Comet Office Hours: Recap for June 20, 2021

Welcome to another recap of the Comet ML Office Hours, powered by The Artists of Data Science!

Judging by the weather and the hot takes flying around Comet Office Hours, summer has finally arrived.

The debate and discussion were engaging and energetic this past Sunday, as the crew discussed a wide range of topics around job searches, specialization vs generalization in the DS/ML field, and the possible benefits and pitfalls of programs that suggest you can get a data science job in X number of days.

While there’s a lot more in the full session (which you can find on Harpreet’s YouTube channel), I’ve summarized a couple of my favorite exchanges below.

As always, we’d love to see any and all of you at these hourlong sessions—so feel free to register for upcoming Office Hours sessions here.

What you control in the data science job hunt

Finding a job can be incredibly difficult, time consuming, and frankly, quite discouraging—especially if you’re trying to break into a new field, which is quite common among data science learners.

At times, it can seem hopeless, like the cards are stacked against you, and like you’re shouting into the wind, hoping some hiring manager will hear your call from a distance.

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to throw your hands up and give up. In this short clip, Harpreet—who helps people from all walks of life find data science jobs via Data Science Dream Job—offers some thoughts on the the things you do control in the job hunt.

Selling business stakeholders on the need for DS

One thing I’ve learned in my time as a community-and-content focused professional in the world of tech is that it’s essential to learn how to communicate the value of what you’re doing—both in terms of ROI and more qualitative measures.

The same can very much be said for data science, and especially in organizations that are younger and less equipped with the resources, skills, or knowledge to integrate data science work into their roadmap—even though that might be exactly what they need to gain a competitive edge.

The following exchange dives into this dynamic, with Harpreet offering his take on introducing data science into the mix, as well as his larger work philosophy.

Resources Mentioned

In addition to the wonderful back-and-forths throughout the session, there were a whole lot of interesting resources mentioned, both by Harpreet and many of the attendees. Here’s a quick list, in case you’d like to check out what is capturing the community’s attention.

• The High ROI Data Scientist (YouTube)
• Modern Data Strategy, Mike Fleckenstein and Lorraine Fellows (Springer)
• Designing Data-intensive Applications, Martin Kleppmann (O’Reilly)

Enjoy the Conversations Above? Join Us!

We run these virtual Office Hours every Sunday at 12pm ET (New York, NY). Completely free to attend and participate, and we’d love to see any and all of you there, help address any questions you might have, and just hang out and talk all things data science and machine learning!

Register for Comet Office Hours

One last thing…

We recently launched The Comet Newsletter, which offers a weekly inside look at all things data science and ML, featuring expert takes and perspective from our team. We have big things planned for both Office Hours and the newsletter, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!

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