My Data Science Journey with Non-Tech Background

I have been in the industry for about 10 years now  I'm gonna do my 10-year video I'm still trying to   figure out what to what to say in it I've worked  at two big tech companies but what you actually   don't know is that I don't have a degree in data  science I come from a non-tech background I went   to a community college I am first female in my  family to graduate from a university program   I'm the first female in my family to actually be  working I'm the first people in my family to be   sitting on a camera and talking to you all um  anyways there's a lot of first of a first-gen   immigrant there's a lot of firsts and growing up  I never even thought that this is the world that   I would be living in oh my god I'm an emotional  so going back to very early on I didn't grow up   with a computer in my house like we didn't have  a computer cell phones didn't exist back then so   I didn't even know that working on a computer  is actually an option as a career so that's   the background that I come with and that's how  clueless I was in terms of like the tech world   and what exists what are the fields I have a six  year gap between my high school I had to drop out   of high school for personal reasons which I won't  go into detail because that will make me even more   emotional so and I also had a another piece of the  story that I don't share often is that I actually   had a near-death experience that was for me kind  of like the pivotal point of starting all over   again so that's where how the six year Gap ended  otherwise I might not be here where I am so I   decided to go back to school and actually applied  to universities but nobody would accept me because   I had a blank resume I was a high school dropout  and no colleges were willing to take a risk on   a high school dropout with a blank resume black  experience I started at a community college and I   studied at Community College I took online classes  mostly and I did my two years at Community College   doing online and then some classes were hybrid so  when I started to decided to go back to school I   actually picked business as my major because for  some reason that was like an obvious choice to   me at that time I still didn't know Tech existed  I finished Community College worked really hard   um another piece of information English is not my  first language and I struggled quite a bit with   English after finishing the Community College I  actually had applied to University of Washington   and um they make you form the business school and  they make you take a written assessment test I   fail that test that's how bad my English was and  I had to like hire a tutor and like get help and   kind of like work on my English virgin English  specifically anyways so I took the I failed the   test the English test and I applied again so I  got to the business school and at the business   school I had access to counselors and advisors  and that's like a common theme that you're gonna   see in my story is that whenever I had access to  an advisor or a counselor I leveraged that that   resource to the fullest so you will see that in my  story as I move forward so one of the counselors   actually told me the student advisor is to like  take different courses in the business school   because within the business school you have  to pick like a kind of like a focus idea uh   like marketing Finance accounting and things like  that so he suggested that I should take different   courses in my business school so I can see what  I actually like so I pick a major so I started   taking the courses it takes a while because I was  taking one course each a quarter eventually I took   one course which was in Information Systems so  information systems was basically was kind of like   more focused on like SQL database management data  manipulation and that was my first exposure to the   data world and after taking that class it was one  quarter I I knew what I wanted to do up until then   I thought I was going to do accounting because  I would always get 4.0 in accounting but it was   until that class that I took that idealized like  data data world is what I want to explore further   however it was actually too late for me to switch  out of the business major because as I said like   I took my first two years in community college in  my third year I was taking classes after failing   once like getting rejected from the business  school once I made it and I was like already   at the end of my third year so I had like barely  one year left so it was too late for me to like   switch out of the business major and go explore  another option that is more technical or more   data science focus and back then like this was  back in 2012 back then data science wasn't that   big of a thing so what I ended up doing I ended up  taking a lot of classes outside of business school   in the information school they had uh they had  the three classes that they offered that nicely   packaged into a certificate I ended up taking that  at some point during that time period I got an   internship I struggled a lot with the internship  like interviews was also another struggle for   me because there was one time I went into an  interview and this guy was like okay and I was   so stupid I told them that I have kids and this  guy was uh in the interview he was he was saying   okay so like if you have kids how are you gonna  manage the word and I didn't know like that was   such an inappropriate question back then because  I was so new to the interview world but now I look   back and I realized like wow that was ridiculous  that was a ridiculous question that they shouldn't   have asked me that's literally discrimination so  now I make sure to not mention my personal life   stuff in my interviews unless I feel comfortable  with the with the company and with the person that   I'm talking to so I struggled with the interviews  quite a bit and that's again when I leveraged my   career counselors a lot actually after I failed  so many interviews I went to them and they started   helping me with like mock interviews asking me  questions so I did a quite a few of them and   that's when I actually got better because they  would give me feedback and I'm actually really   good if somebody gives me feedback like I'm really  good at adapting the feedback and I think that's   another part of my story that kind of helped me  like the adaptability and willingness to learn and   willingness to grow anyways eventually I applied  to an internship at Amazon and I ended up getting   that internship The Internship was more focused on  financial analysis and I realized like that's the   type of work I don't want to do and that's when  when I was interning at Amazon I actually got   exposed to the data generating domain bie world  so I knew I was like this this sounds interesting   the data engineering specifically I really okay  I'll be honest here I really love that that data   engineer in our team would leave office by 3 pm  and 4pm and then we'll go home and work in his own   time and I was like what is this job family that  I have to stay here until six but he can leave at   three and four like I want to do that so that was  like partially partially my inspiration like I'm   just being honest here but also like that it's  also related to my interest in the data domain   so I started like building my resume I did an  internship at Amazon which was paid but before   Amazon actually did do another internship it was a  startup that doesn't exist anymore The Internship   was basically it didn't pay me anything but like  I was helping them Implement Google analytics into   their website and helping them understand what's  happening on their web and all of that anyways so   the reason I'm mentioning this is because like  that's how I basically got my resume from blank   to having a lot of projects the other thing I did  at school is I got involved with a student Club   um that would consult adult smaller startups  in my local area so that again like didn't pay   me but I was able to like get real world exposure  because we were working with startups and we were   helping them like build their databases analyze  their data and things like that that helped me   build like project portfolio that I can show on my  resume and would help me like get a recruiters and   hiring managers and also gives me something to  talk about in my interview so building Network   as Amazon really helped me because it helped me  land a few data engineering interviews because   my own team where I was interning as a financial  analyst intern was not willing to take me back as   a data engineer they were only willing to give  me an offer as a financial analyst so that's   where the networking helped quite a bit because  I interviewed for data engineering roles from the   certificate that I had taken at University of  Washington prepared me for the technical round   and I did study on my own like through online  resources and all of that eventually I passed   the interview for a data engineering role and I  got an offer from another team that's when my team   found out and they were because I told them like  I'm gonna take that offer I don't want to come   back as a financial analyst I want to pursue a  more technical role and I want to go into Data   engineering so that's when my team where I in turn  decided to change their mind and they basically   accepted me back as a data engineer because  I had another offer from a different team at   Amazon for data engineer role and I ended up  taking my team's offer because I was already   familiar with the space I interned at eight months  which was like crazy long internship they don't do   those anymore but like they were still trying to  figure out how to do internships back then so I   had a lot of experience working with the data in  that team specifically so I thought it would be   give me a boost leg up in terms of like a ramp up  time that I would have there so I joined full-time   as a data engineer after graduating college my  senior teammate was super helpful he was like   one of the best senior teammates that you could  ask for he really really guided me mentored me he   was available as a resource whenever I needed to  learn something of course like I would learn on   my own but then if I have like more questions or  if I didn't understand a concept accurately like   I'll go to that my senior teammate and I would  talk to I would talk to him and ask him question   and if he wasn't there like I don't know if I  would ever survive as a data engineer because   there was a lot I had to learn I went to business  school like I didn't learn that in school so I had   to learn on the job oh my God life is too short  my senior teammate that person I'm talking about   he actually had to take an early retirement  because he got diagnosed with some medical   condition that doesn't let him that he can't work  life is too short work is not everything work is   not everything like in the health is like the  most important thing so I did data engineering   for about two years and got promoted to the data  engineer too and at that point I started feeling   pretty comfortable in the data engineering domain  there were some pieces that I really liked about   data engineering and some pieces I didn't you can  watch one of my videos where I talked about both   of these angles and why I ended up leaving if  you want to get a more detailed perspective but   eventually I did a research for this project  which was more data science focused on the   side outside of my data engineering World in at  work and that was my exposure to like the data   science world and that's when I realized like I  wanted to transition to the data scientist role   so then again I started networking within with  the people in the companies looking for different   roles different opportunities as you can see that  building projects and networking and highlighting   my work whether that is through paid or unpaid  internships or in pro bono work it has been the   key to my progression in my journey back then I  limited my project highlights to my resume this   was 10 years ago like more than 10 years ago if  I were to do it again I would definitely create a   website to Showcase my portfolio which is perfect  because our sponsor for this section of the video   is a hostinger because it is an affordable domain  and website building platform and if I were to do   it all over again I would definitely consider  hostinger as one of the options to Showcase my   portfolios hostinger is known worldwide for  its user friendly interface and affordable   pricing so it's great for anybody on a budget  premium is one of the most popular options so   I'm going to pick premium before you check out  make sure that you apply the coupon code sundas   Khalid after the coupon code you will get the 10  discount next let's pick a domain for the product   portfolio I wanted to look for some just call  it dot me and see if it's available and looks   like it is available so I'm going to claim it  now to the fun part building the website they   have super cool AI tools that lets you build your  website more dynamically so I wanted to try that   out the AI website builder is really really cool  it's basically generate of AI where I give it a   prompt and it's going to build a website from me  from scratch here I'm telling it that I'm a data   scientist and I want to create five projects to  highlight my portfolio and it basically created   a website for me from scratch and wow this looks  neat customer segmentation fraud detection not   only that it actually gave me three versions and  I can actually pick from those words I actually   really like three so I started editing it and  making it my own you can find the link to a   stinger in the description below and a coupon code  to get 10 off thank you hostinger for sponsoring   this portion of the video now back to my journey  from data engineering to data science so as I   started networking and looking for different  teams I found a team that was perfect I joined   a team which was more data science focused but  they needed a data engineer to do some work for   them so I thought this would be a perfect  opportunity that I could join the team as   a data engineer get exposed to the space and then  I did have a conversation with the hiring manager   that eventually they will help me transition  into the data science domain I actually started   learning from other people's work I would read  their code repository I would go through each   of their projects read their paper and then read  the back end of the code so a lot of my learning   came from like getting exposure to like how other  people work how people who are currently working   in the domain how they work and how they think  there were times when I would go line by line   like I did know R back then and the team was  heavily using R during that time so I actually   had to learn art which was actually a very steep  curve for me because R has a very steep learning   curve and it's not as intuitive as you would  think for statistics my manager recommended me   a few books that I ended up reading uh he was a  great resource for me and eventually I ended up   doing my own projects in the data science domain  after a year it built a case that my manager   took my project portfolio and went to the HR to  help me transition into the data scientists role   officially I was still under data engineer title  at that point so this has been the HR argued that   like I don't qualify as a data scientist because  I don't have a masters or I don't have a PhD in   the data science domain and this is again where my  manager was super crucial in my journey because he   basically told the HR like that she doesn't have  the degree credentials but if she's actually doing   the work like why do you care about the degree  so much and that's when the HR decided that yes   if she can do the work then we're gonna which her  family so it worked didn't change because I was   already doing the work but my title in the system  officially changed to data scientists here I got   to work on like super cool projects I ended  up staying in that team for about three more   years team itself was super cool uh because we  were exposed to the entire Amazon World globally   um and I got to work with a lot of different  businesses from like checkout team to Prime team   Alexa team like any team within Amazon you name  it like I have worked with them which is like one   of the best ways for me to kind of like have that  opportunity to get exposure to different products   different business area while applying the data  science and I to this date I actually missed   working in that team I would have never left I  would have never left if my team didn't go through   at New York we all went through a New York and my  manager ended up leaving and I didn't really like um I mean he's okay it was he wasn't the same  manager but uh topic for another video but uh   that's when I um I decided to uh pursue other  options I started interviewing at different   teams within Amazon again I had few offers but  an opportunity at Google came along so that's   when I decided to interview here and it took  me three tries okay one thing about me is like   I am very honest and I'm open so I'm telling you  this because don't think like I did all that data   science work and I went to Google and like Google  is like yes come come to us no I interviewed once   I got rejected I interviewed twice I got rejected  this was my third time interviewing and this   time I actually made it when I worked as a data  scientist I knew like this was the right career   choice for me because my feedback my performance  review went up I was actually enjoying the work I   was delivering great work and that was actually  the first time I received top tier rating at a   company at my last company at Amazon which is top  tier rating is actually only given to like top I   don't know one or five percent of people it's very  there to get that rating and I actually got that   rating during my time as a data scientist to me  that was a clear sign like this is a great fit for   me and not only that at my current company where I  am at I actually have received their their version   of the top tier rating which feels again like it  feels so unreal because like if you watch my video   from start to now like to where I was to at a  community college with no Tech background with no   data science knowledge to being the having trouble  with English being an immigrant having career Gap   High School Dropout and all of that to be here and  be validated through my work it just feels amazing   so you must be wondering like how did I waste  my time going to business school going to the   engineering route before discovering data science  yes if I were to do all over again what I do now   if I were to go all over again I will definitely  pick a focus in school that is more data science   and computer science Focus but that doesn't  mean that the time that I spent doing business   doing data engineering was wasted because having  a data engineering and a business background has   actually made me a better data scientist  having a data engineering background made   me more independent where I can actually build my  own pipelines it has made me more efficient where   I don't have to rely on other people and I can be  more independent in my project having a business   background is actually has been amazing because it  has made me a better Communicator a lot of my work   in the data science domain is working with the  business stakeholders so me having that background   actually understand business much better what  makes sense from business perspective and how   to work with business people like that is one of  my strengths actually and data engineering is also   one of my strengths in my work as a data scientist  in the data science domain so a couple of   takeaways from my story you're probably not going  to succeed the first time but that doesn't mean   you give up you try again second is building my  project portfolio and getting hands-on experience   was extremely extremely helpful for me as well as  for other people for me it was helpful because it   exposed me to the data science world and it made  me realize actually enjoy doing this for other   people it's because it's going on my resume and  other people can see that I can actually do the   work third is the networking networking has been  really really awesome Avenue for me to kind of   ask for help get help where I need it that's all I  wanted to say I hope you found something valuable   in this video thank you so much for watching I  hope you're having a beautiful day I will talk   to you in another video talk to you later bye look  at this this has been you know this is actually a   big deal to me because growing up I was very shy  I didn't have a voice I didn't have an opinion so   this is like a complete 180 for me to like sit in  front of a camera and actually be recognized for   it like it's it's just crazy how the environment  can change a person have a placeholder for it oh that took a lot of work

Channel: Sundas Khalid

Views: 21,562

Keywords: data science, data scientist, self-taugh data scientist, tech jobs, big tech, Machine Learning, Python, data science projects, data science tutorials, data science jobs, data science day in the life, AI, big data, data analyst, data analytics, business analyst, sundas khalid, women of color in tech, people of color in tech, inspiring stories, data science at google, data science 2023, data analyst 2023, data science roadmap 2023, data analyst roadmap 2023, chatgpt

Id: 8_o2XWVK95E

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 10 2023