Meet Mark Rieke: career transition from mechanical engineering, craving more technical work, and how we all belong in data

Meet Mark Rieke, a data scientist. We talk about how he transitioned from mechanical engineering to customer experience analytics, and from that to Bayesian-flavored data science, as well as our thoughts on advanced degrees, the reality of data jobs vs the online hype, and how we all belong in the data world. Find more from Libby at datahumans.club Stuff mentioned in the episode - Stan: https://mc-stan.org/  StanCon: https://mc-stan.org/events/stancon2024/  NormConf: https://www.youtube.com/@normconf/playlists  Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjrieke/ 

Meet Madison Ostermann, a data scientist at NASA. You'll hear us talk about her non-linear path from music major to computer science major, what a data job in government looks like for her, and the pivotal decisions she's made throughout her education and career journey so far.  Find more from Libby at datahumans.club Stuff mentioned in the episode - The Business of Authority Podcast Episode: https://thebusinessofauthority.com/episodes/1c25a3df  Madison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madisonostermann/ 

Meet Norma Padrón, a health economist and entrepreneur. We talk about what her work looks like, her journey from mathematics to economics and public health, how finding communities along the way helped her succeed, and more. Find more from Libby at datahumans.club Stuff mentioned in the episode - American Economic Association: https://www.aeaweb.org/  Norma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/normapadron/  Norma's website: https://www.normapadron.com/  Women in ML and DS: https://wimlds.org/ 

Meet Camila Saez, an R & D Scientist at Dow. We talk about how she got to data science from science-science (chemical engineering), the interesting process of interviewing for scientific research roles, what problems she gets to work on day to day in the field of material science, and more. Find more at datahumans.club   Stuff mentioned in the episode - Camila on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/csaezcab/ Camila's lightning talk at Posit Conf 2023: https://youtu.be/PhNnwfEZRek?si=etqtoRzaWNdN1wee Custom color palette projects that served as inspiration and learning:  https://github.com/ciannabp/inauguration https://github.com/karthik/wesanderson Society of Women Engineers: https://swe.org/ Latinas in STEM: https://www.latinasinstem.com/  Fundamentals of Data Visualization by ClausWilke: https://clauswilke.com/dataviz/  R for Data Science byWickham and Grolemund: https://r4ds.had.co.nz/    

Meet Kelly Hopkins, a data consultant. We talk about what consultancy looks like for her, our mutual and totally unnecessary feelings of inadequacy from different sides of the data science aisle, why making data friends is more powerful than whatever extra certification you're looking to get next, and much more.   Find more at datahumans.club Stuff mentioned in the episode - Black Tides: https://blacktidesdata.com/    Black in Data Week 2023 even (event has passed) by Black Tides: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-in-data-week-2023-tickets-516193347197    Robotic Process Automation (RPA): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotic_process_automation   -- Automation Anywhere: https://www.automationanywhere.com/    -- UI Path: https://www.uipath.com/    -- Blue Prism: https://www.blueprism.com/    -- R-Ladies: https://www.rladies.org/    -- R-Ladies Philly: https://www.meetup.com/rladies-philly   -- SLC R-users group: https://www.meetup.com/slc-rug/    Kelly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyhopkins-data/    -- Kelly's consulting business, Launchpad Analytics, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/launchpad-analytics/    Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -   https://www.silvermansound.com

Meet Sloan Wheeldon, a data scientist. We talk about her journey to data science, our differing experiences in data degree programs, how we feel about certain types of data science interviews, and more.   Find more at datahumans.club Stuff mentioned in the episode -   Sloan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sloan-wheeldon/ Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -   https://www.silvermansound.com

Meet Richard DeWald, registered nurse, senior system admin, and hospice data analyst. We talk about his journey to data via a combination of nursing and a love of computers through the 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond. His is a story of blending patient care and data work throughout a successful and varied career.    Find more at datahumans.club   Stuff mentioned in the episode -    R for Data Science by Hadley Wickham: https://r4ds.had.co.nz/index.html    Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-dewald-7703904/      Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -    https://www.silvermansound.com   

Meet Kaitlin Bustos, a data science consultant. We talk about what her work looks like, her experience doing a data science bootcamp, how data science is not one thing, and more.   Find more at datahumans.club   Stuff mentioned in the episode -    Perms and Combs in Calculus: https://www.cs.sfu.ca/~ggbaker/zju/math/perm-comb.html   Kaitlin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlinbustos/     Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -    https://www.silvermansound.com  

Meet Brittany Buggs, a senior data analyst. We talk about what her day-to-day work looks like, why teaching high school statistics shaped the way she's able to communicate and collaborate as an analyst, how getting clear on what she wanted from a job helped her focus her career, and more.  Find more at datahumans.club  Stuff mentioned in the episode -   Teach for America: https://www.teachforamerica.org/  Rocket Mortgage: https://www.myrocketcareer.com/   Kinaxis: https://www.kinaxis.com/en/careers   Brittany on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybuggs/     Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -   https://www.silvermansound.com 

Meet Kayla Williamson, a biostatistician. We talk about what biostatistics looks like for her, what her journey from academics to industry looked like, and our shared struggle of working on personal projects when we're more motivated by external accountability vs. internal.  Find more at datahumans.club    Stuff mentioned in the episode -   Not So Standard Deviations Podcast: https://nssdeviations.com/  Design Thinking by Nigel Cross: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/design-thinking-9781350092662/  Build a Career in Data Science Podcast: https://podcast.bestbook.cool/ The Four Tendencies book and quiz: https://gretchenrubin.com/books/the-four-tendencies/ and https://gretchenrubin.com/quiz/the-four-tendencies-quiz/  SAS on Demand for Academics (how to use SAS for free if you want to learn): https://www.sas.com/en_us/software/on-demand-for-academics.html  Kayla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-williamson-6652b1120/     Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers -  https://www.silvermansound.com