With 16 years of experience in the aerospace industry, Srikanth Ravi, understands just how much data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence are necessary to engineer as well as operate any aircraft. In his pursuit to pace up with the latest technological advancements in data science to troubleshoot any aeronautical issues, Srikanth enrolled for the Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program at Accredian.
Excited and driven to learn, in this interview, he expresses his views on the constant expansion of data science and why he desires to be a part of it.
Question 1: Which program & batch are you part of at Accredian & tell us more about your current work profile?
Srikanth: I work in the client engagement manager’s capacity in my current organization and am part of the Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) program, April 2020 batch. I am a self-starter with 16 years of experience in the aerospace domain.
I make evidence-based decisions, and display an attitude to match the challenges with equal enthusiasm. A team player at heart, I follow an inclusive management style and have excellent leadership skills to build and mentor a self-motivated team of the highest caliber.
I have worked on diverse aircraft platforms including fixed-wing and helicopters, and handled a wide range of roles from helicopter maintenance, stress engineer, and technical manager to project manager and my current role as client engagement manager.
Question 2: Walk us through your career journey & what got you interested in Data Science & Machine Learning?
Srikanth: I have been in the hardcore mechanical aerospace stream for the past 16 years, and even in my domain, data and analytics are fast-changing. Even customers like Airbus, Rolls-Royce are using data to find predictive solutions for aircraft problems. I wanted to pace up with the latest trends and technologies in the market and hence, my Interest in this course that would not only cover data science but also machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Question 3: What tools and packages in Data Science & Machine Learning have you mastered in your Data Science & AI program at Accredian so far?
Srikanth: I have learned several things about data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence during my course at Accredian including the programming language of Python and its libraries like Numpy, Seaborn, Matplotlib, Linear Regression, and Pandas. I have also learned about machine learning algorithms like Random Forest, Decision Tree, K-neighbours, AdaBoost, and SVM.
Question 4: What are some initial challenges when you got started on your Data Science journey, and how did you overcome them?
Srikanth: My initial and the most basic challenge was that I was a non-coder. I learned coding Python at Accredian along with its various looping functions, the libraries, and how it’s used. However, I overcame a lot of it by repeated practice, reading, doing practice sets.
Question 5: Who is your favorite faculty at Accredian, and what did you learn from him the Most?
Srikanth: I loved Suchit Majumdar the most. His teaching style and approach to teaching made things easy; I learned Python and EDA from him.
Question 6: What is the goal of Data Science?
Srikanth: Data science aims to get an insight into the data, dissect and comprehend it, and use it to predict meaningful solutions or predictions.
Question 7: In your view, how has Data Science evolved in the last few years?
Srikanth: Right now, data science is the sexiest job profile in the market; every domain is using it. I cannot imagine today’s world without data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. It has become more user friendly and more people are aware of it. In fact, Data Scientist took the third spot on LinkedIn’s 2020 US Emerging Jobs Report, experiencing 37% annual growth in the field. Data is transforming the way we think, make decisions, and live our lives. So, the evolution of data science and its adoption across industries has been massive.
Question 8: What are the current trends in Data Science that you are most excited about?
Srikanth: I am currently excited about the data, machine learning and artificial intelligence used in gene mapping, medical technology, and drone technology.
Question 9: Which are some of the blogs that you follow?
Srikanth: I follow Suchit and Accredian blogs. I also follow Analytics Vidhya, Mathew Renze blog, and Adrian at Pyimagesearch.
Question 10: What is your advice to anyone wanting to start a career in Data Science?
Srikanth: Anyone starting a career in data analytics, I would say go for it; this is the right time, and Accredian is the best.
This was a conversation with one of our GCD students – Srikanth Ravi.
If you want to check out more such interesting stories, go to Accredian Spotlight.
