Science to Data Science

I was looking to gain some experience in Data Science and chose the S2DS programme as it offered good exposure to practical data science projects and provided the opportunity to develop the skills required to pursue a career in data science.

The programme is well structured and the mentors provide good support and help you through the difficult parts of the programme. Though there are no technical training or courses in data science, the mini-MBA helps in understanding the role of data scientists in commercial projects.

Overall, I had a very positive experience and good exposure to data science projects.

I was involved in several data science projects before starting the program. However, these projects were limited to academic settings, often resulting in publications and proof-of-concept prototypes. These prototypes were often abandoned after publishing results in a scientific journal and rarely made it to "real-life" settings. 

S2DS gave me a good taste of a typical data science project in industry, covering requirement elicitation, model development and deployment. I had a chance to work with brilliant fellow data scientists supervised by skilled mentors, available whenever their help was needed. The 5 weeks spent in London were both intense and rewarding at the same time. The program exceeded my expectations and I am extremely satisfied with the outcomes!

I finished my Ph.D. in October 2018. From that point to the start of S2DS, I applied for so many jobs that I have lost track. Having no commercial experience makes it very hard to find a job in a competitive market. This is why I enrolled in S2DS, as a proxy to getting real, hands-on experience in a data science environment.

What I got out of it was more than that: a circle of friends and mentors, always ready to help when I have difficulties. This, coupled with the experience, is invaluable! I highly recommend the program!

Ohh, and I got a job on the last day of S2DS!

My background is Astrophysics and I have worked in academic research for about 10 years from my undergraduate to my almost 5-year tenure as a postdoctoral researcher. At some point during my academic career, I started considering moving into data science as I found it interesting and because there are several aspects of academia that did not fit well with my working style. Then something happened: I got selected for the Virtual S2DS bootcamp.

It has been a week since my Virtual S2DS experience ended. Do you remember the satisfaction after finishing your master degree/PhD? I am feeling the same satisfaction, with the difference though that this time it is not my own personal achievement only. Instead this time the achievement is that of a team formed by individuals (including myself) who: i) get to know each other’s skills and characters; ii) acquire new skills; iii) learn to trust each other and to work together to solve a data science challenge for a client company; iv) commit to achieve previously set up goals; v) produce deliverables for the client company, with practical and direct impact on their decision making process. The bootcamp is like an experiment concentrated into five weeks during which the key tools to be able to successfully conclude it are teamwork, communication, problem solving, time management and analytical skills (e.g., coding, machine learning, mathematical modelling, statistics and data handling and visualisation). I believe that these tools are the fundamental requirements to become a successful data scientist.

So, if a career in data science is what you are thinking about, apply for this bootcamp and enjoy the journey. You will feel motivated, interested, stimulated, taken care of and guided by the Pivigo staff members and will have a  lot of fun. Sometimes you may feel that the project you are working on is not going the way you expected/hoped to. However, it still a scientific project the one you will work on and, by definition, unexpected issues can arise. One has to be ready to face the unpredictable and solve the problems in a finite amount of time and by the given deadline. I believe that this aspect is a very important one to experience on your own skin, so that you will be ready to solve such hurdles later on during your prospective data science career within a business environment. In fact, differently from many academic environments, deadlines must me met and this aspect is a fundamental one to take into account.

Furthermore I have had the chance to meet extraordinary people from different countries, from completely different backgrounds than mine and sometimes with completely different characters. Being immersed in such a diverse environment is a great opportunity to grow into a better and more competent professional. I have made valuable colleagues and friends during this experience and I was able to learn a lot from them. I am still in touch with many of them. In addition, I have been given the chance to join a large network of data scientists, which is the perfect platform for job hunting.

Finally, Pivigo provides resources for training on many topics (e.g., machine learning, python and other programming languages, statistics, project management, business) before the starting of the bootcamp. I found this particularly useful as I had the chance to deepen and/or refresh and/or build up my knowledge on the topics needed for the project.

In a few words, I highly recommend this bootcamp and I wish you the best of luck for when you apply for it!

I recently completed the S2DS Virtual program, and like many of the other participants I was nervous at the beginning of it all because I didn’t think I’d be able to contribute much to the project based on what I knew going in (I was also nervous because of the time difference, but maintaining London hours in Indiana wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be). There were a couple of lectures in the first two weeks about Teamwork and How to Code Well, and for the virtual program we studied various data science topics independently before the official work started, but most of what I learned in S2DS came from actually working on my project with my teammates, and it was an invaluable experience. 

I also thought that the ‘Virtual’ part of S2DS worked very well. Through Slack, Google Hangouts, daily group Zoom chats, and ‘speed networking’ with the other participants the S2DS program didn’t end up feeling very ‘virtual.’ The virtual component of the program also helped highlight the importance of communication in data science. Since all communication was done online, it was critical throughout the program to communicate ideas and results well and also to communicate openly and regularly with your teammates. I think working through a data science project with a company from start to finish online, helped us all further understand the importance of being able to explain the results of your project to people with different backgrounds and experience and also helped us improve on our communication skills. 

In addition to the support from my teammates, there was also a fantastic support system from Pivigo throughout the program. Both the technical mentors and the community mentor were there as resources in addition to the company mentor for the project to help us out when we had difficulties. So although a great deal of the learning and progress on the project happened individually or with my teammates, we did have several people we could ask for help. 

It was a fantastic feeling to have a finished project at the end of the S2DS program, that we can discuss as real data science experience in job interviews and that the company will move forward with and build upon. I truly believe that S2DS is the best way to learn data science, and more importantly learn how to be a data scientist as part of a team.

I finished my PhD in Climate Physics in 2012 and went industry for 4 years afterwards, working for both a large corporation and startup. I signed onto the virtual S2DS course as I knew that the world is rapidly undertaking a technological shift towards Data Science and now was the time to equip myself with the skills. 

The 5 week course has not disappointed! Being paired with 3 other international people and working on a real world data science project throws you straight into the deep end of working in a fast pace and results driven environment. It is intense and challenging however the Pivigo team do provide an excellent support network of technical advisors to help you throughout the course. 

The main skills you will pick up:

• data pre-processing
• predictive modelling
• failing fast
• working in an agile environment

I would thoroughly recommend this course for anyone wanting to making the switch to Data Science, whether straight from PhD for if you have experience in industry - probably the most fun I've had at 'work' in a long time!

I'm a week out of the S2DS Virtual program and after a bit more time to reflect, I still consider this an outstanding program and an excellent introduction to help transition from academics to industry.  The three main outcomes of the program, for me at least, was:

1- confidence in my abilities in Data Science,

2- an industry project with a finished product that I can point to and say "me & my team, we built this."

3- meeting a large group of talented, motivated, teamwork-focused individuals in the same situtation and with the same feelings (and not just the participants on my project!). Having kept contact with many others after the program so far, I feel a small network of likeminded individuals already growing.

Another main feeling I felt throughout the program was that Pivago/S2DS really cared about, and put serious effort into, ensuring everyone in the program (and the industry partners) got the most value out of it. Little of the time felt wasted, and support during all aspects of the program were fantastic.  Here's some of excellent ways they helped us

-Pre-Program Study Materials:   A long list of youtube tutorials and on-line courses to start to develop skills in machine learning, statistics, programming, teamwork, business before the course even started.

-Daily Meetings with Technical Mentors:  While my team discussed our work for the day (and yesterday's results), Technical mentors listened in and provided excellent guidance when we streered off-track.  We were fully allowed to develop ideas and approaches ourselves, and they helped by answering our questions.  Also were available for detailed meetings.  Also listened to our concerns about the project, and talked with our Industry Partner to help solidfy requirements.

-Introductory Webinars:  A few introductory webinars about the program, good-coding practices, how to be an effective team, all these helped get our teams and projects up and running super smoothly (e.g. none of us had used slack or github before, but are now experts!

-Focus on Teamwork:  coaching on teamwork skills, training having effective daily meetings (and they were very effective. I'm bringing this approach back to my post-doc group!!) bi-weekly meetings with a Teamwork Mentor who counciled us through any team/personal problems.  S2DS Staff really worked hard to keep us a well-oiled team.

-Tools for Effective Virtual Work:  I was shocked at how easy the viritual aspect of the program was.  With slack and other tools, working with the team, discussions, etc. were no more difficult than if we were in the same office.  And of course, S2DS Staff stressed we all work together :)

-Networking & Friendships:  We had evening discussion sessions with everyone in the group, we had scheduled individual discussions with each person, there was a meet-up day in London UK most of us attended.  Even though many of us didn't work on the same project, it was easy to build friendships with some, and network with many more.  A great group of people.

Maybe most importantly, it felt fantastic to work with a group of talented, teamwork-focused, motivated, interesting individuals all looking to learn and build together.

All around fantastic program.  S2DS Staff have clearly put so much effort into making it great, I would highly recommend to anything.

Since I was interested in starting a new career in DS, I decided to enroll on October 2017 Virtual S2DS programme by Pivigo, and I am very happy with this experience.

S2DS is an immersive 5 weeks training that offers the opportunity to work on a real DS project for a real company with a team of aspiring data scientists. That is very helpful cause it gives a taste of what it really is a data scientist's job.

The projects are engaging as well as challenging, and put to a hard test students' analytical, critical and creative thinking skills. As for me, I learned tons of useful things by working on the project my team was assigned, primarily from my teammates.
Furthermore, the daily interaction with teammates, technical mentors and company mentors fosters the participants to improve their communication skills, which is fundamental in order to become a good data scientist.

The organization was impeccable. Pivigo mentors and all the staff were very supportive throughout the programme and help make the communication both within the team and between the team and the company mentor easier and effective.
The organisers also provided interesting panel debates with experienced data scientists as well as S2DS alumni to share their experiences and valuable advice about the transition to industry and discuss relevant DS topics.

Last but not least, the daily interaction with your teammates and other students through the online platforms used in the programme (Slack, Zoom, Hangouts) helps make new friends and start building a network of colleagues which will enrich you both personally and professionally.

To conclude, if you have a solid scientific background and are motivated to transition to data science, I can only highly recommend S2DS bootcamp!

This program is helpful in many ways. Firstly, it implemented with real-life projects from the companies interesting in Data Science, which helps the students to learn the commercial awareness in every aspect of their works. Secondly, closely working together boosted the skills to work as a team and improved many soft skills of students, i.e., communication, time management, and presentation skills. In addition, the mentors were very supportive and attentive through out the program. Thirdly, the S2DS program invited some experts and alumni who are currently working in the DS industrial to share their experience, and it was highly valuable to the students. Moreover, the daily interaction with other students in the five-week span initiated an important network for the people who want to start a new career in DS. Therefore, I highly recommend this program.

I clearly remember that  good conversation with a very good friend of mine from the institute where I did my PhD, where he told me about a very interesting data science trainig programme he took offered by Pivigo in London. Actually, he came back to London after he finished the programme for working as a data scientist freelance in a very good project. That conversation and the fact that I had been for long time thinking about other professional paths apart from the classic academia, pushed me to enrol the S2DS 2017 programme at the campus. Since the very beginning I noticed that this experience was what actually I was looking for: the programme gave me the opportunity of explore what  data science means, not only from the theoretical point of view but, more important, from the practical point of view. The programme brought the opportunity of knowing what working as a data scientist means,
what skill are required for being good data scientist, how to interact with people and to create your own network, what you can and can't do if you want to get a data science job. All this was supported by the extraordinary work of the Pivigo people, from whom I got support before starting the course, during the course and after the course. I strongly recommend this data science programme to all the people coming from/stack at the academia that want to know how is the daily life of a data scientist and what you can do for getting into it.

I find it hard to imagine how I would have got a job as a data scientist without attending S2DS.

The key element at the heart of the S2DS experience is the company project, and there could not be a better way to bridge the gap from “I’m an academic who can analyse data in python” to “I can tell you how to add value to your company with this data, and I know how to do it.”  Interacting with the company and technical mentors gives you the support you need to bound up the learning curve towards fully functioning data scientist.  I really enjoyed working on the project with my three team mates - we all shared a similar academic background and it was great to work with like-minded people starting their data science journey from the same point.

Another great thing about S2DS is how the program injects you into the heart of London’s data science landscape through networking events and panel debates.  This is invaluable for understanding the different sorts of companies out there looking for data scientists, and gives a big kick start to growing your data science network.

I would thoroughly recommend this course to any PhDs out there looking to make the transition to data science.