Kanvi Goyal has been working with data throughout her career. However, she could not gather a deeper understanding of them or the data models built around them. So, taking a break from her career, she decided to upskill and enrolled for the Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program at Accredian.
In this interview, let’s see what she has to say about the expansive impact of data science across industries and how her experience has been at Accredian.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Kanvi: I am a part of Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program, May 2020 batch. I am currently not working anywhere and looking out for a job. But if I talk about my last working profile I was involved in carrying out triennial valuation of defined benefits in UK pension schemes which involved analysis of membership data scheme documents and asset information, derivation and proposal of ongoing financial and demographic assumptions, calculating the schemes liability, checking its validity and accuracy, and finally preparing the valuation reports for the scheme.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Kanvi: I am a B.Com (hons) graduate from Hansraj College under Delhi University. After completing my graduation, I started with actuarial science and cleared seven papers before joining Willis Towers Watson as an Actuarial Analyst.
I worked in Willis Towers Watson for almost three years in the Indian Employee Benefits domain and then joined Tata Consultancy Services for a short duration of six months. Later, I joined Jordin Lloyd Thomson in the UK retirement team.
After working in JLT for a year, I went for a sabbatical during which I joined Accredian’s Data Science Course. My work in the actuarial profession demands a lot of analysis, mostly statistical analysis, and also modeling and testing.
In the past few years of my working experience, although I was able to analyze my data, I couldn’t go deeper. I was not able to understand my data statistically. And I was facing an issue understanding the model as to how this is developed or what is the thought process behind it. So this gap is something which urged me to go for a data science and machine learning course.
Question 3: What all tools and packages in Data Science & Machine Learning have you mastered in your Data Science & AI program at Accredian so far?
Kanvi: Coming from a non coding background I won’t say I have mastered any tools or packages. But yes, I think I’m more comfortable now in using Python and its libraries like NumPy and Pandas packages, especially after doing the projects.
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Kanvi: Coding was a big challenge for me at the beginning of the course as I am from a non-coding background. But after Suchit’s session, I was at least hopeful that yes, I can do it. This thing is not rocket science and it requires only consistent practice and logical approach.
And that is what I’ve been trying to do and practicing. I’m reading the documentation of every function and I’m trying to understand how it’s done. I even go on Kaggle to see projects of other people and how they have done it, what functions they have used, and what analysis they have done.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian and what did you learn from him the Most?
Kanvi: I think my favorite faculty at Accredian would be Suchit and Deepesh. From Suchit, I learned that nothing is impossible. Learning how to code is not that difficult. And from Deepesh I learned how important it is to make your own notes, summarize them and go through them every now and then for your own revision and also for better understanding.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Kanvi: According to me, the main goal of data science is to analyze and understand data well, and in such a way that you’re able to make a model out of it for future predictions.
Question 7: What is your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in Data Science?
Kanvi: My advice to anyone wanting to start a career in data science would be to start early. Clear your basics of statistics, learn and master any coding language of your choice so that you get comfortable with it. And lastly, be very clear and detail oriented about your domain knowledge.
This was a conversation with one of our GCD students – Kanvi Goyal.
If you want to read more such interesting student stories, check out Accredian Spotlight.
