big Data)

DATA SCIENCE PROGRAM

Timeline

STRUCTURED CURRICULUM

HIRING DAY

CAPSTONEPROJECT

GRADUATION

1 8 11 12

INTERVIEWPREP

Program Timeline

The Program

• Project-based curriculum with real datasets,

solving actual problems

• Guest lectures from leaders in the field

• Personal mentorship to help students grow

• Capstone project with company partners

• Vast network of hiring partners and events

Learning Techniques

$% &Rapid

IterationBuilt for

CollaborationContinuous Feedback

Curriculum as Product

Backgrounds

Educational Background

BS

MS

PhD

0 4 8 12 16

Backgrounds

Disciplines

Software EngineeringAnalysts

Finance/EconomicsEngineering

PhysicsPhysical Sciences

MathematicsStatistics

AstronomyLinguistics

Professional Poker

0 2 4 6 8

94% Placement Rate 94% Placement

$115k avg. salary

Hiring Partners

• Working knowledge of programming

• Background in a quantitative discipline, strong fundamentals

• Comfortable with mathematics and statistics

• Child-like curiosity

What We Look For

Data Science Immersive Denver, July 6th

• Present a guest lecture or share a data story

• Donate datasets and propose projects

• Sponsor a scholarship

• Attend one of our Hiring Days

Get Involved

• Instructors (Full-time & Part-Time)

• Outcomes Manager

• Student Services

• Community Coordinator

• Membership Manager

We’re Hiring!

Data Science Immersive GalvanizeU

Full-stack Web Development

Weekend Workshops

A Practical Intro to Data Science

http://bit.ly/learndatascience

THANK YOURYAN ORBAN| VP OF OPERATIONS & EXPANSION @RYANORBAN

www.galvanize.com