The Four E's of IDS

Introduction to Data Science.

The course is (damn) rich. Below are the things I love about it:

Exposure

This is the very first thing that I can tell people if they ask me about the course. It feels so amazing how we gained a lot of exposure at the very early stage of our data science journey (it has not been a month yet). This is where I come to realize and appreciate the case study approach in learning. You can tell that the speakers invited are well-picked. I personally think that I lack rich experience to contribute to the class discussions being among the modern world caveman of I.T. but I appreciate listening to the class exchanging insights from different fields. I learn from them. I want to be like them.

Equipped

Being in a relatively new field and among the pioneers in data science we always have this “what’s going to happen to me after the program?”, “what do you plan to do?”. IDS did not give us the answers to these questions, but it equipped us with the proper knowledge on how we can survive outside.

Expectations

IDS gave me not just an overview of this big umbrella of data science. It has also set my expectations on what will my role be after the program. That I am not just a programmer, an analyst, mathematician, statistician, physicist, I’m not going to be just creating the model. I will have to be holistically prepared to do everything.

The course also provided us with what are the things we need to watch out when we start our data science work outside and the difficulties we will be facing when dealing with clients and the team.

Empowering

The activities in IDS (specially the video essays) freaked out my introvert self. It was hard to accept at first that I must do it. I feel like my introvert-ness was violated. BUT, it’s the reality. If we want to pursue the data science career, we cannot survive with just our introverted self. The course empowered us with the idea that we can be flexible enough to make personal adjustments and set aside our personal preferences in order to deliver.