DSC 2018–19: Finalists’ Interview (4th Round)
In this March, Dacon, the co-host of Data Science Competition 2018–19, interviewed the finalists at the 4th round competition hosted by ZIGBANG — the S. Korea’s largest real-estate marketplace. The finalists are going to receive a combined total of USD 8,000 in prize money. Let’s see how they won the competition!
*Data Science Competition Sponsorship: ZPER
The 4th Round Winners’ Interview
1st Rank: Woong-gon Kim(Statistics Korea), Kyung-sung Yang, Sung-wook, Min, and Hyun-woo (EDA)
Q. Congratulations on your winning! Please tell us about how you feel about the award.
(Kim) I am an ordinary employee working at the Statistics Korea(Ministry of National Statistics: S. Korea). Actually, I’ve been learning about the fields of machine-learning and AI(Artificial Intelligence) in the hope that the two technological processes should be introduced in and change today’s national statistical survey systems better, and I am so glad to win the competition this time.
Moreover, I’d love to thank all my team members who dedicated themselves to the competition, though everyone had to work hard in their current businesses and tasks at work. In addition, I sincerely thank my wife who always supports me, too. I also appreciate Dacon that provided me with a good opportunity to compete in such great competition.
(Yang) Not only our I got to expand the range of data analysis to structured data for new insights, but I also am very happy to win in the competition.
(Min & Hyun-woo) I feel thankful to my team for hard work.
Q. What made you interested in data analysis or why do you work for the field?
(Kim) While I was majoring in economics, I went through many experiences dealing with a large number of financial data on economy. In addition to the field, ‘coding’ was my favorite hobby since I was little; I majored too in mathematics with economics. Flashback to my childhood, my parents used to scold me every day for sticking with computer (Laughter).
These combined experiences of my life naturally got me interested in data analysis, and I joined and work on data-related tasks at the Statistics Korea(Ministry of National Statistics), in order to experience the field of data analysis at a national level more professionally and deeply.
(Hyun-woo) As I was thinking about my career path to get a job, I got to participate in the competition because data analysis fits my aptitude.
Q. What made you participate in the Data Science Competition? (e.g. motivation, etc.)
(Kim) I met Mr. Yang at S. Korean Artificial Intelligence Academy; later then, I co-worked on research paper about Alzheimer through the route of deep learning with him. Mr. Yang and Hyun-woo, the DSC master, encouraged me to compete at the event as a team.
If I have a chance in the future, I would like to work specifically for all kinds of data analysis, regardless of structured or unstructured data, and for this reason, I participated in the Dacon Competition to develop my analysis skills.
(Yang) I made a team as people with diverse backgrounds would be much competitive in a team, and I was very curious what the most essential factor is in APT-price settling in S. Korea.
Q. What did you feel or learn during the competition? (e.g. on studies, works, or in daily life)
(Kim) It was a physically burden to continue testing the models, which I had coded and devised, while staying up all night for the competition, even after I had worked on coding at work all day along. For this reason, I recently began working out as I had felt a need to take care of my health in this process.
Working hard on experimenting numerous models for the competition, especially endlessly putting myself into the ways to find out a reason(s) some models work but others didn’t, I got to learn lots of lessons, and these lessons, as a great asset, have been assisting me a lot in my job!
Q. What were some difficulties during the competition? (e.g. scheduling, analysis, etc.)
(Kim) I got married recently, and therefore, it was hard for me to dedicate myself for both my family and the data competition (laughter).
(Hyun-woo) There was a lot of noise, or huddles in another word, in the data itself, but it was unfortunate that we couldn’t find a way to filter it out clearly.
(Min) Every time I operated my model around, it was very difficult for me to come up with a different set of real estate ideas from time to time.
2nd Rank: Story (Acct ID)
Q. Congratulations on your winning! Please tell us about how you feel about the award.
A) For two and a half months, the time may either short and long, but it was a worthful experience as much as it was hard. I didn’t have enough knowledge of data science, but I’m really happy to see my good results from studying in many ways.
Q. What made you interested in data analysis or why do you work for the field?
A) I took a big-date class by chance, and it totally attracted me in terms of discovering and predicting various insights by data analysis. Not only that, but I also learned that the field has a magnificent possibility of growth in the future.
Q. What made you participate in the Data Science Competition? (e.g. motivation, etc.)
A) Looking for a contest to participate in with my project teammates in a big data class, I thought APT-pricing prediction is the most interesting contest, so I applied it.
Q. What did you feel or learn during the competition? (e.g. on studies, works, or in daily life)
A) I felt that it was obviously difficult to predict the future. I’d love to study harder and achieve to devise more accurate and useful analysis models.
Q. What were some difficulties during the competition? (e.g. scheduling, analysis, etc.)
A) There is plenty of operation quantity in the process of learning the models but unfortunately it was very difficult to find and use a suitable equipment to operate around quickly. I think I could been possibly reduced the numbers errors if I had a right one.
3rd Rank: Ryan (Acct ID)
Q. Congratulations on your winning! Please tell us about how you feel about the award.
A) It was my ‘second’ prize from the entire competition, and I am very glad to achieve it! I have got more confidence from this achievement, and thank my teammate for analyzing with me as a team.
Q. What made you interested in data analysis or why do you work for the field?
A) I have dived into the data world since I got interested in baseball and Sabermetrics — the empirical analysis of baseball, later. In addition to the passion of baseball, I also became interested in analyzing data for the factors: studying, pocket money and a little fun
Q. What made you participate in the Data Science Competition? (e.g. motivation, etc.)
A) I participated in this competition because I thought its theme of question looks very similar with the past round I had attended. Thus, I decided to compete it this time too.
Q. What did you feel or learn during the competition? (e.g. on studies, works, or in daily life)
A) It was too difficult to simultaneously prepare for the competition and study both; even everyone seems to be getting better in this competition. So, I used to give up on sleeping to sustain my ranking.
