How would you define a data scientist and data science?
Data science is what data scientists do. That’s what smart guys say.
«Data» because this is all about data, obviously. And «Science» beacause it is an open field and no fixed objective. We have to make assumptions and refute them. We do the guess-work and and try to back them up with evidence.
Yeah science bitch! (c) Jesse Pinkman
On the contrary, programming is mostly crafting than science. Because often programmer have objective in mind. Also he have tools and sequence of steps to obtain that objective.
What industry are you passionate about and would like to pursue a data science career in?
I’m a developer in ERP software for 15 years. I like accounting, linked documents — it’s perpetual blood flow of any company. Non-finance operations are often finance, because they are somehow affect final profit/loss. How and why? I hope Data Science will give me some insights on that subject.
What are the ten main components of a report that would be delivered at the end of a data science project?
- At first, cover page is ultimate face of your work. Prepare your costume before performing. It should not confuse anybody.
- Table of content — for easy navigation.
- Abstract or summary — quick overview of document in three paragraphs.
- Introduction — like setup in comedy, introduces cast and scene.
- Literature overview — you are not first who dig around, reader may be interested in your story in context of the other stories. You-name-it-verse. Sure, your report will give new insights, not described before.
- Methodology — as always Sherlock Holms did: you shoud explain to DrWatson what data you paid attention to and what method you applied to. Deduction is not the only method for you.
- Results — like punch-line in comedy, your reader should catch your joke here.
- Discussion — you must be prepared, that not all readers will be impressed by your story in a flash. You should answer them in advance.
- Conclusion — story never ends, nice section to place cliffhanger.
- Acknowledgements — this section helps to place list of people you are grateful. It will be useful when you receive an award for this work.
- References — the same as in the previous paragraph, but for documents.
- Appendices — bonus section, storage for materials, referenced from body of your report. Please do not include here jokes that didn’t work.