Why I got interested in “Hottest Job of 21st Century”
Please note before reading:This is not about the latest research going on nor I claim in any way that reading this article will give you in-depth knowledge of some algorithm,nor I am giving some curated lists of courses to follow.There are tons of such stuff available elsewhere.Nor I am an acclaimed expert in the field.Still interested,read on.
Just like millions of engineers produced by my country,I was also one of them.Guided by my love (or should I say my average performance) for physics,I took up Electrical Engineering for my undergraduate studies.
By the time I reached half way,I realized this is not what I wanted to do in upcoming future.I had developed interest in technology ,entrepreneurship and working of free market.Things like this drove me and kept me awake at night.I could actually connect and understand why organizations run the way they are,why people behave the way they are and how their behavior is influenced by big companies for their good use.This all led me to path of Data Analytics.Few months down the line, some projects later- I finally got what I wanted: A shot to work as a Data Scientist.
The thing that kept me going except the buzz around big words was the power of data. You don’t know what results you are going to get,what the data will speak to you.You can only try to get that data to speak and man ,it is not necessary that it will speak in the language you want, saying what you will want to hear.
Every data has its own story ,its own problems.And here is where your job starts.You never know what you are going to uncover and what mysteries lies waiting to be discovered by someone. You can only hope to stumble upon it not by luck but by sheer hard-work.
Sure there are a lot of tools and complex array of algorithms but I still believe nothing beats human instinct and a bit of common sense.Always respect the experience and domain knowledge.They will surely beat any of your fancy tool any day.If you can combine them together then nothing can stop you to find your holy grail.However this advice comes with a pinch of salt.While instinct is healthy,sometimes it can lead to false results since you believe them to be true.
Is it frustrating at times? Yes.
Does you sometimes feel lost not knowing what to do? Almost always.
Do you enjoy doing what you do ? ABSOLUTELY
Still I personally love the feeling of playing with a data set not knowing what I will uncover.And this is the greatest pleasure and the reason I do ,what I do.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.”
-W. Edwards Deming
