Data-Driven Careers Industry Week at the JHU Life Design Lab offered students a variety of opportunities to explore different industries and career pathways in data- and data-related fields. The dynamic program slate featured panels with sports statistics and data analytics professionals, an Explore Tour to Medifast, employer and alumni coffee chats, and more!
From the high impact experiences and meaningful discussions had this week, students were encouraged to imagine possible lives and career paths that they may not have before. In what follows, I provide an overview of just some of the weeks’ programs including key takeaways and skills recommendations for finding success in data-driven careers.
Fireside Chat with Nicole Guittari, AI-Neuroscience Research Scientist at APL
Nicole Guittari, our keynote speaker, shared a glimpse into her life as an AI-neuroscience research scientist at the JHU Applied Physics Lab, where she works on a variety of efforts in computational neural network, neuroanatomy, connectomic, x-ray nano-tomography, and neurodata. To say that hearing Nicole talk was fascinating would be the understatement of the century. Aside from her command and prowess, what I found truly inspiring was how she masterfully weaved high-level research insights with practical career and life advice:
- Industry Insights: One field cannot grow without the other (that is, neuroscience and AI), and that growth means progress toward solving complex, human problems (i.e. Parkinson’s Disease). Truer now than perhaps ever before, legislation needs to grow alongside the systems that house and propel life-bettering research as well.
- Technical Skills: Knowledge of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), connectomics, and machine learning are key. Use Coursera or similar resources to fill skill gaps.
- Transferable Skills: Go-getter mindset, conviction, curiosity, and commitment to continued learning – stay up to date on cutting edge research and trends through academic, peer-reviewed journals like Nature or bioRxiv.
- Advice: Being an expert in one thing does not limit your possibilities; it shows your capacity and motivation to learn. Be curious and confident enough to look beyond your major or degree to explore different pathways forward.
To all of our students, especially our women in STEM: Take a note out of Nicole’s book and stay curious, believe in yourself and your work, find great mentors, and never stop learning.
Sports Gaming and Statistics: Insights from JHU Alumni
This dynamic panel featured JHU alums Brett Schwartz (Director at Fanatics), Jared deFaria (FP&A Analyst at DraftKings), and Michael Todisco (Lead Data Scientist at FanDuel) who shared valuable information about working at leading name companies in sports gaming and statistics. All graduating from Hopkins with economics degrees, these professionals epitomized how career pathways often take us places we may not have initially expected:
- Industry Insights: Sports gaming/statistics is new and data intensive. It is also an extremely competitive job market. Things are constantly changing – the leagues, gameplay, calendars, even fan consumption are factors that shift and change continuously – so be ready to adapt and approach the work with innovation.
- Technical Skills: Data visualization (Tableau) and programming languages (Python, SQL) were among those mentioned. Curious about coding? Consider checking out free offerings on Codecademy or similar learning platforms.
- Transferable Skills: Learning on the job – remember, this is a nascent field! – ability to work in teams, and excellent interpersonal communication.
- Advice: Don’t pigeonhole yourself into just one type of role. Sports gaming/statistics teams require so many specialists that may use different titles across organizations – data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, machine learning engineer, analytics engineer – while sharing many of the same skills.
Do you need to be an athlete to break into this field? Do you need to like sports? No…but it does make it more fun! As far as data-driven careers go, this is something that stuck with me following this panel – this is a data field that is exciting and fun, while grounded in hard data and serious analytics.
Cracking the Code: How to Stand out with JHU Professionals
For this conversation, we tapped into JHU talent to learn first-hand about what skills and mindsets are needed to stand out on the data job market today. Data specialists included Alyssa Charney (Senior Data Analyst), Christopher Moss (Business Intelligence Analyst), Carrie Prescott (Senior Business Intelligence Developer), and Joy Saunders (Director of Digital Transformation), all of whom shared their stories and gave sage advice for anyone interested in breaking into the data world of work:
- Industry Insights: Higher education (and similar) data careers are complex and require great nuance to navigate. It is crucial to understand the business landscape and stakeholder needs as you prepare to head out onto the job market.
- Technical Skills: Those mentioned included data collection, querying, cleaning, visualization, modeling plus coding, statistical analysis, and machine learning (i.e. Power BI, Looker, Tableau, SQL, Python, R, Matlab, SPSS).
- Transferable Skills: Curiosity, critical thinking and problem solving, storytelling and communication, teamwork, leadership and influence, data ethics and more.
- Advice: Talk the talk: 1) Buzzwords are useless if you cannot back them up with real examples from your previous work; 2) Being able to talk about technical concepts with non-technical audiences will be seen as an asset. “Master working with data AND working with people.”
Our panelists offered so much great advice, including this tidbit which has stayed with me ever since: “There is only one of YOU. So, that makes YOU unique. Be confident in what you have to offer and showcase how it can help make a positive impact.” I think we can all learn from this sentiment. It rings loud and true, together with all the insights and advice, the tips and tricks shared with students throughout this dynamic week of programming.
Students, remember: You don’t need a degree in data or extensive, advanced technical skills to get your foot in the door of the data world. Following the advice provided here and showcasing your transferable skills can get you far! Regardless of who you are and where you go from here, the Life Design Lab is always available to support your career and life journeys, plans, and pivots.
