How To Get Data Science Experience (Without a Job)

Key Takeaways

hello everyone can hear back with another data science video for you today I'm talking about how to get data science experience without necessarily having a data science job I see a lot of people in different forums and in different groups that I'm a part of talking about how they have the necessary skills but they don't necessarily have the experience needed that a lot of jobs are looking for so in this video I'm speaking to things that I know can look good on a resume and they can perhaps substitute as some real work experience if you stay tuned to the end I'll give you my number one best resource for getting data science experience and as usual if you enjoy this video please hit that like button if you want to see more video similar to this please subscribe my channel and you'll get to see the weekly content that I publish if you're in school which many people in this situation are I really recommend looking at research opportunities within your University this looks great on your resume it gets you close to a professor who can perhaps act as a mentor and give you a recommendation it also gives you you know proximity to real-world data science or machine learning projects and if you get published that's another feather in your cap so I would explore all the opportunities here you know there's the potential that you also make money from this and that you have maybe some tuition reimbursement so there's a financial benefit of this Avenue as well the second thing that I would recommend is working on personal projects I harp on this a lot and I've made multiple videos about this that you'll see above and this shows a couple things it shows that you have interest in data science it shows that you have initiative and if you can potentially make money from some of these projects or get them published or get some notoriety around them that looks really great on your resume to me that is real-life experience especially if other people have eyes on them if you're just doing this for yourself and you know you can talk about it but you don't share it that doesn't hold the same weight as having a project that you socialize and you get feedback on because in the real world when you're working you're always showing your projects and your work to other people and you're always getting feedback criticism and you know occasionally praise associated with them so I would make sure if you are doing projects that you're comfortable with the work and you're finding a medium to share that I've shared projects on YouTube obviously I share some of the work that I do on medium and also on github so I recommend not necesary of those sources but at least make sure that your projects are put in a github repo or whatever get repository the ease going back to the school concept or for the people who are in school either in undergraduate or graduate another way that you can simulate real work experience is through your schoolwork schoolwork is graded and it has a somewhat similar feel to your work in the real world you can show potential employers what your grades were you can show them what the project was and again that is in a way a little bit social especially if you're sharing your project with the class so you know when you get kind of further along in data science courses you usually have the opportunity to work on a project through the course that is largely if you're choosing I recommend you choose a field that has some of the qualities related to a good data science project that I've talked about before and to make sure that you you know you you really do a good job you are able to articulate what the schoolwork is about and you know if you get a good recommendation or high marks from your teacher absolutely hyped that up on your resume or in the interview process the next thing that I think is important to point out the next type of work experience that you can get is an intern so that is very close to a real job but there's some pretty stark distinctions so an internship is a lot easier to get than a full-time job and you don't necessarily have to be a student you don't necessarily undergrad a grad student to be able to get an internship if you really want to get into the field there's a chance that people will take you even if you're a couple years out of school because they're getting someone who might be more polished at the intern level there's a couple internships that I did in between grad school because I wanted to learn some new skills and I think that this is a completely viable approach you know especially if you are in undergrad or graduate student this is even better for you because they carve out time we even potentially get credit for doing internships here another benefit of internships is that they usually pay you and in the data science field they generally pay you pretty well so it's nice to have maybe a little extra beer money on the weekend from an internship opportunity another area to gain work experience that I really like is up work or any of these contracting websites you probably have to set your rate to be pretty low to make an impact but or to get potential clients but you can show your portfolio you can show the things that you've done and again you can make money from this this is a hundred percent real world experience and if you can get some exposure to that there is you know a couple added benefits associated with it so the first is you get the experience of working the second is that the employer or whoever you're interviewing with knows that you have the initiative and the sales ability to actually win a client winning a client is a really hard thing to do you know I do a reasonable amount of consulting and I know how hard it is and and how important it is for us to get new clients that's a long process but it's something that's very worthwhile if you could do it the ability to to sell yourself to sell a project is extremely important in data science by doing contract work you can show that to any potential new employee employer now my number one most recommended way to get work experience in data science is to do 100% free work for a real client a lot of people will not turn you down if you're offering a free service and you have a well-thought-out project you know you can talk to people within your network you can talk to nonprofits who are always looking for this type of work and I think that is a great way for you to learn skills to put something on your resume and to help you know a greater good help help a good cause employers love to see when people are charitable when they're when they're working for nonprofits or working with nonprofits and again that is another kind of kudos to you that they will see that will really help you going forward now this again does take a little bit of salesmanship it does take you going out there and introducing yourself and meeting these people and you know it can start us free work but it can eventually turn into paid work or even a full-time job so don't think oh I'm doing this for free like my skills are you know they actually being paid infinitely more than this it is planning the seed for something bigger and that's what all of these things are you're planning a bunch of seeds and your projects and your internships and any of the pro bono work that you do to create a great opportunity for you going forward so with that in mind thank you so much for watching this video I really hope it helps and good luck on your data science journey