Data Science Club

Nicholas Vadivelu

bit.ly/uwdsc-welcome-deck-f20�nicholas.vadivelu@gmail.com�@nicvadivelu

Overview

1. What is Data Science Club?
2. Why should you join?
3. How can you get involved?
4. What is data science?
5. What is m a c h i n e l e a r n i n g?
6. What is artificial intelligence?
7. What career options are there in this field?
8. How can I steer my Waterloo education for a career in data science?

What is Data Science Club?

• Mission: Data Science Club is a community for those who want to learn and talk data science at the University of Waterloo.�
• Host weekly events including:
• Co-op panels, mock interviews, resume critiques
• Lectures, workshops (theory and practical)
• Reading groups
• Industry/Professor talks
• ...and more!

How can you get involved?

This Slide Deck: bit.ly/uwdsc-welcome-deck-f20

Member Sign Up: bit.ly/uwdsc-f20�Facebook Page: facebook.com/uwdsc�Email: waterloodatascience@gmail.com�Discord: bit.ly/uwdsc-discord

Other Links: YouTube, Website, Twitter

What is Data Science?

Data science is an inter-disciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge and insights from many structural and unstructured data. Data science is related to data mining, machine learning and big data.

• Wikipedia

Examples of Data Science

• Visualizing voter patterns across the country
• A/B testing a new product feature with users
• Netflix’s video recommendation engine
• Identifying fraudulent credit card transactions
• Matching and routing drivers for Uber
• Determining pricing rates for insurance
• Identifying and predicting motion of objects on the road for self driving
• Facial recognition software for security
• Generating fake images for malicious use
• ….and basically everything you use in your daily life!

What is M a c h i n e L e a r n i n g ?

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

• expertsystem.com

Examples of Machine Learning

​

• Netflix’s video recommendation engine
• Identifying fraudulent credit card transactions
• Matching and routing drivers for Uber
• Determining pricing rates for insurance
• Identifying and predicting motion of objects on the road for self driving
• Facial recognition software for security
• Generating fake images for malicious use

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Data Science

Machine Learning

What are career options in this field?

• Data Analyst
• Data Scientist
• Machine Learning / Research Engineer
• Data Engineer/Architect/Consultant
• Research Scientist

​

Disclaimer: These are my categorizations! Often these titles are mixed, and definitely vary by company

Data Analyst

• What do you do?
• Gather, organize, visualize and analyze data to make conclusions to drive decision making �
• What kinds of companies?
• This role is critical for all sorts of companies!�
• What tools/skills?
• Languages: Python, R, SQL
• Software: Excel, Data Modelling Tools
• Visualization tools: Matplotlib, Tableau, Power Biz, ggplot, etc.
• Skills: Statistics, Communication/Presentation Skills�
• How can I get a taste?
• kaggle.com!

Machine Learning / Research (/ Software) Engineer

• What do you do?
• Creating and deploying machine learning models into production
• Optimizing data/machine learning pipelines
• Create infrastructure and tools to facilitate machine learning�
• What kinds of companies?
• Companies that use machine learning in their products
• Technology companies that incorporate data science internally
• Large companies that do machine learning research�
• What tools/skills?
• Same skillset as a software engineer
• Statistics!
• Python (+ TensorFlow, Pytorch, others), Spark, Hadoop, C++/CUDA
• Cloud Infra Skills (Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services)

Machine Learning / Research (/ Software) Engineer

• How can I get a taste?
• Deploying an ML project to a website or app for people to use
• Research assistant roles at UWaterloo
• Design teams at UWaterloo

Data Scientist

• What do you do?
• “Halfway between an engineer and a data analyst”
• Gather, organize, visualize and analyze data to make conclusions to drive decision making!
• Design models to make inferences about or predictions on complex data
• Evaluate and improve models in production�
• What kinds of companies?
• All sorts of companies, particularly those with a focus on data�
• What tools/skills?
• A mix of the skills needed by software engineers and data analysts�
• How can I get a taste?
• kaggle.com!

Data Engineer/Architect/Consultant

• What do you do?
• Design, implement, and maintain data collection, storage, and serving systems�
• What kinds of companies?
• All sorts of companies, particularly those with a focus on data�
• What tools/skills?
• Hadoop, Spark, Scala, Java, C++, SQL
• Cloud Services (Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services)
• Databases�
• How can I get a taste?
• Tough :/

(Machine Learning) Research Scientist

• What do you do?
• Deeply study new/existing problems or new solutions to existing problems in the areas of statistics and computer science
• Can be applied or theoretical�
• What kinds of companies?
• Universities and Large Tech Companies�
• What tools/skills?
• Varies�
• How can I get a taste?
• Undergraduate research assistantships!

How can I steer my Waterloo education for DS?

• Most Relevant Majors: Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science
• A double major is completing all the requirements for two majors; a joint major is a special subset of requirements for two majors
• Data Science is just Joint Computer Science + Statistics Rebranded
• Joint CS & Stats no longer possible!
• Double Major in CS & Stats is still possible
• Other Relevant Majors: Actuarial Science, FARM, CFM
• Other Possibly Relevant Majors: Combinatorics & Optimization, Applied Math, Pure Math, Math Finance
• Overall, not too important what you choose!
• But, CS and DS majors have access to some upper year CS courses that other majors don’t!
• BUT, you can always self learn! Lot’s of CS content is available for free online.

How can I steer my Waterloo education for DS?

• Join clubs and design teams
• Data Science Club, WATonomous, etc.�
• Participate in hackathons, datathons, and recruiting events

Thanks for listening! Questions?

bit.ly/uwdsc-welcome-deck-f20�nicholas.vadivelu@gmail.com�@nicvadivelu