Whilst Data Scientist jobs have been flooding the market, you are generally required to have a broad experience in the field to actually get a job.
Whilst Data Scientist jobs have been flooding the market, you are generally required to have a broad experience in the field to actually get a job.
Lillian Pierson (@BigDataGal), the author of Data Science for Dummies, has recently published a post on her blog Data-Mania.com which, among other things, points out three ways people can get real world experience in data science.
The focus of her article was about paid work in data science. So, I thought I would add a few more ways to get some great experience without even needing to find a job in data science.
Option D: Contribute to open source projects related to data, data management, and BI/insights. Not only will you get credit for your contribution, but also help such projects thrive. For example, you could build your own data resource view for CKAN and test it on real public data from data portals around the world.
Option E: Join a civic hacking group and build things which benefit your local community. It might be some data journalism to highlight gender wage gaps, a budget lens for your local government that shows where tax revenue is spent, or something mappy to show the ‘where’ and ‘what’ together. Connect, collaborate and contribute – you’ll learn a lot, grow your network and help your community while also having a great time.
Option F: Citizen science! Conduct your own research and generate data to test your own hypothesis – build a survey, or work with sensors. Pull your data together and publish with your own analysis and insights.
Best of all, with these options, it doesn’t matter what you do to pay the bills. You can work for the love of it and find out what fires your passion.
