Starting her career as an analyst, Mahalakshmi Shreenivas wanted to explore more. When she got to know about data science, there was no turning back. An enthusiastic and highly driven personality, she delved deep into researching data science and data science jobs, and finally thought to give it a try via the Certificate in Data Foundation (CDF) program at Accredian.
In this interview, lets see her interesting take on data science, how it can help build innumerable careers, and even save planet Earth.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Mahalakshmi: I am part of the Certificate in Data Foundation (CDF) program, August 2020 batch. I currently work as a research analyst in the intellectual property business, where I deal with life science patents, analysis, data mining, maintaining the documentation on a particular website. Additionally, I work with data to be analyzed and simplified for the documentation before the separator target.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Mahalakshmi: My career started as an analyst in the field of intellectual property. I started researching data science in 2018, when I had only one-year experience as an analyst. I started to learn about the career opportunities emerging from the data science field.
I feel data will be the future; we can clearly say that all the work that we do in our daily lives will soon become digitized, and all the information will be saved as data. So I think people should be trained to get used to working on data and provide services digitally, and data science can help us to achieve that. And, this interested me to not just look up what data science is but what type of data science jobs are available in the market.
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?
Mahalakshmi: I wouldn’t say that I have mastered the tools. I have started learning Python, which is very interesting, and it’s fun to work on NumPy and Pandas. I recently started a machine learning foundation term.
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Mahalakshmi: Some of the challenges included the basic concepts of data science and how it’s going to work with the issues we are expecting to solve. I am totally from a non coding background. And when I started to learn the programming languages, I got a clearer idea that it will be useful. Later, while attending the classes, I began to practice all those programs. Now I have overcome the roadblock of understanding programming languages and its usage, and with a little bit more practice can even apply for some data science jobs.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian and what did you learn from him the Most?
Mahalakshmi: Not exactly my favorite faculty, but I have a lot of learning experiences with Mr. Sai. He always teaches with examples of all the topics he has covered. He helped me understand the basic idea of how the things we are using nowadays work and the role of data science in it. He always explains about working on samples, which I think is very important to learn in data science.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Mahalakshmi: Data Science’s goal is to build models and explore visualization to address the complexities.
Question 7: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Mahalakshmi: Data science jobs has been named number one in the US by Glassdoor. And it has started emerging in India as well. Data science, right now, is not only being utilized as a business tool but also for society’s greater good.
Question 8: What are the current trends in Data Science that you are most excited about?
Mahalakshmi: The current trends in data science that I’m excited about are its applications in the healthcare sector and in global warming. One of the major health issues is visual impairment which is currently being addressed by the world’s leading data scientists. And this, in turn, also shines light upon the social problems in poorer countries where even accessing healthcare requires cash.
Another major concern is when it comes to global warming and climate change, we all know that the Earth is at its tipping point. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also states that carbon dioxide emissions need to fall by about 45% from its 2010 levels to prevent the damage already done and so that it does not reach an irreversible stage in the future.
So the California Air Resources Board, plant labs, and the environmental defenses fund are currently collaborating on a Climate Data Partnership – a platform designed to assist more targeted measures for climate control.
Question 9: Which are some of the blogs that you follow?
Mahalakshmi: I follow several data science blogs out of which I think the best are insideBIGDATA and Data Economy.
Question 10: What is your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in Data Science?
Mahalakshmi: No matter the chosen stream of subjects in college, working in any MNC or IT company, always focus on serving the society with your skills and experience. It is possible, as data scientists or in whichever data science jobs you are in to combine both your education and work experience to work on digital platforms so that you can be of service to the society on a larger scale.
This was an interview with one of our CDF students – Mahalakshmi Shreenivas.
If you want to read more such interesting student interviews, check out Accredian Spotlight.
