FTW Foundation Batch 2 Commencement Exercises: Celebrating Women in Data Science by Charise Alinsoot
In recent years, there has been an evident growth in the field of data science, a multi-disciplinary field in the area of science and technology that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from both structured and unstructured data. Data science now plays a key role in the strategic decision-making process of various sectors like business, government, and social sciences. Despite the exponential growth in the amount of data accumulated from different sources, there aren’t enough people with the necessary skill set to understand, analyze, and interpret them. This is an issue that FTW (For the Women) Foundation acknowledges and hopes to address through its training programs.
FTW Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps women develop their potential and, ultimately, their careers. It provides free learning materials and training to versatile and ambitious Filipino women, with the goal of helping them learn and excel in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence. Through this, FTW aims to achieve their vision of turning the Philippines into the first data capital of the world. Aside from the benefits these classes offer to scholars, these also address a common problem faced by the field of data science — the lack of data scientists.
By providing learning opportunities to aspiring data analysts, data scientists, data engineers, and other data science professionals, FTW opens doors for more Filipinos to discover opportunities they could pursue and explore with top organizations searching for talents in the field. Though science and technology is traditionally a male-dominated field, the fast-emerging world of data science is not gender-exclusive. FTW is very much aware of women’s potential contribution to the development and expansion of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
I was privileged to join the John Clements Consultants team in celebrating women who excel in the field of data science during FTW Foundation’s Batch 2 Commencement Exercises held last August 10, 2019 at WeWork in Bonifacio Global City. The event was very insightful as we were able to witness the program graduates’ presentations of their respective studies. These studies tapped various topics such as online gaming, education, and online banking or financial technology.
In their presentations, the graduates shared their processes, steps they took, and challenges they faced in order to acquire and analyse data and, finally, the outcome of each study. It was amazing to see how these new data science professionals utilized the knowledge and skills they acquired from the program to come up with each of their presentations. Despite coming from different industries, the graduates enjoyed this learning opportunity with their colleagues — sharing their love for data science. All thanks to FTW!
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About the author:
Charise is a Behavioral Sciences graduate from De La Salle University. As a comic book enthusiast and adventure seeker, she has a fascination for all things uncommon and exciting. When she is not at her office desk, you can find her in a coffee shop, watching TED Talks or reading lifestyle articles online.
