There is no denying that it is not just the work that is intriguing in data science, but also the perks and privileges. But do we know what it takes to become a data science professional? How one needs to put in their time and efforts to grasp all the knowledge? In order to know their side of the story, every week we get in touch with some of the top data scientists from the industry and take a look at their journey.
For this week’s ‘My Journey In Data Science’ we got in touch with Sudhanshu Kumar, CEO and Chief AI Engineer at iNeuron.ai. Whether it’s statistical modelling, data processing, data mining, machine learning and deep learning algorithms, time series, computer vision or natural language processing, Sudhanshu has worked with almost every aspect of data science to solve challenging business problems.
The Onset
A computer science graduate with a PGDM in Statistics, Sudhanshu had no peer pressure during his educational journey. It is all out of his interest that he chose Data Science.
Talking about the exact instance when he fell in love with data science, Sudhanshu says that he has always been fascinated with detective stories. “Mysteries have kept me awake at night. How the clues lead to a certain conclusion, has always mesmerised me,” he said. And he believes that if we take a closer look, that’s what data science is all about. It’s a detective story where you are given all the facts, and then you need to draw a conclusion out of it. He didn’t need any other reason to fall in love with data science, he was completely into it.
Furthermore, Sudhanshu has always had a deep curiosity about what’s happening in the technological world and hence, he keeps on reading whatever new stuff is happening in this field to keep himself updated and intrigued. “I keep on reading journals and research papers on a regular basis and I make sure that whatever I learn, I build an end to end solution using that so that I have a thorough knowledge of the topic,” said Sudhanshu.
First Job, First Interview, First Paycheck
The Chief AI Engineer started his journey in the data science with Indian tech giant Wipro. He said that the experience he gained over time with Wipro was very enriching. “ It was the start of my career and I had nothing to lose but only to learn,” Sudhanshu added. He said that he tried to learn as much as possible and all his seniors and colleagues helped me a lot during his tenure at Wipro.
While Sudhanshu talked about his data science journey, he also shared his first interview experience. He said that it was a very important learning experience for him. “Interviews give you an opportunity to ponder upon what’s the skill or knowledge that you have been lacking, and then you try to be better than what you are,” said Sudhanshu.
Talking about his first salary when he started as a data scientist, Sudhanshu said that he already had 2 years of industry experience. And it was an added advantage for him. “The first salary that I drew as a data scientist was more than ₹12 LPA,” Sudhanshu added.
I get inspired by the people around me, my colleagues, my juniors, my students, and all those great minds who are working tirelessly in the field of data science, who are innovating new things, who are changing the world for a better tomorrow.
Strategies And Struggle
Talking about the strategies to land a job in data science, Sudhanshu believes that the first thing that one needs to focus on is to figure out the exact work one wants to do as a data science professional — whether you want to be a Machine Learning expert or, an expert in solving vision problems or, a champion of NLP. Therefore, it is imperative that one should do thorough research on the different job roles this domain provides. And then based on the preference, try to find out the right companies that are actually working in those fields and then try to look for opportunities in them.
And when it comes to the struggle, Sudhanshu said the real struggle is real and it is more when one has to deal with his/her mind after getting rejected. There is no denying that it is hard. “When you have been a star performer wherever you go, then you’re not used to rejections,” said Sudhanshu. “You have been appreciated your entire life and these sudden rejections, they make you think, what did I do wrong?”
But he believes that this is the time when one should take a step back, crouch, keep on building momentum, and then pounce at the first opportunity that gets.
I’d say that’s what life is. To be pushed into the corner and then again coming back strong.”
A Piece Of Advice To All The Aspiring Data Science Professionals
According to Sudhanshu, the reason to be a data scientist should be the urge to learn from the vast data that the world is generating per second. Data shows you the past and as well as what’s going to be. He believes that if this thrills you, then data science is definitely the field for you.
What should one do to stay relevant in this field? To that, the iNeuron CEO says that the landscape of the industry is changing rapidly. The field of AI today is not what it was 5 years ago and definitely, there is going to be a tectonic shift in the coming decade. So, as data scientists, you need to keep yourself updated to the changes happening around.
As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t do AI, what do you do?’ “That’s how the technological landscape is going to be. In short, just keep learning, keep exploring and keep surprising yourself with your hard work,” said Sudhanshu in conclusion.
