How is your career going?

[Kasey Chang]

Finished my Google IT Support certificate. As I am paying for the Coursera Plus first month already,

I think I'll also do the IBM "Customer Engagement Specialist" course too. Supposed it'll teach me how to deal with difficult people while still giving them help. EDIT: Turns out IBM wants extra $100 for that course. Hmmm... Guess I'll go do the Python and IT course first.

After that, i think I'll go get a Data Science certificate too. That uses Python a lot.

There's also a Coursera Plus course for TESOL (teach English as a second language) for no extra charge. Hmmm...

[Isgrimnur]

On behalf of the rest of the forum, I have to ask...did you inquire as to their position on piss bottles?

I think Skinypupy may have had some recent experience with that.

I hear they play a great live show.

[LawBeefaroni]

They can require you to carry the bag a certain way? That seems insane to me.

They still carry bags? Here all the foot delivery folks have push cart things.

You can only use those in very limited occasions here.

I don't think I've seen a foot carrier without one for years. Weird.

[Kasey Chang]

Coursera is proving to be a PAIN to navigate.

The $49 I paid before only covers ONE certificate. Not that I mind, but it's not specified that clearly.

For another course, I have the same deal: finish in 7 days, or pay ANOTHER $49.

Or pay $399 $299 (aka "Coursera Plus") a year and get all their courses except those specifically excluded. Includes all certificates.

UNFORTUNATELY, the ones that I really am interested in, like IBM's data science stuff, are excluded. (i.e. they have their own fees)

But Google IT Automation w/ Python is included.

I think I'll go one certificate at a time for now. I don't know how much time I really have in a month or two.

Google IT Automation w/ Python is 7 days free, $49 a month. I may know a small fraction of these.

IBM Data Science Professional is 7 days free, $39 a month. But seems a bit more interesting.

If I go all out, I am quite sure I can finish either course in a month (or less).

Hmmm...

EDIT: Just got started in the Python / IT Automation course. Intro to Python is mostly familiar and I'm just struggling with the little nags like forgetting a colon here or tab there. I should have the first module (out of 6 wrapped by tonight).

AFTER that one I think I'll go try to make it through the IBM one.

EDIT2: I'm mostly done with module 1 of 5. Python syntax is a PITA to get used to, colons everywhere. And let's just say the Google Python interpreter using Javascript ain't the best in identifying syntax errors. OTOH, some of the syntax is pretty darn obscure, like throwing an asteroid (pointer) to deref the variable... And some of the modules they expect you to do it one way but as in most programming you can do it several other ways. For example, in one of the "dictionary" programming tests, they expect you to use "update()" which merges two dictionaries together. But I was able to do it by iterating the elements. Same number of lines of code, AFAIK.

Need a couple hours to finish up the "final test" for this module tomorrow. Then it's onto "Using Python to interact with OS".

EDIT3: Argh. The final project kicked my ***. Took me till 5:30PM to finish. I was hoping to have finished it before noon. Half the time is fighting with the interface (Google uses something called Jupyter Notebook) and Python syntax. But that's what happens when I haven't been doing Python for like 2 years. "Final project" was to write something that will import a body of text, filter the text (lowercase, no punctuation, dump the boring words like "the" and so on), analyze the remainder into a word frequency table, then call the wordcloud to display the result. But did finish after all.

Now I need a break...

[Kraken]

Got another small assignment today from a new client at MIT because I "came highly recommended by [her] engineering communications colleagues." I guess I'm pretty good at this. It's a very small job, but likely to lead to more...and all by word of mouth.

[Kasey Chang]

GRR, took the TripleByte quiz and realized how much I don't know. They test in ALL of the modern languages, from Javascript to Ruby, from C to Java... plus data structure and algorithm. But you ONLY have 2.5 minutes for each of the 35 questions. Eeek. i wasn't surprised I flunked the generalist quiz.

The Python IT Automation course is also taking a bit more time than I expected. EACH of the 6 parts in 5 modules is taking me half a day,

On the other hand, the "training" for my backup job prospect is delayed one week, giving me a little more hope for other prospects. And I will keep applying... of course. I have 2.5 weeks to find a better offer.

EDIT: Something you don't learn from books... You can assign variables pretty wildly in Python.

If you have a list

Code: Select all

l=["John Doe", 123-456-7890, "Administrator"]

You can assign three variables at once... on a single line

Code: Select all

name,phone,job = l

Somehow, that subject just never came up in all of my Python classes. *sigh*

EDIT2: Regex is kicking my ass. It's such an esoteric subject... really.

EDIT3: I have to conclude I REALLY REALLY hate regex. Just the parenthesis around the wrong thing will give you VERY different outputs.

Just did an exercise where I was supposed to find a word that contained 3 consecutive vowels. Figured out the expression right away

Code: Select all

pattern="[aeiou]{3}"

Grabbing the whole word took a little more work

Code: Select all

pattern="\w*([aeiou]{3})\w*"

But for the life of me, even though it was able to grab the whole word, it'd only pass back the 3 matching vowels, and I can't figure out the problem.

UNTIL I looked at a stackexchange Q&A, and realized I had the parentheses around the wrong stuff. It should be...

Code: Select all

pattern="(\w*[aeiou]{3}\w*)"

[Kasey Chang]

Argh. Finally finished Module 2 (out of 6) part 4 (out of 7). I am starting to get the hang of regex, not that I would voluntarily use it for anything. Yes, it's tremendously powerful... but it's about as foreign as speaking in Latin. And it's ONLY useful in string manipulation.

And I just bought myself one of the Fanatical eBook bundles on Python. I may yet make myself buy one of the Humble book bundles on certification next...

EDIT: Still on Module 2 (!), stuck on part 6 out of 7. Seems I crashed the Qwiklab tool, as it won't validate a script that produces the right output. (and no, I didn't cheat).

Part 7 is the "final project" and it'd be a doozy.

EDIT2: Unable to finish the final project because their simulation system is buggy and whatever I did failed to validate, even though it did exactly what was asked for. Apparently they expect you to do it a certain way and it's their way or the highway. As long as my way works, why would you care? Argh... They also screwed up the permissions as I was unable to perform a specific step without doing something completely undocumented... outright "own" a directory with "sudo chown". In other words, I was debugging their system for them! Sheesh.

And Linux is a PITA. I had actually got the code completely written on my local Python setup (pyCharm and Python 3.7.x) and it works with the test cases I made. I copy and paste it into the terminal and it stopped working. WTF. The regex pattern worked perfectly local, and even interactive Python session says it'd work. But in a string, it doesn't. So I ended up just evaluating it directly in the command instead of going through string. Why that works, but a string won't... I have no idea.

I already knew all the stuff. Most of my time was spent fighting the system on expressing what I need. ARGH!!!!!

EDIT3: They gave me credit for final project, but Part 6 final still won't validate. They have an open case on it. We shall see.

Working on learning Git and Github. Hopefully finish it within 48 hours. Already got Git setup plus atom (the editor). This is yet ANOTHER text editor as I prefer Notepad32 myself, and I actually have PyCharm IDE for python stuff. *sigh*

EDIT4: Apparently they don't want to fix the course even when tons of people have complained. They just basically gave me the solution and told me to copy it to pass the class. Lazy *******. But as long as I have the certificate for finishing the course I'm happy. Onto GIT I go...

EDIT5: 6 courses in this certificate, onto the third one, only 4 parts to this one. Already finished 1/4. I think I will do 2/4 before I go to bed.

EDIT6: Did 2/4. And applied to 3 more jobs today. With the DOT physical exam situation up in the air, I'm not sure how it'll play out. I need backup strategies, and even applied to an entry position or two.

EDIT7: Finished the GIT module, which is Course 3 (of 6) in this course. Course 4 is "Troubleshooting and Debugging Techniques". Let's see if it can teach me something new...

[Kasey Chang]

Finished 3 courses out of 6. Working on course 4 now, working on part 3 of 4. Part 1 took me extra time because I didn't quite read the question carefully. And honestly, it was really exotic... Had to "parallelize" a repetitive task by using python's multiprocessing library. I ended up doing a lot of extra work for myself when I failed to read the specs more carefully... I was to sync the directories, not the files. When I tried to sync the files with 'rsync' the stuff errored out. And I thought it was due to something else. When I realized what had happened, only took me 5 minutes to fix the rest.

EDIT1: Finished Part 3, starting on Part 4 of 4.

Already got one rejection letter back, applied for two more. I'll do hospitality front desk person if need be, esp. if the job is close and I don't need to commute.

EDIT2: Finished Course 4, starting on course 5: Configuration Management and the Cloud (using Puppet).

In a moment of weakness, I left my address and phone to one of those "UC Berkeley Extension Coding Boot Camps" landing page. They got back to me within 30 minutes. Unfortunately, they want 12000 bucks, yes, TWELVE THOUSAND. Obviously they have payment options. No thanks.

Course 5 is 70% complete. I am done with part 3 of 4, except I can't take the "final assessment" as the setup doesn't work so I can't follow their own instructions. *argh!*

Applied to three more jobs today, only one related to IT.

Guess I'll get started with Part 4 of 4 while they figure it out.

EDIT3: I'm "done" with Course 5, except for test 5-3 and test 5-4. Will do that tomorrow morning. It's 1:26AM locally. Then it's onto "final exam" aka Course 6. (PS I apparently lost my ability to count properly)

[Kasey Chang]

Woke up at 9 by a spam caller. Argh. I did get one email back indicating further interest though, have a phone interview later today. The job is actually over in Oakland, but it should be no more than 15-20 minutes from my house, and I figure it's close enough to commute daily as the shift is actually from 6 to 2 and I will miss all the traffic, even if I have to use ZipCar for commuter and pay $450 a month. I was paying more than that with Lyft in my previous job any way.

EDIT2: Finished Course 5. Just need to finish 1 more course to have the certificate...

Until I noticed that the course is not ready to be taken. It won't start until March 16, 2020. WTF.

Guess I won't be getting that certificate in a few days after all.

Now to pick a different course... And no, I'm NOT PAYING 12000 for a bootcamp when I already knew half of the stuff. Guess it's time to pay for a data scientist certificate.

Will do that after lunch.

-----

The first phone interview guy never called me back or let me know if they're considering me.

Most of the email inquiries went nowhere except the bot acknowledgement.

The second interview went okay, I guess. Merchandising driver by driving stuff to local retailers and talk to managers about our products. I'm not selling them directly, so not too much talking there. And I doubt I'll be making more than 10 stops a day. Pay is a bit lower, but the expenses should be quite a bit lower too. Zipcar for commute assuming 11 miles each way a day is $517 or so a month. I know I spent more than that on Lyft. I spent 450+ on Lyft last December, and that's with 1/4 to 1/3 of the trips using the commuter benefits. (and that's like 1000 I can't get back, but that's a different story)

[Kasey Chang]

So far, I've applied to 9-10 jobs, of which, one that I may have a chance (but that's the one with the DOT physical holdup), 2 I've gotten a callback and I may have survived the initial phone screening, 2 rejections, and the rest... NOTHING. Not even an acknowledgment beyond bot replies.

EDIT: Just found that Amazon has like... 500+ job postings here in San Francisco (!) and it's corporate jobs, not gig work. It'll take a while to browse them...

After looking at Amazon jobs, I decided I need to update my LinkedIn Profile, and I ended up paying a verified attendance record for my own University degree, as I completely forgot when I graduated. Turns out, it was Jan 1994. Dang, I was off by quite a bit. So I ended up spending last 1.5 hours updating my LinkedIn Profile, then use that to filter jobs avaialble there. Looks like there may be a few that fits me pretty well... We shall see.

EDIT2: Applied for 4 more jobs today. There are four more candidate jobs, more if I want to search back further (I artificially set limit at "posted wtihin 2 weeks of today") It's clear that some company's application page is broken, or their integration with LinkedIn is broken. Or they didn't integrate, just linked their job from LinkedIn. So when I clicked on LinkedIn listing, I'm taken to yet another listing, then I click through and I get the actually application, which takes me to yet some OTHER website, ARGH!

I think I'll not start any data science course today. Wait for tomorrow.

[Kasey Chang]

Started on the Data Science Course... Already finished Course 1 of 9, but that's just "Intro", which is meant to be easy.

Course 2 of 9 is when they actually start the lab work, and it'd be harder. and it's all intro to lab environment. I'll be done tonight. Course 3 can wait till tomorrow.

EDIT: Finished both Course 1 of 9 and 2 of 9, except no one has graded my projects. ARGH. So they don't count as completed. They are mutual grading projects, and I graded 3 other guys already. Darn it.

I'll start Course 3 of 9 tomorrow.

Got a rejection letter back, but that's like ten more that went unanswered.

[Kasey Chang]

Come to think of it, anyone want to look over my LinkedIn profile and see if I'm missing anything, or anything looks not quite right?

Spoiler:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasey-chang-0932b332/

-----

Started on course 3, but connections to the lab keeps timing out (502 gateway error) I'm guessing it's network issue since this didn't happen Sunday night. Will try again tonight.

Finished course 3, except for the final peer-reviewed grading for all three courses. (Darn it!)

Starting on course 4 tomorrow. And I got a 2nd phone interview tomorrow. But it's a driving job, and I am not sure I WANT a driving job any more.

EDIT: FINISHED Course 4 except I don't have any grades due to peer grading thing. No grading final project, no finish course. ARGH! Good thing I already learned Python... mostly.

Starting on "Databases and SQL for Data Science" after lunch. This is mostly a refresher for me, as I know SQL "reasonably" well.

-----

Second phone interview went reasonably well, next is the in-person interview coming Thursday afternoon. Again, it's for a delivery driver job, which I am not sure I want any more.

I've been applying for junior or associate technical support positions in San Francisco. If I get one of those and it's reasonably near, I'll have to relearn how to ride a bike (haven't ridden one in decades).

At this point, I am seriously considering abandoning my first soft offer... driving paratransit van. While the hours are relatively easy, the details are vague as heck, and apparently this is the only position that they have in San Francisco, so if the job dries up I'll be laid off. Pay is about the same (even a little less), though the routes should be easier... basically just load wheelchair bound folks, lock them down inside the vehicle, help other seniors on, and take them to a senior center, and return them at the end of the day. But there's a lot of paperwork involved, and I'm not sure my DOT thing would pass. I've not been able to get any data off that old machine any way.

-----

Finished Databases and SQL for data science except for the final assignment peer grading. ARGH. EVERYONE of these courses are stuck on that. On well, that's 5 of 9 out of the way. Start on 6 in the morning.

[Kasey Chang]

I've completed 5 out of 9 courses in the IBM Data Science Professional Certificate so far. I got certificates for 3 of them. 1 claimed my final assignment wasn't up to par, and I just resubmitted. Another... there were not enough peers for me to grade to receive my final grade ARGH!

Starting Course 6 at noon-ish. I also need a haircut for tomorrow's in-person interview.

EDIT: Got the haircut, and finally got the certificate for the 4th course.

The fifth course final assignment redo was obviously graded by someone who didn't appreciate my sense of humor in the essay test, where we're supposed to describe how data science can be applied to one of three areas they picked. I started to talk about spam, how data science was used to analyze spam, how data was gathered, how it was evaluated and vetted, by the exec's secretary, then they realized it's not filtering because the secretary's definition of spam doesn't match other people's. So they ended up abandoning the project since everybody's definition of spam is a little different. All the methodology, data gathering and so on was applied correctly, AFAIK. Grrrr...

Starting course 6 at 8PM PST.

[Smoove_B]

Have you considered career-coaching Drazzil? You know how to hustle!

[LawBeefaroni]

Have you considered career-coaching Drazzil? You know how to hustle!

I smell an Odd Couple reboot...

[Kasey Chang]

Have you considered career-coaching Drazzil? You know how to hustle!

Not having to go anywhere and kinda burned out on games will do that to ya.

[Skinypupy]

Quick question for the hive mind.

I had a recruiter blindly reach out today via LinkedIn about a "Senior Account Executive" role. It looked interesting, but the required experience for the role seemed a little low to me (4 years experience), so I was afraid it might just be a junior-level position with a fancy title. I told him via e-mail that I was potentially interested, but would like to know the expected compensation (just a ballpark range) before I scheduled an appointment with him to discuss further. He responded quite angrily and said that if that was my first question, then I probably wasn't a good fit.

My intent with the question was simply to not waste either of our time. I'm not actively looking for a new job right now, and if this was a role that pays half of what I'm currently making, it wouldn't make sense for either of us to spend any time on.

Part of me thinks that if he was that offended by the question, then it probably wasn't something I wanted to explore further anyways. But I'm also very rusty with the whole job seeking process (I've had a handful of interviews in the past 15 years I've been with my current company, and I knew what the comp range for those jobs was going into the interview), so maybe I was entirely in the wrong.

I just don't want to repeat the mistake if I encounter the situation again in the future. Thoughts?

[LawBeefaroni]

It think it was a fair question to ask given the light requirements.

I ask ballpark compensation early. Maybe not first question but titles and grades vary a lot by employer so it's good to get that out of the way. I'm talking like broad strokes with the actual compensation bartering later.

[Jaymann]

Fuck 'em, probably a scam.

[LawBeefaroni]

Fuck 'em, probably a scam.

True. Any recruiter who gets angry because you ask questions about the job is either terrible or a scammer.

[Isgrimnur]

Don't feel bad. Recruiters think they're people.

[Jeff V]

Don't feel bad. Recruiters think they're people.

More like they think they are doing you a huge favor when in fact, they gain only if they provide an appropriate candidate. His behavior indicated the job was likely far beneath you and whatever time he spent evaluating and chasing you was an error on calculation on his part. Likely he was madder at himself than you.

[Kasey Chang]

I always prefer to call them headhunters.

[Isgrimnur]

For Henchmen Resources

[Kasey Chang]

Just officially turned down the paratransit job offer. Told them I can't get the DOT health check finalized.

Working through Course 6: Data Analysis with Python (out of 9). I'm on "Part 4 of 7".

Applied to 3 more jobs today.

I am going to interview tomorrow to talk about the merchandising driver job. But I'm not sure I want to take it. I don't want to waste his time, but I don't want to take his job for a week only for a tech job to come along.

And besides, I'm seeing more than a few "bootcamp" offers that want to take a part of my salary AFTER I get a job, i.e. "no money out of pocket" for both job and interview training. If I don't get a job offer in a week or two, I am going to investigate that avenue.

EDIT: Turns out this course really only has 6 parts. And I just finished part 4 of 6. Will work on 5 and 6 tomorrow.

Today is all about statistics, learning R square, Mean Error Square, Various regression methods, and so on. I hope I remember all that.

[Isgrimnur]

I am going to interview tomorrow to talk about the merchandising driver job. But I'm not sure I want to take it. I don't want to waste his time, but I don't want to take his job for a week only for a tech job to come along.

Median duration for unemployment is 8-9 weeks. And tech jobs are going to take longer to get through the HR process. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

[Isgrimnur]

And besides, I'm seeing more than a few "bootcamp" offers that want to take a part of my salary AFTER I get a job, i.e. "no money out of pocket" for both job and interview training. If I don't get a job offer in a week or two, I am going to investigate that avenue.

Those don't appear to be currently enforceable in California.

On March 21, 2018, the Bureau notified Holberton that it would not at that time approve it to operate. In relevant part, the Bureau stated that it would not approve income sharing agreements (also called “deferred tuition agreements” or “DTAs”), since they are based on a percentage of future income.2 The Bureau cited four reasons for its decision: (1) enrollment agreements must disclose the total program charges; (2) Holberton would need to provide a pro rata refund if a student withdrew from the program, but such amounts could not be calculated under a deferred tuition agreement based on future income; (3) the Bureau would not be able to determine the amount of student loss under such agreements for purposes of calculating amounts owed to students from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF); and, (4) Holberton could not identify the total charges for the program for reporting purposes. (See Ed. Code, §§ 94911, 94920, & 94923; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 5, §§ 71750, 71800, & 74112.) The Bureau stated that “[t]he only solution is for the institution to determine the true cost of the institution’s program and charge the appropriate tuition.”

[Kasey Chang]

Interesting info, thanks for sharing. There are a couple of those being advertised on Craigslist for full devops or software sales. There are a couple others that don't mention income sharing at all, but full of mentorship and other blah blah.

[gilraen]

EDIT: Turns out this course really only has 6 parts. And I just finished part 4 of 6. Will work on 5 and 6 tomorrow.

Today is all about statistics, learning R square, Mean Error Square, Various regression methods, and so on. I hope I remember all that.

So are you just memorizing this stuff to take the exams? It doesn't sound like most of it would be useful for any particular job, nor will you remember it all a few months from now.

[coopasonic]

EDIT: Turns out this course really only has 6 parts. And I just finished part 4 of 6. Will work on 5 and 6 tomorrow.

Today is all about statistics, learning R square, Mean Error Square, Various regression methods, and so on. I hope I remember all that.

So are you just memorizing this stuff to take the exams? It doesn't sound like most of it would be useful for any particular job, nor will you remember it all a few months from now.

I work with data scientists and the base requirement for the job around here is a PhD. Awareness of what, how and why is very useful for Tech resources working with them though.

[Kasey Chang]

EDIT: Turns out this course really only has 6 parts. And I just finished part 4 of 6. Will work on 5 and 6 tomorrow.

Today is all about statistics, learning R square, Mean Error Square, Various regression methods, and so on. I hope I remember all that.

So are you just memorizing this stuff to take the exams? It doesn't sound like most of it would be useful for any particular job, nor will you remember it all a few months from now.

Oh, it's all very applicable. Data science is what they used to call "analytics". The idea is to extrapolate trends and relationships out of data, but to do that, you need to build "models", and you need ways to evaluate how good the models are, and that's where those statistics come in. The different regression types are the different modeling techniques used. Linear? Polynomial? How many dimensions to use? Then once you build the model, you need to test it on different sets of data. It's more about remembering what does X tell us about the model, and when given two more more models with given X and Y, why should one be chosen over the other.

[Smoove_B]

Data Science is so 2000. The term you want to use now is Infomatics. If anyone has skill, aptitude or ability for this field, pursue it. You'll never be out of work.

[LawBeefaroni]

Looks like I'm getting the best of both worlds. My new boss is someone I get along with very well but he's in an office in the near suburbs. I'm reporting to him with a "dotted line" to the CFO here which means I get to stay in my current digs.

Data Science is so 2000. The term you want to use now is Infomatics. If anyone has skill, aptitude or ability for this field, pursue it. You'll never be out of work.

I'm proposing a new position for myself where I get to manage a quality informatics team from the financial side alongside a clinical counterpart. I've been nudging the rudder in that direction for a while and it may pay off.

[Smoove_B]

The Chicago Health Department was on the cutting edge of Public Health Infomatics back in 2011, right after the ACA powered up and data was "set free". I haven't been keeping current with what they are doing recently, but if I was younger and single, I likely would have made the push to relocate just based on what I saw them doing 8+ years ago.

[coopasonic]

I'd not heard the term informatics in my financial services focused world, but a little googling makes it look like informatics is generally a biomedical term that has application of data science as one component.

[RMC]

I have a Masters of Science in Healthcare Informatics. Love me some data.

Of course, I am in charge of a bunch of clinical applications, and don't get to play with data as much as I would like, but the Informatics degree can be used to wow and amaze my friends.

[Kasey Chang]

Another of those "ill-defined" fields. *sigh*

Seems the medical field uses the term "informatics" more, while business tends to use "data science" more. But they do seem to bear some similarities.

-----

Went to the interview as merchandising driver. It went pretty good, I think. The problem is I don't think the company is that organized. One of the job is to rotate "almost out of date" stock and credit the client... but you need to both write it AND enter it online, and sometimes receive payment, the system seems completely ad hoc and they're basically doing a lot of stuff in Google Sheets which is... a bit iffy. The guy basically needs a clone of himself, and I think while he's desperate to hire me, I'm not certain I want to do drudgery work. There is almost no "mind" involved in this work... it's all grunt. Go there, look at inventory, "retire" the almost out of date stuff, drop off new stuff they ordered, data entry for credit given. I have no problem doing the work physically. It's all the details, like "where's the delivery entrance", who do I talk to once there, and it seems NOBODY had documented any of that. This guy had done it so long it's all in his head. He has only one van (that I saw), but the others could be out, I don't know. Van's the same one I've driven before, except this is a high-roof version with a whole refrigerated rear bay.

It seems this company had not automated or even formalized much of its delivery procedures yet, and it somewhat worries me. They even have like three or four different return credit procedures... Smaller customers can just get a 'credit' on the invoice for the returns. Larger customers want a formal return credit accounting sheet... on physical paper.

[Jeff V]

Another of those "ill-defined" fields. *sigh*

Seems the medical field uses the term "informatics" more, while business tends to use "data science" more. But they do seem to bear some similarities.

While I think there is specialty education available, in my experience the nursing informatics people were clinical people (ie, RNs) who ventured into IT.

[Kasey Chang]

Data scientists are basically analysts with new titles after formal studies, but also with some storytelling. I think right now I'm trying to absorb the modeling constraints and how to pick different models, which data points have strong correlations we can track, and so on. One can recite what's SD, what's mean and median, and other statistics, but what they actually MEAN to the data is something else.

[Zarathud]

The Chicago Health Department was on the cutting edge of Public Health Infomatics back in 2011, right after the ACA powered up and data was "set free".

We have huge public health costs to bring under control, and the supply of University of Chicago nerds to help crunch data.