Hi. Welcome to my blog. In this first post, I am going to be talking a little bit about myself, why I chose to attend the 12-week immersive data science boot camp at Metis, my thoughts on the first week of the bootcamp and some of the challenges I have faced along the way. So, to start things off, some introductions. I'm Kenny. I was lucky enough to grow up in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Vancouver. I studied Mechanical Engineering at one of the local universities, and since graduating, I have worked as a material handling engineer at an engineering consulting company in the mining and metals industry, and as a loss prevention consultant for a global insurance company. I recently came back from a year-long working-holiday in Australia, where I got to wake up to this every morning: That's Bondi Beach in Sydney, and my apartment was the turquoise building in the background. My time in Sydney pretty much consisted of drinking top-notch coffee, lazing on the beach, swimming in the ocean, and working on an awesome tan. It was pretty sweet. After living in Sydney for 9-months, which included quick stops in New Zealand and Fiji, I began my four-month long travels throughout the rest of Australia, into Southeast Asia, and finally to Taiwan and Hong Kong. Some of the highlights of the trip were snorkelling in the Ningaloo Reef, watching the sun rise over Uluru, exploring Angkor Wat, cruising Ha Long Bay, admiring the reflection of Inle Lake in Myanmar, and the extraordinary food in Panang, Malaysia. My year abroad allowed me to reflect on what I wanted to do career-wise moving forward, and particularly on what I didn't want to do, which was continue with engineering. I started to learn more about data science and machine learning and was amazed by all its capabilities, and excited about its untapped potential. I began researching paths I could take to pursue a career in this fascinating field. Through my research, I discovered Metis, a full-time, 12-week data science program where I could learn data science theory and techniques, as well as build a portfolio of projects to present to future employers. For me, the prospect of learning practical skills and having the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals was intriguing.
In March of 2017, while I was still travelling Australia, I had an extremely informative phone conversation with the Director of Admissions at Metis, Amy Ramnath, who explained to me the entire application process and what I could expect to gain from the bootcamp. She also provided me with important resources aimed to build on my technical and statistical background. After that phone conversation, I was convinced that the people at Metis would do everything in their power to help their students succeed. I began brushing up on my calculus and linear algebra, took an online course on probability and statistics offered by Harvard, and learned how to use Python for data analysis/visualization and machine learning. When I arrived home in Vancouver in June of 2017, I started the application process with Metis in the hopes of attending the fall cohort in Seattle starting in September. The entire application process took around three weeks, and consisted of a technical assessment, a take-home coding challenge, an API challenge along with some exploratory data analysis using Python, and finally a Skype interview with a Senior Data Scientist at Metis. After being accepted into Metis, they provided me with additional pre-work to be completed prior to the start of the bootcamp, which involved a 60-hr online curriculum designed to ensure that students have the foundation skills to hit the ground running on day one. The first road block of this journey came three days before the start of the bootcamp, when I learned that due to an administrative error, I was unable to attend the bootcamp in Seattle. I was instead offered the opportunity to attend the cohort in New York or San Francisco. Luckily for me, I had family living near San Francisco and was able to make some last minute arrangements and fly to the Bay Area. Although the hiccup caused me to miss the first two days of the bootcamp, I was fortunate to have incredible project partners, who quickly brought me up to speed on the project and presentation due at the end of the week. The project had us exploring New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's turnstile data and to think of ways to extract insight from the data to benefit a business. It was a pleasure meeting the instructors, TAs, and the rest of the cohort. I was relieved when I found out how positive and bright my fellow students were, and I am eager to see what the next 11 weeks has in store for us.
2 Comments
2/8/2023 08:57:59 pm
Thanks for sharing this content . It is very useful and informative
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Kenny LeungPassionate sports fan, wannabe golfer, avid gamer and world traveller. Archives
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