Working in data warehousing for the past 15 years, Souvik Jana has not only witnessed the influence of business intelligence in the domain but the escalating impact of machine learning as well. So, to upskill and get equipped with data science and machine learning knowledge, he enrolled for the Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program at Accredian.
In this interview, let’s see what is his take on the evolution of data science and how his learning experience has been at Accredian.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Souvik: I am part of the Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program, July 2020 batch. I am a tech specialist in ETL Informatica and data warehousing.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Souvik: I have 15 years of experience in data warehousing. I have been working as an ETL developer in Informatica to load data from source files to Data Warehouse tables. I have seen how the data warehouse in business intelligence is used for decision making. Later I saw how machine learning started playing an important role in predicting future decisions for businesses based on available data. This got me interested in data analysis 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?
Souvik: I learned Python including its various packages like NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib and Seaborn for exploratory data analysis (EDA).
Question 4: What were some of the initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey and how did you overcome it?
Souvik: Python was a new tool for me. I have never worked on Python before. But with some practice, I am now able to write codes in Python. I continue to practice coding in Python to be better at it.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian and what did you learn from him the Most?
Souvik: The first three months of my course was taken by Deepesh Wadhwani. He has been my only teacher at Accredian till now. He taught statistics and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Souvik: The goal of data science is to develop machines that can make decisions as close to humans as possible.
Question 7: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Souvik: Data Science has evolved a lot in the last few years. We have seen the emergence of Alexa, Siri and Google Home which recognizes language spoken by humans. We are seeing the development of autonomous cars. We are seeing use of any analysis for early diagnosis and treatment of multiple diseases in healthcare.
Question 8: What are the current trends in Data Science that you are most excited about?
Souvik: I am really excited about the use of ML and AI analysis for early diagnosis and treatment of multiple diseases in healthcare. It is the most exciting development that has happened in the field of data science.
Question 9: Which are some of the blogs that you follow?
Souvik: I follow Medium, AnalyticsVidhya, Healthcare IT News.
Question 10: What is your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in Data Science?
Souvik: If you are willing to invest a minimum of one year of dedicated learning towards data science, and also do a bit of research to see if learning data science can benefit your career, then you can start learning data science. Also, you must be mentally prepared for continuous learning throughout your career.
This was a conversation with one of our GCD students – Souvik Jana.
For more interesting student interviews, check out Accredian Spotlight.
