Just a few recommendations on how you may make your non-traditional past a selling point in your first data science job

Data science is one in all those interesting tech fields where you may consult with individuals who once studied philosophy, worked as nurses, or walked dogs for a living, and are actually scraping the net, constructing machine learning models, and presenting data conclusions to C-level executives.

It doesn’t matter what background you may have, you’re welcome in data science.

2020 became a yr where people began to teach themselves how one can code and transition into tech from quite a lot of backgrounds and the trend has appeared to proceed into 2023. While a non-traditional profession or educational background could make it difficult to get into data science, it’s not unattainable when you realize how one can leverage your existing skills to enhance your new-found data science skills.

None of the information shared listed here are revolutionary or life-changing — as a substitute, they’re tried and true suggestions that I’ve personally found to work while attempting to break into data science from a non-traditional background. Your data science skills and past experience will speak for themselves, you only need to make use of the following pointers to leverage them right into a recent profession in data science.

You’ve learned the information science skills, now it is advisable to showcase what you may do.

Your portfolio is the whole lot whenever you’re applying to data science jobs, not only as someone from a non-traditional background but additionally for individuals who have studied it officially. Portfolios are sometimes what make or break a recruiter’s offer for you to come back in your first interview, which is why it must be an impactful resource filled with your best work and demonstrating how your non-traditional background makes you a stronger candidate than the remainder.

Most data science portfolios are built and hosted on GitHub, an industry standard where it’s best to store all your personal data science projects. You’ll be able to learn how one can construct a GitHub portfolio here:

When entering data science from a non-traditional background, you wish your portfolio to point out that you may have transferable skills out of your previous experience that make your projects filled with unique insight. Insight is the whole lot in data science, which is why it is advisable to play to your strengths when selecting projects.

For instance, in the event you were a nurse, your portfolio projects could focus on highlighting how a hospital could improve its efficiency, how doctors could use AI to make more accurate diagnoses, or how worsening environmental conditions are proportionately increasing hospital intake rates. The identical thing goes in the event you were a teacher — how could more education-driven kid’s TV programs help children get a head start on the things they should develop into well-rounded students?

Whether you wish to be a knowledge scientist in your previous industry or not, it’s vital to point out which you can apply what you already know to resolve problems using data evaluation. These projects should take a crack at solving problems you encountered whilst you were working (or that will have driven you to depart that position) using data sets, statistical evaluation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Moreover, these kind of projects display your ability to interrupt down a real-world problem into something that will be solved using data science.

For instance, I’m currently working on a private project that appears at how the probability of finding missing individuals will be higher standardized for my area. I work in search and rescue, and while no two calls are the identical, it’s possible to search out correlations between the sorts of calls and where you may look forward to finding people. In other words, taking a really real problem that exists, breaking it down into its components, and determining how missing person data will be used to make search and rescue operations more efficient. While this will likely not be perfectly relevant to the following data science job I apply for, it is going to definitely show that I can solve an issue using my data science skills — which ultimately, is all that an employer is in search of anyhow.

Key takeaway

• Construct projects in your portfolio that solve problems you encountered in your previous industry — this shows potential employers that you simply are dedicated to finding higher ways of doing things and which you can break down a real-world problem into something that will be solved using data science.

Your first data science experience will look different for everybody. For me, it was volunteering, whereas for others, it could possibly be freelance work. For a number of the writers here on Towards Data Science, they got their start by sharing their expertise through articles.

Getting easy data science experience is a fantastic approach to get some hands-on experience and work on data in a real-world scenario. These will not be paid opportunities, but they are going to repay in the longer term whenever you get hired as a knowledge scientist.

Easy data science experience could appear to be constructing an Excel sheet that might predict future monthly expenses in your parents based on historical price data. Or, it could appear to be doing a customer evaluation for a neighborhood online business and helping them market their highest-performing products. Or, it could appear to be constructing a dashboard for a social media marketer to find out how client enrollment coincides with Google search trends. For those who actually need to leverage your non-traditional background, search out data-related experience in that field and display how your practical skills within the industry, coupled along with your newfound technical skills in data science, enable you produce much more insight than you may have with only one skillset.

Regardless of the case, it’s best to look to finish 3–4 easy, real-world projects that show potential employers that you simply’ve got the technical skills they need (and the non-traditional background to offer greater insight than most). Most corporations want their data scientists to hit the bottom running (to differing degrees), so it’s an excellent idea to have the fundamentals down by practicing through these easy projects.

These projects will be showcased as work or volunteer experience in your resume. Moreover, it’s best to seek to get a testimonial from the person or company you probably did the project for, which could possibly be used as a reference or as just yet another reason why an organization should hire you. Most significantly of all, these easy experiences show employers that your non-traditional background is complementary to your abilities as a knowledge scientist.

For instance, I used my final university capstone project as an experience toward a profession in tech. It was a fantastic talking point with potential employers and gave them a fantastic idea of my skills, each technical and transferable. By showing them that I had worked as a part of a team to create a tangible result for a big client company, they may trust that I might deliver the identical results with “real-life” work. Moreover, while the work wasn’t completely related to the job, it showed that I had transferable skills and increased insight due to my less traditional background.

Key takeaway

• Get easy data science experience by volunteering your time, interning, freelancing, or sharing what you realize on social media. This shows employers that you may have the technical skills required for the job and reassures them that your non-traditional background is complementary to your abilities as a knowledge scientist.

Top-of-the-line pieces of recommendation I’ve received from Master’s and Ph.D. students in search of jobs outside of academia is that you may have quite a few transferable skills from whatever educational or occupational background you may have. While it could not seem to be it, give it some thought for a second.

For instance, in the event you were a nurse who’s now transitioning into data science, you’re highly organized, detail-oriented, a creative thinker, in a position to work in a fast-paced environment, and a problem-solver. Or, in the event you were a teacher, you’re a fantastic communicator, you may break down complex topics into easy statements, you’re a problem-solver, and you’re diligent about meeting deadlines. All of those skills are valued in the information science industry and ought to be highlighted profusely.

What you can see at good tech corporations is that they are going to hire a knowledge scientist who has the entire essential soft skills (a few of that are listed above) even in the event that they don’t have an ideal technical background because they know that they’ll train for technical skills — they’ll’t train for soft skills.

For instance, I remember when the corporate I worked for hired a developer who also desired to do some work in data science. While the developer didn’t have perfect data science skills, the corporate hired them because they knew that the person could work as a developer while the corporate trained them in relevant data science skills. It could then be possible for the person to transition completely into a knowledge science role if the time got here, or could proceed working as a developer and get trained on the side.

Key takeaway

• Transferable skills are what’s going to set you aside from other candidates — highlight those most relevant to the position and address how what you learned in your previous experience is applicable to a position in data science.