Science to Data Science

Close to finishing my PhD in Mathematics, I was undecided whether I should pursue an academic career or not. Getting a job in data science seemed a reasonable alternative, but I had no experience in the field. After some research online, I found the 2017 S2DS Training in London, which seemed the perfect occasion for trying data science in a business environment before actually taking such a job.
The application procedure was pretty straight forward - we had to send a CV and a motivational letter and then had a very short Skype interview, in which we quickly had to explain one out of three proposed statistical/machine learning concepts. (I explained the Bayes theorem.)
The classes were held in the first one-and-a-half weeks of the programme and mainly focused on Soft Skills that people from academia lack. We had lessons about teamwork, business communication, marketing, strategy, economics etc. All teachers were excellent speakers and even though the talks stayed superficial (2-4 hours are not enough to dive deeply into a subject) they communicated essential concepts. There were also a few technical classes (Introduction to R/Machine learning in Python etc.), but these classes were  not sufficient to properly cover those areas. (Again 2-4 hours are not enough to cover these subjects and going through some online-tutorials is probably more effective to start learning these things.) Although several people would have preferred more technical lessons, I personally found the classes interesting and well-designed. Since the participants had very different backgrounds (from theoretical mathematics and biology to machine learning and statistics) it would have been impossible to provide technical classes that were useful for everyone.
The main part of the training however consisted in working on a project with one of the partner companies. Based on our preferences, we were divided into teams and assigned to these projects. The topics ranged from finance and marketing to health care and even applications in education. The individual experience here of course depended on the team and the company - but the general impression I got was that the teams were thoughtfully composed and most companies offered good support. A company tutor, a technical tutor and a tutor from Pivigo (the company that runs S2DS) were available for questions and assistance. My own project consisted in predicting logistical effort for a larger company and I was very happy both with my team and the supervision by the company.
Althogether I am very glad that I participated and I recommend the programme without hesitation. In particular if you want to start working as a Data Scientist in London (or Great Britain in general) it might be a huge boost for you career also because of the contacts you make as a participant - several of my former fellows found jobs there. However, I seriously recommend to study some machine learning and statistics in advance in order to get most out of it.

If you are in academia and wonder if data science would be a good or feasible idea for a new career (hint: it is), this is what you are looking for. 

S2DS gave me the hands-on experience I needed to be confident about my potential and perspectives in data science. This is something that any MOOC or Kaggle competition would never be able to give you. I can't stress enough the importance of working in a team for a company whilst trying to solve a business problem. The value of such an experience is incommensurable, and you will take advantage of it on your CV and during job interviews. 

S2DS also gives you access to a network of data scientists, career advice, and job leads, all extremely helpful for your future data science career. 

All this comes in the form of quite an intense but very enjoyable 5-week experience, where you'll be in the company of very like-minded people. The opportunity to meet and discuss all sort of ideas with other participants is another invaluable perk. 

I was quite suprised by how well the virtual program worked, despite having to work remotely with people from all corners of the continent. That definitely worked much better than I expected. 

In short, if you are an academic looking to jump into the data science endeavour, S2DS is a no-brainer. 

I finished my PhD in Climate Physics in 2012 and went industry for 4 years afterwards, working for both a large corporation and startup. I signed onto the virtual S2DS course as I knew that the world is rapidly undertaking a technological shift towards Data Science and now was the time to equip myself with the skills. 

The 5 week course has not disappointed! Being paired with 3 other international people and working on a real world data science project throws you straight into the deep end of working in a fast pace and results driven environment. It is intense and challenging however the Pivigo team do provide an excellent support network of technical advisors to help you throughout the course. 

The main skills you will pick up:

• data pre-processing
• predictive modelling
• failing fast
• working in an agile environment

I would thoroughly recommend this course for anyone wanting to making the switch to Data Science, whether straight from PhD for if you have experience in industry - probably the most fun I've had at 'work' in a long time!

Without a doubt the best career decision I've made. I wouldn't be in my current data scientist position without it!

The S2DS London programme was such a great experience. Although at first it can feel quite daunting, you'll quickly find out that everyone is like-minded and supportive so it never felt like a competition. 

I had initially expected formal lectures on the technical aspects of data science learning about algorithms and new technologies so I was surprised when so many of the lectures were so soft skills focussed. However, through several networking events and my experience on the job market I realised just how much more useful it was to have the lectures that we did. 

S2DS gave me a much broader perspective of the data science landscape and made me realise that I already had the skills to be a data scientist, I just didn't know it before. Importantly it gave me a huge data science network and the relevant commercial experience to get my data science career started.

Even after the course, the assistance and advice I received was great. No recruiter I spoke to was ever that helpful or suggested I should aim as high as the team at Pivigo. Ultimately it was a presentation that I gave about my S2DS project at a Pivigo organised Meetup that got me the job I'm in now.

If you're thinking of starting a career in data science and are not sure where to start then I whole-heartedly recommend S2DS!

Before finding out about S2DS I had already decided that I wanted to move into data science, so before applying I had been working my way through a few online courses, as a way to get a broader understanding of the skills needed in data science. And worked on a couple of personal projects based on public datasets, just to get a feel for using some of the tools and an understanding of what public datasets look like. On the programme there was a good mix of people with different skill sets, which was helpful when getting stuck with a problem, as there was someone who was able to give me an idea of how to fix it or another way of looking at it.

I was one of the people that took part in the very first virtual programme, meaning it was a new experience for all involved, so there was no set rules about the way to work, we had to experiment and find what worked best for us. The way they do things now may have changed slightly, as they refined the programme, but the main way of working (conference video calls with all members and group skype sessions) should be the same. The members of my team were only a short distance from London (purely by chance), but all the other teams had their members spread all across Europe.

Doing the virtual programme didn't hinder my learning experience, because a lot of the learning involved going off and exploring how to do something. Then afterwards reporting back to the team, by sharing links to examples, useful info or some graphs that you had produced. And if we needed to talk, we just started a skype call or google hangout. I had done remote working as part of my PhD, so was happy with the idea of it, and I had been thinking about doing a data science programme for a while and when I saw the first S2DS virtual advertised in their newsletter, I was very keen to give it a try.

I was happy I gave the programme a try, as it gave me a better understanding of the business side of data science and helped me make a number of useful contacts. And I notice that after putting S2DS on my CV, I was getting through to more job interviews and it was something that a number of interviewers were interested in talking about. So it was helpful as a real world example, that I could use to explain how I had tackled challenges, met key goals and interesting facts I found out. And the people from S2DS continue to be very helpful after the programme, with advice and informing me about job events.

My background is Astrophysics and I have worked in academic research for about 10 years from my undergraduate to my almost 5-year tenure as a postdoctoral researcher. At some point during my academic career, I started considering moving into data science as I found it interesting and because there are several aspects of academia that did not fit well with my working style. Then something happened: I got selected for the Virtual S2DS bootcamp.

It has been a week since my Virtual S2DS experience ended. Do you remember the satisfaction after finishing your master degree/PhD? I am feeling the same satisfaction, with the difference though that this time it is not my own personal achievement only. Instead this time the achievement is that of a team formed by individuals (including myself) who: i) get to know each other’s skills and characters; ii) acquire new skills; iii) learn to trust each other and to work together to solve a data science challenge for a client company; iv) commit to achieve previously set up goals; v) produce deliverables for the client company, with practical and direct impact on their decision making process. The bootcamp is like an experiment concentrated into five weeks during which the key tools to be able to successfully conclude it are teamwork, communication, problem solving, time management and analytical skills (e.g., coding, machine learning, mathematical modelling, statistics and data handling and visualisation). I believe that these tools are the fundamental requirements to become a successful data scientist.

So, if a career in data science is what you are thinking about, apply for this bootcamp and enjoy the journey. You will feel motivated, interested, stimulated, taken care of and guided by the Pivigo staff members and will have a  lot of fun. Sometimes you may feel that the project you are working on is not going the way you expected/hoped to. However, it still a scientific project the one you will work on and, by definition, unexpected issues can arise. One has to be ready to face the unpredictable and solve the problems in a finite amount of time and by the given deadline. I believe that this aspect is a very important one to experience on your own skin, so that you will be ready to solve such hurdles later on during your prospective data science career within a business environment. In fact, differently from many academic environments, deadlines must me met and this aspect is a fundamental one to take into account.

Furthermore I have had the chance to meet extraordinary people from different countries, from completely different backgrounds than mine and sometimes with completely different characters. Being immersed in such a diverse environment is a great opportunity to grow into a better and more competent professional. I have made valuable colleagues and friends during this experience and I was able to learn a lot from them. I am still in touch with many of them. In addition, I have been given the chance to join a large network of data scientists, which is the perfect platform for job hunting.

Finally, Pivigo provides resources for training on many topics (e.g., machine learning, python and other programming languages, statistics, project management, business) before the starting of the bootcamp. I found this particularly useful as I had the chance to deepen and/or refresh and/or build up my knowledge on the topics needed for the project.

In a few words, I highly recommend this bootcamp and I wish you the best of luck for when you apply for it!

I decided to enroll into the March 2017 Virtual S2DS programme, and I did not regret it! At that time I was finishing up my postdoc, and was ready to get some experience of what an industrial data science project feels like.

Pivigo split us into teams, and each team was assigned a client company, to whom we were essentially delivering a data science project, with specific deliverables. We followed the agile methodology, with frequent commits to our codebase, and regular updates and Q&A sessions with the client company.

My teammates were friendly, collaborative, keen to learn, and smart. The mentors and Pivigo staff were very supportive during the program, and mediated our conversations with the client company effectively.

Even though this was a remote programme, due to the constant communication via online tools such as Slack, Google Hangouts and others, the ride was smooth. Furthermore, Pivigo organized numerous Q&A sessions with experienced data scientists, which really helped in answering pressing questions about how to make it as a data scientist out there. 

If you already have a grasp of statistics, machine learning and programming, this bootcamp will help you get practical experience working on a real-world project. Even though at times it was challenging, overall I found it very rewarding and worth the effort. highly recommend it!

I decided to apply for the S2DS London programme as I was heading into the final year of my Astrophysics PhD. I was starting to think about leaving academia but found myself in the position of having no commercial experience to call upon for any job applications/interviews I may have in the future. I also had no way of really knowing what it was like to work outside of academia. This worried me, and when I heard about S2DS it immediately caught my attention as a potential solution to this problem.

Prior to S2DS, I had a reasonable amount of data analysis experience under my belt from my academic studies and would class myself as fairly competent at programming in python, but I had pretty much no clue about business and no formal "data science" training whatsoever. One of my concerns before attending was that I may have been out of my depth, however it turned out I didn't need to worry. The S2DS course is well organised to suit all levels of ability (within reason!) and with a little pre-course preparation on websites such as Udemy, Coursera, Codecademy etc. you will be up to speed in no time. 

The course itself is in the form of one-and-a-half-ish weeks of lectures, across different business and programming topics, followed by 3 and a bit weeks of project work with your sponsor company. I found the lectures hugely informative, and actually very engaging and interesting compared with the average academic conference. The team at Pivigo have a lot of contacts, and chose some extremely good speakers.

Within a week of starting the course, you will meet your company sponsors, technical mentors and (hopefully!) be given all the data you need for your project. (I say hopefully because for my project, due to various issues it took a little while longer than that, but it was all good problem-solving experience). Then it really is all down to you and your team from there. My project was interesting, challenging, frustrating at times but overall I found it very rewarding. I came out of this experience realising that data science was a career path I would like to pursue, and S2DS has given me a valuable network of people to get me started.

The atmosphere on the course was extremely friendly, all the attendees were fantastic, along with the Pivigo staff. People came from all over the world, from all sorts of backgrounds, whether straight from a PhD or Postdoc, or from later on in life looking for a career change. The course really is for anybody looking to transition into the field of data science. The work is intense, but there is also plenty of time allowed for socialising, both through numerous planned events as well as spontaneous activities such as movie nights, golf or a trip down the pub. Networking is strongly encouraged, and you will get plenty of time for this, both with each other and with lots of companies, many who actively recruit directly from the S2DS cohort. 

I already know people who attended the course who have gone on to take jobs directly as a result of this experience, however I cannot speak for myself yet as I am still in the final stages of my PhD. What I can say is that I have received a huge amount of interest from companies and recruiters on LinkedIn since adding my S2DS experience to my profile, so this course appears to have great value as a stepping-stone into a career into data science.  

To anybody reading this and considering applying to S2DS, I can highly recommend it. Be prepared for some hard work and some frustrations - of course not everything related to the projects will go completely to plan - but overall it was a hugely enjoyable and informative learning experience, one which I genuinely feel has changed my life.

From the day I decided to switch from academia to data science; this course was on the top of my list. I was originally planning to do the on site course but the on-line course tunred out to be the better option (no UK visa hassles for me). The course was intense but for a good reason and it gave me a sense of how data science roles are in real commercial settings. Our team of three, had great mentors both from course side and the company providing our porject. Although I already had quite good technical skills, the course thought me a lot. My biggest achievment was how to work in collabration with others toward the same goal in a short time frame. I also learned how to look at analytical problems from a commercial view point. 

In the end, beside the great experince from the course itself, I had a better understanding of what a data science do and what type of roles I would be better to apply. Eventhough they mainly help for looking jobs in the UK, by just adding the course to my CV I were asked for more interviews outside of UK and I was able to show case my performance potential in a commercial settings.

I highly recommand this course for all the academics who are planning to pursue a data analytic career.

I would recommend S2DS to any scientist interested in a transition to the data science industry. As other reviewers said, the skills are already there, but it's difficult to break through in the industry with only academic positions in the CV and without knowing anyone. S2DS fills both of that gaps, giving the vital commercial experience that is nowadays needed also for entry job levels, and a network to be able to put your foot in the door.
There is a huge variety of companies at the program, and most of them are hiring (and not only the people doing a project for them, I'm proof of that!). The project will give you something interesting to talk about in any interview you will have to do, while the Pivigo recruiters will help with your CVs and applications. I've got positive experiences with very few recruiters, and David at Pivigo is one of them.

Only downside, if I have to find one: the program is very UK (particularly London) oriented, so if you want a job somewhere else, the network will be less useful. But, again, I found a job in Paris through the Pivigo network, so staying in London is not an obligation.

Science 2 Data Science, offered my the necessary experience to help transition from academia to industry. I have a very theoretical PhD, and i wanted a platform to show off programming and data science skills that i had aquired through self teaching. S2DS London was this perfect platform! 

I got to work for 5 weeks in an intensive but fun work environment with like minded collegues who all shared the same goal. What was extremely pleasing was that i loved the project i was assigned to. I was able to work for a start up and experience the perks of working within the start up culture and at the same time work on a fraud detection problem that would have a truly massive impact on the business going forward. 

If you want to be part of an amazing network, gain some experience into working on a real life data science project which not only develops your technical skills skills but also the soft skills needed to work within a team in industry, then S2DS is the place to be.  

I had a previous experience as a Post-Doc in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology within the academic set-up before enrolling on the 'SCIENCE TO DATA SCIENCE VIRTUAL' . I was interested in gaining experience in the applicatrion of machine learning to 'BIG DATA'. S2DS provided me with an excellent opportunity to do just that in the sense that I had the opportunity of developing my machine learning skills on a project which involved analysis of large datasets provided by an online marketing company. Apart from the project I was able to interact meaningfully with the other would-be Data Scientists, and also gained experience of working in a remote virtual environment. I recommend the 'SCIENCE TO DATA SCIENCE VIRTUAL' to any aspiring Data Scientist who are unbale to go to S2DS in London.