Stay ConnectedI’m Daliana Liu, an ex-Amazon data scientist turned career coach and content creator with 300k followers on LinkedIn. I interview data science and AI practitioners on how they tackle practical problems and navigate career challenges. We cover both technical skills and soft skills. Each conversation is like having lunch with a mentor and friend.
I share more about my career adventure and the lessons I learned with 22k subscribers, join here: https://www.dalianaliu.blog/
Copyright: © Daliana Liu
Jay Feng created a viral project using Seattle crime data and later got into data science. He later founded "Interview Query" helping data scientists get jobs. We'll talk about how he landed his data science job through his blog, and his journey from data scientist to founder. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.
Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu
Daliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/
Jay Feng's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-feng-ab66b049/
Jay Feng's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DataScienceJay
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:01:11) From engineer to data scientist
(00:03:10) Got a job through a project
(00:05:35) Daliana's portfolio project with Zillow
(00:09:13) From data scientist to entreprenuer
(00:13:19) "Tinder" for job
(00:15:01) How he chose companies to work for
(00:15:56) Why he became an entreprenuer
(00:17:37) How many hours does he work
(00:18:54) Challenges when building "interview query"
(00:20:18) Speed vs scale
(00:22:11) Growth hacks he used
(00:24:22) YouTube vs newsletter
(00:27:21) Lessons he learned as a CEO
(00:29:16) How to grow from tech employee to founder
(00:31:59) How he defines success
(00:34:38) If you have a business idea for Jay
Erik Gafni builds AI systems and teams. He founded Eventum AI (https://bit.ly/eventum-ai), an ML consulting company working with high-growth startups. We talked about GenAI projects he worked on, how he built production ML systems, how to scale ML teams, and his journey from biologist to ML researcher.
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:01:59) Is GenAI overhyped?
(00:04:28) Ascent translation with AI
(00:11:58) Social media app with AI
(00:14:00) Stable diffusion model evaluation
(00:15:57) "Consult-to-hire" model
(00:17:35) AI in biotech
(00:22:46) Self-supervised learning
(00:31:22) How he hires people
(00:33:19) Research vs production
(00:35:57) Is AGI coming?
(00:37:30) New trends in GenAI
(00:41:45) Data quality in GenAI
(00:42:58) Philosophy in LLMs
(00:49:48) OpenAI vs Open Source
(00:53:58) Mistakes he made
(00:57:41) How did he get into ML
Jay Feng is the CEO of interview query, a service that help data scientists get jobs. Previously he worked as a data scientist at Nextdoor, Monster. We talked about data science job market, the rise of AI engineering, and the softskills people overlook during interviews. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.
Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu
Daliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/
Jay Feng's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-feng-ab66b049/
Jay Feng's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DataScienceJay
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:11 Data science job market in 2024
00:09:13 Build projects with AI
00:16:19 Softskills in interviews
00:23:18 Daliana's story on "socializing ideas"
00:28:38 Common mistakes in interviews
00:35:30 Product DS vs ML interviews
00:36:27 Product analytics interview questions
00:39:18 Career transition in DS
00:43:04 Jay's career journey
00:45:38 Is there a principal data analyst?
00:51:52 AI engineer
00:54:28 New roles vs obsolete roles in DS
01:04:46 Is data science dead?
We are joined by two data scientists who have firsthand experience with layoffs. We’ll talk about how to negotiate severance packages, how to handle stress, strategies for job hunting post-layoff, and how to reduce risks in full-time employment.
Working with Daliana on personal branding: https://forms.gle/heNuZzaHjaAMQwLu6
Her email: daliana@dalianaliu.com
Guests:
Susan Shu Chang:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-shu-chang/
Newsletter: susanshu.substack.com
Sundar Swaminathan
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sswamina3/
Website: https://www.sundarswaminathan.com/
(00:00:00) Introduction(00:06:13) Severance Negotiation(00:20:29) Identity crisis(00:26:22) Job search after layoff(00:30:21) Networking(00:35:23) Risk at pre-seed startups(00:37:03) How should data scientists pick companies(00:40:43) What to ask hiring managers(00:45:01) Does GenAI change interview processes?(00:47:17) Are data science teams getting leaner?(00:48:56) Future of data science roles(00:50:37) Full time employment and job security(00:53:46) Benefits of full time jobs(00:58:14) Reduce risk of being laid off(01:00:43) How to sell yourself(01:02:43) How to plan your finances(01:05:09) How to become an independent consultant
Jenny Wu is a data analyst turned sales engineer for data products at Hex. We talked about sales engineer vs data analyst, how to design a career based on your personality, and how to transition into a customer-facing role.
Jenny’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-wu-...Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiuDaliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/
(00:00:00) Introduction(00:01:34) What is a Sales Engineer?(00:09:35) Sales Engineering Day-to-Day(00:13:09) Challenge in sales(00:21:37) Traits of Successful Salespeople(00:30:32) Stakeholder Engagement (00:36:24) Getting into customer-facing roles(00:43:55) Quitting her job to travel the world(00:48:05) Advice on Career Breaks(00:50:39) Embedding Career and Personal Goals(00:51:57) How do you achieve happiness?
Barry McCardel is the cofounder and CEO of Hex(free trial: hex.tech/dsshow), a collaborative data workspace. Their customers include FiveTran, Notion, and Anthropic. We talked about what does the future of data team look like, how to tackle challenges of data team collaborations, and how to leverage AI in data science’s workflow.60-day Free Trial: hex.tech/dsshowBarry’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrymccardel(00:00:00) Introduction(00:01:25) Is AI replacing data scientists?
(00:06:08) Are data science teams getting smaller?
(00:09:54) What is Hex?(00:11:24) How to communicate with stakeholders
(00:24:29) Should data scientists be full stack?
(00:31:23) How data team measure ROI(00:33:35) Quantitative vs qualitative analysis(00:35:33) When you shouldn't use data? Data vs product intuition
(00:41:39) How to hire your first data team?(00:48:59) Is the modern data stack dead?
(00:53:55) GenAI in data science workflows
(00:59:03) Future of data scientist
(01:02:30) New features in Hex
Siddhartha Sharan is a Senior Data and Applied Scientist at Microsoft, helping product teams make data-driven decisions. Currently he is working on an AI product built with OpenAI APIs for sentiment analysis. We talked about how he evaluates AI products built with large language models at Microsoft, product data science, and how he went from a business background to data science. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.
Sid’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthasharan/
Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu
Daliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:05:20) How does Microsoft evaluate AI product
(00:16:17) Using OpenAI API for sentiment analysis
(00:25:29) Microsoft data science team culture
(00:26:52) DS, PM collaboration
(00:28:29) Three steps to build trust in data science
(00:30:13) How did he got into Microsoft
(00:34:09) Level up in Genetech
(00:36:09) ML engineer vs Product DS
(00:37:43) Core skills in product DS
(00:40:20) Hiring
(00:42:47) How to deal with burnout
(00:45:03) Should you over work to earn trust?
(00:45:44) Daliana's story about first day at Amazon
(00:49:54) Will AI replace data scientists?
(00:51:32) Data scientist's role of GenAI
(00:54:32) How to keep up with GenAI
Jess Ramos is a Senior Data Analyst at Crunchbase, a LinkedIn Learning Instructor, and a content creator in the data space. She has a bachelor's degree in Math, Spanish, and Business from Berry University and a master's in Business Analytics from University of Georgia. Today we’ll talk about SQL in the real world, data analyst vs data scientist, is job hopping bad, how she negotiated her salary. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.Jess’ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessramosmsba/
Preparing to Get a Job in Data Analytics: shorturl.at/sCNPT
Solve Real-World Data Problems with SQL: https://bit.ly/3Zq6wnd
Big Data Energy Newsletter: https://bit.ly/46x4rIR
Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiuDaliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/(00:00:00) Introduction(00:01:24) Why Jess left her job at Freddie Mac(00:03:25) Is job hopping bad(00:04:42) How to explain short job stints when interviewing(00:06:49) Jess's day-to-day work and tech stack(00:09:15) SQL in the real world(00:12:10) How to talk data to stakeholders(00:18:33) How Jess prepares for SQL interviews(00:28:11) Data analysts vs data scientists(00:32:11) Choosing a career path(00:47:19) How to ask recruiter questions(00:50:15) Jess's LinkedIn content creation journey(00:59:03) The future of Jess's career(01:03:42) Jess's favorite books
Mehdi Noori is an applied science manager at the Generative AI Innovation Center at Amazon. I used to work with Mehdi while we were at the Machine Learning Solutions Lab at AWS. So before Amazon, Mehdi was a data scientist working on marketing intelligence. Mehdi has a PhD from University of Central Florida in civil engineering and sustainability. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter for more on data science and career www.dalianaliu.com
Mehdi Noori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehdi-noori/
Predicting Soccer Goals: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/predicting-soccer-goals-in-near-real-time-using-computer-vision/
My friend Misty moved to a farm in Portugal after her 20 years of career in finance. We talked about her experience moving from the busy corporate life to the farm life where she does a lot of manual work. Was it challenging, how does her finance work, and what is her advice to other people who also want to explore a different path outside of the modern city life. I hope this episode will give you a different perspective about your career.
Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career.Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiuDaliana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:11:41) Life on the farm
(00:15:46) Her finance plans
(00:22:55) Her career journey
(00:27:14) What do accountants do
(00:32:29) I thought I would be happy
(00:41:25) Daliana's personal view about finance; when it's enough for you
(00:44:41) Does she feel lonely on a farm?
(00:48:39) What if she didn't leave the corporate world?
(00:54:07) Does she regret her decision
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