Data Science is without a doubt “the sexiest job of the 21st century” and the popularity of data science has reached such a level today that not only graduates but even working professionals are moving to join the tribe. And with time, the community is just getting bigger and better. However, not everyone who becomes a data scientist succeeds. Some end up being just a 9-5 data science employee in a firm, while some become a data science “pundits” who are known by the entire community.
And what might be running in your head is the thought about how do they gain that popularity? What if I tell you, it’s all about that effective marketing strategy. In this article, we are going to see just that — how you can market yourself better as a data scientist and leave a mark in the community.
In-Depth Knowledge Of The Domain
You shouldn’t market yourself a data scientist if you lack a significant amount of knowledge of the data science domain. You should have the know-how of almost every aspect of data science. So, before you start your journey to become that data scientist that the entire community knows, make sure you invest a significant amount of time in learning, working on projects and sharpen your skills and knowledge.
Make Use Of Social Media
Talking about marketing (irrespective of any field of work), whether you are a company or an individual, if you are not making the best use of social media platforms, then you are lagging behind in the race.
LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter are three of the top social networking platforms that can get you that much-anticipated traction. In terms of a data scientist, you can use these three to share your thoughts and knowledge about the domain. Connect with a lot of folks from the data science industry, join groups and get into discussions and conversations.
When it comes to building a personal brand that is primarily focused on the corporate side, LinkedIn is without a doubt one of the best. You can not only market yourself as a data scientist, but it would also open up doors of other job opportunities for you.
Content Is King
Content creation is one of the best ways to market yourself as a data scientist. While there are folks from other industries such as media & entertainment creating some of the best content, data scientist can do that too.
How about sharing your new algorithm in the form of a blog post or maybe a video? How about a podcast on a specific topic from data science? Content has the power to get you the attention you need to give your career a rise. Whether it’s just a concept that you want people to know or a complex business problem you solved and want to share your solution with others, just curate that entire thing into a piece of a blog post, social media post, video etc. and share across different platforms.
Talking about video content, YouTube is one of the best platforms. For example, if you are good at teaching, you can create tutorial videos or lecture videos about different concepts and upload them on YouTube.
Word to the wise: When you are creating content, make sure you focus more on the quality and the value it delivers to the audience, rather than focusing on building a huge audience base. If your content delivers that value, the audience will grow anyway.
Be A Speaker
The data science domain over the years has grown so much that today, it’s not just companies and startups and their services that are coming up, there are several data science events and conferences that are happening all around the world. And these events are not just giving people the chance to network with some of the folks from the industry, but also letting folks speak and share their thoughts to a huge gathering.
If you think you have that quality of someone who can speak in front of a huge crowd and share his/her work, then you definitely should become a speaker. Speaking in events gives you much more traction than any other method.
If you are a data scientist in India and want to know if there is any such event happening in India any sooner, then take a look Analytics India Magazine’s Cypher, which is also considered to be India’s Largest AI & Analytics Conference. It is a three-day event that covers keynotes to masterclasses and workshops. This year, Cypher 2019 is happening in Bangalore from 18th September to 20th September 2019.
Offer A Helping Hand
While many people believe in the concept of “If you are good at something, do not do it for free,” you as a data scientist can tweak that concept, “if you are good at something, you can do it for free or for a smaller price”.
Being the sexiest job of the 21st century, data science is one of the most expensive domains — not every company, especially startups, can afford to hire a data scientist to deal with data. You being a data scientist, who is also looking to market itself can offer a helping hand to such companies and startups. By doing so, you would be able to build a strong portfolio for yourself. That is not all, the more you help companies solve their complex business problems, the more you become the talk of the community, your work starts to get noticed.
Furthermore, when it comes to offering a helping hand, it is not just about startups and companies, you can also help college students and students who are aspiring to become a data scientist — from providing learning resource to teaching them in person.
Hackathons
Whether you are a student or a working professional, hackathons are definitely something you should give a try. Hackathons not only give you a platform to show your skills but also let you learn a lot more about some of the complex problems.
There are many hackathons, that reward the winners not only in terms of monetary benefits but also give them a chance to collaborate and work with some of the best companies. If you haven’t given any hackathon a try yet, then it’s high time that you should.
