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DATA SCIENCE FOR SOCIAL GOOD

FROM ZERO CODE AT DSSG TO COACHING 400+ PEOPLE

5 things I've learned along the way

X

2019

0

lines of code

X

2026

400+

people coached

WITH MARINA WYSS

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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WHERE I STARTED

My path here was unconventional

STEP_01

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Dropped out of high school

Off to a great start, I know.

STEP_02

X

Managed a jewelry business

My most recent job before grad school.

STEP_03

X

Master's in Public Policy

I found data science by accident!

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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SPRING 2019

My first hackathon was a DSSG Berlin event

TRUE STORY

I could only code in R, so I didn't contribute a single line of code.

THE GOOD PART

X

Jian was on my team, and we became friends.

He's organizing this year's event!

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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GETTING IN

FROM COLD OUTREACH TO PRODUCTION ML

A YEAR LATER

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Internship

At a data science consulting firm. I got it through cold outreach.

Junior data scientist

The internship turned into my first DS role.

2020

X

Coursera

Machine learning data scientist.

2022 TO 2026

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Twitch

Applied scientist on production ML. Gen AI apps for the last two years.

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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THE COACHING

I started coaching while I was at Coursera

SINCE THEN

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400+

people coached since then, one-on-one and in group settings

NOW

Full time on coaching and content creation in AI education and tech careers

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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PART 2

5

THINGS I'VE LEARNED COACHING 400+ PEOPLE

LESSONS

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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1

LESSON 1 OF 5

Networking is the highest-leverage thing you can do

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE AWKWARD

X

Small local meetups (or start one)

Hackathons like this one

Messages on LinkedIn

A couple of questions at a conference

Being active in Discord communities

TRUE STORY

Our most prolific networker pushed his Google interview back six months since it became low priority.

He's stopped networking because he has too many interviews :)

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

The first one is networking. I know you’ve heard this before, but it’s so important that it bears repeating.��Out of everything you can do in your job search, networking is the highest-leverage, by a lot. ��And networking doesn't have to be awkward or weird. Some of the best options are pretty low-key. Small local meetups are great, and if there isn't one near you, start one. Hackathons like this one are great for it too. You can message people on LinkedIn, go to a conference and ask someone a couple of questions, or just be active in Discord communities. I've literally heard of people getting interviews from contributing to open source, or from just being really friendly in a Discord server. ��The most extreme example I've seen is a guy in my learning community who is, by far, our most prolific networker. He's getting so many interviews right now that he pushed his Google interview back six months, because it's low priority for him. And he's actually stopped networking, because he's getting too many interviews.

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LESSON 2 OF 5

Projects need to solve a real problem

Hiring managers hire you to solve the problems their business has. Without experience, the only way to prove you can do that is to make your own.

WON'T HELP YOUR JOB SEARCH

X

Follow-along tutorial projects

They show you can follow a tutorial.

WHAT DOES HELP

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An app on the App Store that solves a real problem in your life or hobby community

Volunteering with nonprofits, like DSSG (my favorite)

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

Number two: Projects are a great way to learn, but they need to solve a real problem end-to-end if you want them to be helpful for your job search.��The reason for this is pretty simple. Hiring managers hire you to solve the problems their business has. Your skills matter because they're how you solve those problems. If you already have experience, that's your proof. You've done it before, at a real job. ��But if you don't have experience yet, you're stuck in a catch-22. You need experience to get the job, and you need a job to get experience. So the only way out is to make your own experience. ��That's why follow-along projects won't help your job search. If you followed a tutorial step by step, all it shows a hiring manager is that you can follow a tutorial. ��What does help is building something that solves a real problem, start to finish. That could be an app you put on the App Store that fixes something in your own life, or something for a hobby community you're part of. Or, my personal favorite, volunteering with nonprofits. And that's a big part of why I love organizations like DSSG. You get to use your skills on a real problem for a real organization, and the work actually has constraints and impact. That's exactly the kind of experience a hiring manager wants to hear about.

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LESSON 3 OF 5

LEARN, BUILD, CONNECT, AND APPLY AT THE SAME TIME

X

Learn

The specific skill your next step needs

X

Build

A real project, the whole time

X

Connect

Keep meeting people in the field

X

Apply

Start before you feel "ready"

COURSES ARE A MENU. PULL FROM THEM WHEN YOU NEED A SPECIFIC SKILL.

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

Number three: learn, build projects, network, and apply to jobs, all at the same time. ��A really common pattern I see is people treating this as a sequence. First I'll finish this list of courses, then I'll build a project, and then once I'm ready, I'll start networking and applying. The problem is that "ready" never happens. There's always one more course. In my learning community, we set up timelines with all four of those running in parallel. You're working on all four the whole time, but the split between them changes depending on what stage you're in. ��And for courses specifically, I'd treat them as suggested resources you pull from when you need to learn a specific thing. You don't need to finish a syllabus before you're allowed to build something or talk to people. Honestly, a lot of the time, "I'm not ready yet" is imposter syndrome talking. Which brings me to number four.

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4

LESSON 4 OF 5

Everyone feels imposter syndrome

This field is too big for anyone to learn all of it. Over time, you just get more comfortable with that.

BIG TECH

X

There are a couple of real geniuses, but they're rare. Most people are smart, normal people.

SELF-DOUBT

X

It means you understand how big this field is. That's a sign you're making progress.

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

Everyone feels imposter syndrome. I felt it at that hackathon in 2019, and after years of working in this field, I still don't feel like I know everything. And that's because this field is simply too large. There's no way you'll ever learn all of it. Which is kind of freeing once you accept it.��What happens over time is that you get more comfortable with that reality. It's really easy to look at people working in big tech and assume they're all super geniuses. I've worked at Coursera and Twitch which is owned by Amazon, and I can tell you that's not true. There are a couple of real geniuses, but they're rare. Most of the people I worked with were smart, normal people. So it's normal to doubt yourself. And if anything, it's a good sign. Doubting yourself means you have a reasonable sense of how big this field is, and that means you're making progress.

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5

LESSON 5 OF 5

CONSISTENCY BEATS INTENSITY

THE SPRINT

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12 hours a day

Super motivated and all in. Then burnout, then giving up.

THE LONG HAUL

X

Steady progress

A little at a time, and still going months later.

LEARNING IS PART OF THIS CAREER FOREVER. BUILD A HABIT YOU CAN KEEP.

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS

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THANK YOU!

KEEP_IN_TOUCH

X

YOUTUBE

@MarinaWyssAI

CONTACT INFO

marinawyss.com

@marina.wyss

MARINA WYSS