Presenting to you the INSAID Spotlight Budding Data Science Leader interview series!
This is a series of interviews of budding Data Science leaders, enrolled with INSAID in different courses. These students coming from diverse backgrounds and even different fields have rich experience in their own domains.
They have interesting views to share with the world, their experience in the industry, which brought them to the field of data science and many other such interesting aspects. These interviews will enrich the readers about the insights, trends and many other related points.
In a recent conversation, we spoke to Anuradha S who is enrolled in the GCD program at INSAID.
Name: Anuradha S
Current Organisation: Mobius Knowledge Services Pvt. Ltd.
Total Experience: 15+ years
Batch: Global Certificate in Data Science (GCD) November 2018
Ankita: Anuradha, could you please walk me through your career journey and the professional experience you have had so far.
Anuradha: I have done my PhD in Computer Science, with a specialization in wireless sensor network. I’m currently working in a project management profile with Mobius Knowledge Services Pvt. Ltd., a company that deals with the data. The recent project with me was that of data lake creation. I also have an MBA and am in the Data Science industry for more than 15 years now.
My entire professional journey till now has been in the realm of data. I have worked on various data-related processes like data warehousing, data detecting, data modeling, data mart creation, data warehouse etc. I was curious as to how is data used in the industry. I joined INSAID course to enhance my knowledge and also get acquainted with the latest trends in the industry.
Not only have my speaking skills improved after I joined the INSAID course, but I also got a greater insight into how to approach a data problem.
Ankita: What got you interested in Data Science and machine learning?
Anuradha: I didn’t actually choose Data Science; it just became a part of my life. Data is everywhere and in every process that is going on in the industry. This interested me a lot. Working with data, structuring it and making it analysis-ready was something that I knew I would love doing.
There is so much that can still be done with the proper use of data. This fascination for data made me enter this field.
Ankita: What is the goal of Data Science?
Anuradha: The goal of Data Science is to derive useful insights from the data. These insights prove to be useful to the businesses in making informed decisions.
Ankita: Were there any initial challenges that you faced when you entered the field of Data Science? If yes, how did you overcome them?
Anuradha: I took time, initially, to align mathematical models with a solution.
For example, the data preparation you did for Random Forest will not be the same for Linear Regression and identifying your problem and mapping it to the mathematical problem were some of the challenging areas for me.
This was because I was out of touch with mathematics for quite a few years. But in the class, when the instructor explained it along with all the formulae, mapping the solution with the problem seemed easy for me.
Even with feature engineering, I didn’t realize in the initial days of my joining the course that for every analysis, there is a different solution. But with continuous practice, things became easier for me.
Ankita: That isn’t quite an insightful statement. For every problem, there is a separate solution, which we need to figure out and implement.
Anuradha: Identifying the problem and then relating the solution that will be viable for it, is the basic and crucial thing to do.
Ankita: What current trends in Data Science & AI do you see becoming very big in coming years?
Anuradha: The extent to which the industries are moving towards NLP and image processing is especially of interest to me. The use of machine learning algorithms in these tasks, the process of making machines intelligent and automating various processes will be the highlights in the years to come.
Ankita: What will be your advice to anyone who wants to start a career in Data Science and who is actually a fresher in this field?
Anuradha: My advice to freshers will be that whenever you face a problem, try to identify the root of the problem and research about how others are solving it. Do not get inspired to such an extent that you start imitating them. Take the knowledge as an insight and come up with your own solution.
Include your input in it and fine-tune the processes to come up with the final result; applies whether it is data science, coding, or any process improvement. Self-discipline and self-exploration is more important when solving any problem or improving the processes.
What happens most of the time is that we fail to recognize the right problem; not everything that has been said, tools being used etc. is the problem. Identify the problem statement, research for the right solution and then fine-tune the solution. This is my suggestion to the freshers.
Ankita: My last question to you would be about your feedback for INSAID. How has been your journey at INSAID? Anything that you wish to share about us at INSAID.
Anuradha: I would like to appreciate the faculty, course material and the structured curriculum INSAID has.
Everybody at INSAID is putting in their maximum effort to keep it smooth sailing for the students; right from software installation to the kind of case studies being worked on and the data being shared, everything is properly worked out and well-thought. The course content, delivery mechanism and the evaluation methodology is also great.
Ankita: Thanks Anuradha, for your time.
Anuradha: Thank you!!
