Science to Data Science

I decided to apply for the S2DS London programme as I was heading into the final year of my Astrophysics PhD. I was starting to think about leaving academia but found myself in the position of having no commercial experience to call upon for any job applications/interviews I may have in the future. I also had no way of really knowing what it was like to work outside of academia. This worried me, and when I heard about S2DS it immediately caught my attention as a potential solution to this problem.

Prior to S2DS, I had a reasonable amount of data analysis experience under my belt from my academic studies and would class myself as fairly competent at programming in python, but I had pretty much no clue about business and no formal "data science" training whatsoever. One of my concerns before attending was that I may have been out of my depth, however it turned out I didn't need to worry. The S2DS course is well organised to suit all levels of ability (within reason!) and with a little pre-course preparation on websites such as Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy etc. you will be up to speed in no time. 

The course itself is in the form of one-and-a-half-ish weeks of lectures, across different business and programming topics, followed by 3 and a bit weeks of project work with your sponsor company. I found the lectures hugely informative, and actually very engaging and interesting compared with the average academic conference. The team at Pivigo have a lot of contacts, and chose some extremely good speakers.

Within a week of starting the course, you will meet your company sponsors, technical mentors and (hopefully!) be given all the data you need for your project. (I say hopefully because for my project, due to various issues it took a little while longer than that, but it was all good problem-solving experience). Then it really is all down to you and your team from there. My project was interesting, challenging, frustrating at times but overall I found it very rewarding. I came out of this experience realising that data science was a career path I would like to pursue, and S2DS has given me a valuable network of people to get me started.

The atmosphere on the course was extremely friendly, all the attendees were fantastic, along with the Pivigo staff. People came from all over the world, from all sorts of backgrounds, whether straight from a PhD or Postdoc, or from later on in life looking for a career change. The course really is for anybody looking to transition into the field of data science. The work is intense, but there is also plenty of time allowed for socialising, both through numerous planned events as well as spontaneous activities such as movie nights, golf or a trip down the pub. Networking is strongly encouraged, and you will get plenty of time for this, both with each other and with lots of companies, many who actively recruit directly from the S2DS cohort. 

I already know people who attended the course who have gone on to take jobs directly as a result of this experience, however I cannot speak for myself yet as I am still in the final stages of my PhD. What I can say is that I have received a huge amount of interest from companies and recruiters on LinkedIn since adding my S2DS experience to my profile, so this course appears to have great value as a stepping-stone into a career into data science.  

To anybody reading this and considering applying to S2DS, I can highly recommend it. Be prepared for some hard work and some frustrations - of course not everything related to the projects will go completely to plan - but overall it was a hugely enjoyable and informative learning experience, one which I genuinely feel has changed my life.

Being still undecided whether to leave academia or not, I decided to participate in the S2DS bootcamp to get a flavour of what the life of a Data Scientist in a commercial environment would be. And all I can say is that this has been a great decision.

I opted for the S2DS Virtiual course because, due to family constraints, I would have not been able to move for 5 weeks to London, although I was a bit skeptical about the online format. I knew people who participated in S2DS London in the previous years and they all enjoyed and reccommended it, but I was not sure the Virtual course would be as engaging as the residential one.Truth is that the team at Pivigo are really great at running the course and are able to make the online course feel almost as a residential one!

The format is really good and it makes you (or at least me) realise that as a PhD/Postdoc what one is missing for a successful as a commercial Data Scientist is not technical skills but the soft skills to adapt to a different way of working.

The projects are generally quite interesting and the company mentors are very engaged and helpful and the staff at Pivigo is extremely helpful and supportive.

Being part of the S2DS Alumni community is a great way to start a professional network of data scientists and industry experts, a crucial element when looking for your first data science job outside the academic world. Although the course (and the related network) is quite UK centric, including it in your CV will boost your value in the eyes of recruiters and companies all over Europe.

In conclusion, I would definitely reccommend S2DS to anyone looking to transition from Academia to a commercial Data Science role! It will help you a lot in jump-starting your new career and, most of all, you will truly enjoy it!

 

I had a previous experience as a Post-Doc in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology within the academic set-up before enrolling on the 'SCIENCE TO DATA SCIENCE VIRTUAL' . I was interested in gaining experience in the applicatrion of machine learning to 'BIG DATA'. S2DS provided me with an excellent opportunity to do just that in the sense that I had the opportunity of developing my machine learning skills on a project which involved analysis of large datasets provided by an online marketing company. Apart from the project I was able to interact meaningfully with the other would-be Data Scientists, and also gained experience of working in a remote virtual environment. I recommend the 'SCIENCE TO DATA SCIENCE VIRTUAL' to any aspiring Data Scientist who are unbale to go to S2DS in London.

Science 2 Data Science, offered my the necessary experience to help transition from academia to industry. I have a very theoretical PhD, and i wanted a platform to show off programming and data science skills that i had aquired through self teaching. S2DS London was this perfect platform! 

I got to work for 5 weeks in an intensive but fun work environment with like minded collegues who all shared the same goal. What was extremely pleasing was that i loved the project i was assigned to. I was able to work for a start up and experience the perks of working within the start up culture and at the same time work on a fraud detection problem that would have a truly massive impact on the business going forward. 

If you want to be part of an amazing network, gain some experience into working on a real life data science project which not only develops your technical skills skills but also the soft skills needed to work within a team in industry, then S2DS is the place to be.  

From the day I decided to switch from academia to data science; this course was on the top of my list. I was originally planning to do the on site course but the on-line course tunred out to be the better option (no UK visa hassles for me). The course was intense but for a good reason and it gave me a sense of how data science roles are in real commercial settings. Our team of three, had great mentors both from course side and the company providing our porject. Although I already had quite good technical skills, the course thought me a lot. My biggest achievment was how to work in collabration with others toward the same goal in a short time frame. I also learned how to look at analytical problems from a commercial view point. 

In the end, beside the great experince from the course itself, I had a better understanding of what a data science do and what type of roles I would be better to apply. Eventhough they mainly help for looking jobs in the UK, by just adding the course to my CV I were asked for more interviews outside of UK and I was able to show case my performance potential in a commercial settings.

I highly recommand this course for all the academics who are planning to pursue a data analytic career.

If you are in academia and wonder if data science would be a good or feasible idea for a new career (hint: it is), this is what you are looking for. 

S2DS gave me the hands-on experience I needed to be confident about my potential and perspectives in data science. This is something that any MOOC or Kaggle competition would never be able to give you. I can't stress enough the importance of working in a team for a company whilst trying to solve a business problem. The value of such an experience is incommensurable, and you will take advantage of it on your CV and during job interviews. 

S2DS also gives you access to a network of data scientists, career advice, and job leads, all extremely helpful for your future data science career. 

All this comes in the form of quite an intense but very enjoyable 5-week experience, where you'll be in the company of very like-minded people. The opportunity to meet and discuss all sort of ideas with other participants is another invaluable perk. 

I was quite suprised by how well the virtual program worked, despite having to work remotely with people from all corners of the continent. That definitely worked much better than I expected. 

In short, if you are an academic looking to jump into the data science endeavour, S2DS is a no-brainer. 

Without a doubt the best career decision I've made. I wouldn't be in my current data scientist position without it!

The S2DS London programme was such a great experience. Although at first it can feel quite daunting, you'll quickly find out that everyone is like-minded and supportive so it never felt like a competition. 

I had initially expected formal lectures on the technical aspects of data science learning about algorithms and new technologies so I was surprised when so many of the lectures were so soft skills focussed. However, through several networking events and my experience on the job market I realised just how much more useful it was to have the lectures that we did. 

S2DS gave me a much broader perspective of the data science landscape and made me realise that I already had the skills to be a data scientist, I just didn't know it before. Importantly it gave me a huge data science network and the relevant commercial experience to get my data science career started.

Even after the course, the assistance and advice I received was great. No recruiter I spoke to was ever that helpful or suggested I should aim as high as the team at Pivigo. Ultimately it was a presentation that I gave about my S2DS project at a Pivigo organised Meetup that got me the job I'm in now.

If you're thinking of starting a career in data science and are not sure where to start then I whole-heartedly recommend S2DS!

The Science to Data Science program offers an exceptional professional development experience. Working with highly talented (mostly PhDs) researchers from diverse international backgrounds, combined with unlimited access to technical and non-technical mentors, creates an environment of excellence. The professional program management and partnership with industry stakeholders provides real-world project experience rather than typical training. The program successfully replicates actual workplace dynamics through international team collaboration and stakeholder communication, making it an ideal transition into data science.

This is primarily an intensive programme for working on a real-life data-science project - there is very little taught content, just some 1-2 hour seminars in the first week, and some YouTube tutorials to follow in preparation for the programme. However these are very good. The lack of taught content is why I gave 3 stars for "Curriculum" - it is not extensive, but it is good.
Don't do this programme though if you want a lot of formal grounding in programing or data-science. 

*DO* do this programme if you want to learn a wide range of very practical and broadly useful skills mostly through self-directed learning and the time/space to absolutely immerse yourself and do loads and loads of coding! 

I knew this was what the programme was about and it was exactly what I wanted. I was a lot more skilled in many areas after just 5 weeks. It would have taken several times as long to learn the same stuff as part of a job, assuming the opportunity was even there.

Unsurprisingly for a "bootcamp" you need to give this absolutely your full attention for 5 weeks. Don't plan anything else during it! And you should realistically expect to be working rather more than 40 hours a week although the choice is yours. It is entirely on-line though so the fact you're working from home makes the longer hours very manageable.

Also, be entirely prepared for the fact that you will encounter quite a range of technical problems many of which you will need to solve with very little help from others. This is both a plus and minus - I was surprised and proud of some of the stuff I actually managed to fix pretty much by myself simply because I had to. This was ultimately a good thing!

I would highly recommend S2DS - it is very good value for money indeed, and the benefits go far beyond merely learning some machine-learning and more Python (for example, fantastic careers support, fantastic access to all kinds of recommended resources, experience working with/for an actual client, working on a team-project). 

 Having completed my S2DS experience, I feel so thankful that I had the opportunity to participate in the 2021 cohort. Even though the course was virtual it felt so vivid and engaging. 
From the beginning to the end, the organizers have put such a great effort to plan a hands-on experience, involving exciting real-life data science projects, and made sure that the interaction between all members of the cohort is constantly up. 
S2DS is a great opportunity for anyone looking to dive deeper into data science and obtain work experience. It is hard work all the way through 5 intense weeks but also a fantastic networking hub. S2DS allows you to manage your own project within strict timeframes, and engage with customers in discussions and negotiations. The organizers' support throughout was phenomenal; from the set up of the working systems to the technicalities within the projects.     
I highly recommend this program. Above all, I recommend enjoying it! Take this opportunity to learn from each other and also teach others. You can always ask for career advice as S2DS has people with good experience in career coaching as well. Participate actively in all meetings, discussions to be able to make the most of it. S2DS has been a great step in my data science career.  

This is a wonderful course for PhD graduates in the Natural Sciences who are interested in transitioning into data science. The course was brief and tough, most of it was self-taught, which is perfectly suitable for fast learners with a PhD. The experience of communicating with the company and working in a team was especially valuable. Lots os additional technical help is provided, and there is a rich framework of talks and events that help the candidates navigate their ways into data science. I strongly recommend this course - it was a fantastic challenge and a really rewarding experience overall.

Allow me to give the take home message at the start - if you are from academics and want to get working experience of data science and industry, the five weeks at S2DS are of great value.

Given that we have a great deal of technical training in our academic career, it may look like doing data science is not very different. I believe this program will change your opinion like it changed mine.

Like most of the people who joined this program, I do have a strong academic background. I have completed my PhD in Physics, and then have been working as a post-doctoral fellow. My research work mostly involves programming, data analysis and problem solving. One year back, I decided to make a transition to a career in data science, motivated by desire to solve real-world problems. I learnt machine learning, deep learning, data science by taking various courses. 

It is hard to get a data scientist job without hands-on data science experience. Looking for opportunities to gain experience of working on industrial projects, I came to know about S2DS through a friend who had joined the S2DS program and successfully transitioned to a data scientist career.

The most important skill which I Iearnt in S2DS and which is very critical in industry is communication. I closely worked in a team of 4 people, all of us from different background, academically and culturally. It was great opportunity to learn and develop the communication skills. This also gives the opportunity where we are working together almost all the time, updating each other using slack, regularly meeting through hangout. In addition to the communication within the team, we were interacting with our clients twice a week, where we used to get clarifications on the problem we were trying to solve, and constantly updating them we the progress we were achieving. Working as a consultant was a totally new and fun experience. 

The mentors at S2DS were extremely supportive. We had regular scrum meeting with S2DS technical mentors, where we got clarity on the ideas we were following and also directions to pursue in order to solve the problem. S2DS also looks into whether we are happy as a team, making sure that team remains on a cohesive ground. 

To conclude, it was really a great experience for me. I got to learn a lot, be it the hard skills or the soft skills required to a successful data scientist. I will highly recommend this program.