Data Science Unplugged

We Are All Imposters

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I often have flashbacks to a conversation, as a graduate student, with an internationally renowned award winning statistician. We had been discussing some issue for which I was seeking advice. It was a fruitful conversation but then they finished with something along the lines of “Saghir, I realise that I don’t know anything about statistics.” I was stunned. It hit me so hard that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks, in fact for years. For months I had been struggling with a ground breaking publication by the said statistician for which they had been widely recognised. I asked myself if somebody like that doesn’t know anything what chance do I have. It was one of my first experiences of the “imposter syndrome”.

More than ten years later I found myself analysing some data with various challenges. The more I looked the more I saw and everything was going in different directions. I was struggling to get to grips with the magnitude and complexity of it all. At some point I stopped and felt that I didn’t know anything. Immediately my mind flashed back to the conversation and I smiled as I finally understood it. From that moment onwards something changed. I was free and relieved. I was no longer trying to swim in an ocean that continuously pushed me under with its waves.

Now I happily embrace my imposter experiences with a passion for different reasons.

First and foremost is that the other extreme would be one of arrogance where I would foolishly believe I knew it all. Bad!
It helps me identify gaps in my knowledge, experience and skills which feeds my desire to continue learning and developing.
It gives me the adrenaline to do my best much like the nervousness before a presentation.
I am forced to focus on what I really need to know given my constraints.
I have the power and confidence to consult others without fear and regardless of their rank or position.
It helps in connecting the dots betweens areas that I feel I know and those that I don’t know.
It is a reminder of all of my achievements and milestones, however small they may seem, that allow me to feel like an imposter.
It empowers me to answer questions with “I don’t know”.
It lets me switch off from my work when I am living my life.
It keeps me human.

The renowned statistician had in some sense revealed that they were an “imposter”. It was a passive remark without any sense of defeatism or failure. It was matter of fact. We are all imposters. Let’s enjoy it!

Data Science Master Chef

Tue, 29 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Saghir Bashir (www.ilustat.com) A Master Chef A master chef can transform any set of ingredients into an eye pleasing and appetising festival for your taste buds. Before embarking on their creation, they will begin by understanding the quality and freshness of all the ingredients which will determine the quantities in which they will be fused. Understanding the source and origins will be equally important to them (e.g. type of olives, location grown and extraction method for olive oil).

Learning R vs Learning a Spoken Language

Wed, 23 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Saghir Bashir (www.ilustat.com) Introduction R has grown in popularity over the years which can be measured by using different metrics, for example, R downloads, the number of packages on CRAN1, participation in on-line communities, books published and so forth. This growth brings with it newcomers who are keen to learn the R programming language. Learning R, like learning anything else, is a process from which you get what you put into it.

Generating Certificates of Attendance Using R

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Saghir Bashir (www.ilustat.com) Sometimes after an event you need to issue certificates to the participants. How do you normally produce several certificates automatically? There are different ways to do it and here we share our approach after a recent community event1. We used R to automatically generate the certificates using R markdown and LaTeX language. Objective The key objective was to produce PDF certificates that could be emailed to attendees (see above for an example).

Data Science Education: Some Thoughts

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Saghir Bashir (www.ilustat.com) Life scientists, economists, ecologists, computer scientists, social scientists, linguists, mathematicians, physcists and many others have or are choosing data science as a career. The treasure trove of backgrounds presents knowledge sharing opportunities and challenges alike. However for newcomers this career transition and continuous development can be overwhelming and leave some of them with feelings of not belonging or lacking competence, characteristics of impostor’s syndrome. Educators, mentors, trainers and managers have a crucial role to play in developing newcomers to become competent and confident data scientists.

Data Science in Practice @FCUL

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This time DSup brings you a full-day event! An informal and relaxed event, sharing stories from different speakers, to help students in the transition from academia into their professional life. Find more about this project on our webpage and save your spot for this amazing joint meetup!

Resources

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Data Science Thinking https://medium.com/@d_spiegel [Articles] R programming https://rweekly.org/ http://r4ds.had.co.nz/ [Free online Book] Python programming https://jakevdp.github.io/PythonDataScienceHandbook/ [Free online Book] Other https://www.datascienceatthecommandline.com/ [Free online Book]