Featured image of post D̶r̶. Hopper or: How I Quit My Ph.D. and Learned to Love Data Science

D̶r̶. Hopper or: How I Quit My Ph.D. and Learned to Love Data Science

Data Dialogue presentation at Duke University about transitioning from academia to data science.

I recently gave to the Duke Big Data Initiative entitled Dr. Hopper, or How I Quit My Ph.D. and Learned to Love Data Science. The talk was well received, and my slides seemed to resonate in the Twitter data science community.

Here’s my favorite section from the talk:

What my wife thinks I do vs. what my mom thinks I do
What my CEO thinks I do vs. what my manager thinks I do
What I thought I would do vs. what I tell people on Twitter I do
What I actually do

I conclude by listing things I learned in school but don’t use every day:

  • Linear Algebra
  • Probability
  • Statistics
  • Machine Learning
  • Math Modeling
  • Data Structures
  • Algorithms
  • Distributed Systems

And things I wasn’t taught in school but use daily:

  • Communication
  • Careful Thought
  • Prose Writing Skill
  • Software Writing Skill
  • Software Engineering
  • Tenacity
  • Stack Overflow
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