With 16 years of experience, Ajay Kumar Kota develops automated products and solutions. Dealing with data science and machine learning day in and day out, he wanted to know more about the field and learn artificial intelligence. So after scuttling through some articles on data science online, he finally enrolled for the Global Certificate in Data Science & AI (GCDAI) program at Accredian.
So, let’s take a look, in this interview, how his learning experience has been at Accredian and how excites him the most about the future of data science.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Ajay: I am part of the Global Certificate in Data Science & AI (GCDAI) program, May 17 2020 batch. I am the director of product engineering at AntWorks. At AntWorks, we develop RPA (robotic process automation) and CMR (cognitive machine reading) products which are predominantly based on data science and machine learning. My responsibility here is to engineer and develop such products along with other architects and create smart solutions to cater to the era of digitization effectively.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Ajay: I have almost 16 years of experience in the IT industry. I started my career at IBM as a programmer analyst. Throughout my career I have worked in multiple organizations, did both frontend and backend jobs, and have handled IoT products, mobile application development, dotnet and Java technologies.
During that time, I heard about the escalating trends of data science and machine learning and that people are getting more interested about it. So, I read a few articles on it and I saw how data science and machine learning will be playing a pivotal role in the coming times.
Right now, huge amounts of data are available irrespective of any industry and by utilizing them, soon we’ll have the ability to automate certain jobs that previously required manpower. That’s exactly what excites me about data science and machine learning, and pushed me to take up the course at Accredian to learn artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning.
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?
Ajay: Accredian teaches its students everything about data science and machine learning from scratch. Here, I learnt SK learn packages and NumPy Pandas. I went through all the packages that Accredian provides and have mastered everything I was taught here. It has truly been a great experience.
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Ajay: I didn’t experience any challenges as such in my initial days. At Accredian, it’s rather a discussion with the mentors than a typical and rigid student-teacher dynamic. The mentors answer all questions of all the students no matter how relevant or even irrelevant they may be.
However, the machine learning foundation part was a bit difficult for me as I was not aware of the technology before. But when I started applying the machine learning models, analyzing and creating assumptions from data, things got a lot clearer and interesting for me. Being able to perform such tasks made really happy as it felt like a real accomplishment.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian and what did you learn from him the Most?
Ajay: I like Deepesh the most. whether it be an analysis of any problem, explaining complex data sets or the problem statement, he simplifies everything so that we understand and is very patient. I like his mentoring and his way of teaching anything with the help of a simple pen and paper. He is also very interactive and never imposing.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Ajay: I think the major goal of data science is to create businesses or business opportunities in the future based on previous predictions and analysis across diverse domains.
Question 7: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Ajay: Data science has been here with us for the past 20 years but started booming in the recent years with programming languages of Python and R. I guess data science experienced a more prominent expansion in the last decade. That’s why, right now you can see its application everywhere and more people are eager to learn artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning.
Currently, predictive analytics and solutions are something really interesting as you get the results for any given condition instantly via any required app. And I guess this phenomena in data science is going to grow more in the future because, ultimately, all of us, in business or not, are looking for faster solutions and more efficient decision making.
Question 8: What are the current trends in Data Science that you are most excited about?
Ajay: The current data science trends that I am most excited about are its identification and predictive capabilities. From identifying fraudulent credit card holders to predicting property rate fluctuations and average employee salaries – it is applicable everywhere. In fact, this feature of data science is being intensely explored in the healthcare industry for early cancer detections in patients.
Question 9: Which are some of the blogs that you follow?
Ajay: I follow the Accredian blog, Smart Data Collective, and Data Science Central.
Question 10: What is your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in Data Science?
Ajay: My advice to the people planning to start a career in data science is that it’s an excellent opportunity which would lead you towards high-paying jobs in the market. Focus and learn artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning from proper institutes like Accredian. Here, the mentors are as talented as they are helpful. They would answer all your questions in real-time and guide you throughout the course.
This was a conversation with one of our GCDAI students – Ajay Kumar Kota.
If you want to read more such Accredian stories, check out Accredian Spotlight.
