If I can, you can too! 6 points that will help you break into the industry.
If you are an aspiring data scientist and your goal is to land your first ever Data Science internship, then I encourage you to continue reading. This article will discuss what helped me get my first data science internship and what it really takes to break into the industry. I am currently a data science intern and will graduate with my master’s degree at the end of the summer. Before I decided to pursue a master’s, I worked in sports analytics for 4 years. First of all, we all come from different backgrounds, so there is no perfect formula. Whether it’s attending a Bootcamp, completing online courses, or completing a formal graduate-level degree. However, after attending many networking events and coffee chats with data science professionals, I noticed some common characteristics one must have and steps that you should take to give you a better chance to put your foot into the door. I will go over each topic one by one, and if you have those character traits and follow the steps, then you are really not far away from breaking into the industry.
1.) Character Traits Worth Developing:
When it comes to character traits, drive, persistence, and strong communicating skills are probably the three most important personal traits one needs to have to becomes a successful Data Scientist. I personally think if you don’t have any of those, then you won’t have a good chance of surviving in this industry. However, you can always work on yourself and improve! So don’t shy away and work on your weaknesses.
Drive: Whatever drives you, whether it’s the continuous joy of learning new data science skills, the joy of problem-solving, or even the pure joy of making good money. If you don’t have the fire in you, then it will be tough. Work on your mindset every day and have the end goal in front of you. Have short, medium, and long-term goals and take small steps to reach the intermediate goals so you will get to the big end goal. Remember, you don’t become a data scientist overnight. It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
Persistence: You really need to enjoy what you are doing and be willing to learn constantly since new technologies emerge rapidly. I accepted the fact early on in my journey that I will need to continuously learn new skills for the rest of my life if I want to succeed in this industry. To keep up with the demand for the new skills required in today’s job market, you will need to upgrade your skills a lot.
Communication: It goes without saying that being a good communicator is a big plus for any job. When it comes to our field, at the end of the day, you need to be comfortable presenting your findings to clients or stakeholders and be good at explaining technical concepts to non-technical people simply and clearly.
I am sure if you read this article up till now, then you have some persistence and drive ;). You can develop many more traits, but I really think that those 3 above-mentioned skills are critical.
2.) Create Side Projects:
I am sure you read this many times, but side projects are great ways to show off your skills if you don’t have any data-related work experience. It shows employers, what you are capable of creating, and in addition to that, it really shows how passionate you are. It still amazes me sometimes when I see how some of my peers still don’t have a presentable GitHub profile and expect to land a six-figure job right away. You need to understand that finishing an online course, a Bootcamp, or a graduate degree isn’t enough these days. There is a lot of competition out there, and by creating interesting side projects, you have the ability to stand out amongst other candidates. Check out my GitHub profile and the individual projects with their README file to see for yourself what helped me land my data science internship.
3.) Marketing Yourself – Develop Your Personal Brand:
Developing my personal brand and being active outside of school really helped me get involved in the data science community and noticed. As a student ambassador, I always encourage new students to become active outside school. Writing blogs about new concepts, presenting projects, and sharing ideas on social networks are great ways to get involved. I personally received two awards this way. One from Streamlit for a data visualization project and my overall contribution as a new Streamlit user. You can check out the project here:
https://share.streamlit.io/navido89/covid19-dashboard-dataviz/app.py
and the link to my award below in case you don’t believe me:
https://discuss.streamlit.io/badges/44/new-user-of-the-month
The second award is one that I received from KDNuggets regarding a blog I wrote called "The Portfolio Guide for Data Science Beginners". See award below:
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2021/04/top-stories-2021-mar.htm
These recognitions have been accomplished by being active on social media, writing blogs, and showcasing my work to the world. I highly encourage you to do the same because it will make you stand out when you apply for internships or entry-level jobs. In addition to that, an optimized LinkedIn profile is super helpful as well. List your projects, update your skills and ask for recommendation letters from past colleagues you worked with or even from your instructors. Check out my LinkedIn profile below to get a better idea.
Last but not least, having a portfolio website really helps employers learn more about you. It’s a big part of your personal brand. If you want to learn more about what a portfolio should entail, check out the award-winning blog post that I wrote below:
All in all, branding yourself is an important aspect when it comes to any industry. I totally understand if some of you are shy about showcasing your work online and don’t like to show the entire world what you are working on. You need to get out of your comfort zone though and start showcasing to employers what you are all about. It really helped me demonstrate to employers what I can create and how passionate I am.
4.) Networking – Grow Your Network :
I can’t emphasize enough how important this is, but you will see the benefits in the long run. I personally learned so much from professionals who work in the data science field. Hearing about their paths and what got them to the point in their career is very valuable. Even getting resume tips from professionals in the industry can make a big difference for you. Whether it’s a simple coffee chat or attending career fair events. If you are in school, connect with the career center and attend career fairs. For those that aren’t in University, check out meetup.com or try to make some cold outreachs and invite the person for coffee. Try to increase your network as much as possible.
5.) Apply With A Strategy:
It goes without saying that this stage can be tiring, but you will be surprised how quickly you can actually land interviews if you are smart about it.
Referrals: This is the quickest way that will land you interviews. I received some referrals from people I met through my networking efforts. That’s why networking is an important aspect. Once you build a connection with someone who works in the field and he/she sees that you are passionate and a good person, they will try to help you out. Don’t expect them all to do that for you, but if they do, great for you.
Cold Outreach: Once you apply for a job via LinkedIn or on the company website, try to find the people that work on the data science team for the company that you applied for. Send them a message and explain why you would be the ideal candidate for this position. Sometimes, they connect you with the hiring manager or connect you with someone else in the company. You don’t always hear back, but the chances of landing an interview are much higher than just applying online.
If you simply apply online, it will become a numbers game, but you would be surprised how quickly the response rate increases if you are smart about it. A great article from Emma Ding helped me better understand how I can increase my chances to land an interview. Check it out below:
How to Get Data Science Interviews: Finding Jobs, Reaching Gatekeepers, and Getting Referrals
6.) Interview – Practice Makes You Perfect:
Practice practice practice and practice. There is no way around it. I am not going too much into this because there are so many resources out there. Whether it comes to leetcode, algoexpert, stratascratch, etc., if you put in the work, trust me, you will get the results. It’s like everything else in life. One thing that my past as a professional soccer player taught me is if you work hard, stay disciplined, and are willing to learn every day, you will reach your goal. Before I conclude, I would like to share this video from Emma Ding, who gives you a few tips on what to do before an interview. It really helped me.
Final Words:
I hope this article was helpful for those that look to break into the data science field. As I mentioned before, there is no perfect formula, but there are a few steps that will increase your chances to land your dream job and make you stand out from the competition. What worked for me might not work for others, but I am sure that some of the points I talked about will improve your chances.
- Improve your soft skills.
- Work on your side projects.
- Market yourself.
- Network as much as possible.
- Practice practice and practice for your interviews.
Let me know if you have any questions on this topic. If you enjoyed this article, I’d be very grateful if you would share it on any social media platforms. Thank you, and best of luck to you! ✌
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