Know how Akshay aligned his career path with the Data Science roadmap

With absolutely no background in Data Science and Analytics but with mere interest in Machine Learning and Data Science, Akshay Duggar – a Software Developer with IBM India Software Labs, leapt into the world of data. The fact that the Post Graduate Program in Data Science and Machine Learning (PGPDM) was only a short online program but a full-fledged 10-month course designed by keeping working professionals in mind was the primary point that evoked Akshay’s interest in the program by the University of Chicago’s Graham School in collaboration with IBM and Jigsaw Academy.

“Since I came from an engineering background with a sound technical knowhow, coding was a cakewalk. But I can’t say the same about Statistics. Though I was always interested in Math, Statistics needed more of my attention and that was a challenge that I enjoyed when it was thrown at me,” he says.

When he began with the program, Akshay believed that the modules were very heavy on data-related topics and was a little skeptical if deep learning them were actually relevant. But then and again, when the batch moved on to other modules and finally the Capstone project, he felt that the modules were, in fact, woven together like a beautiful story with a great beginning, middle and end with all the necessary description and comprehensive explanation of ideas. More like an exposition in a plot, where the reader (here student) can make complete sense of the action and follow all through – from start to finish.

Apart from the obvious reason that he came to know about the program through IBM (the company he works with), he went on to look up and research about PGPDM and got a lot of positive feedback that he decided to grab the opportunity. For someone who has worked with data in the past, Mr.Duggar strongly believes that his basic understanding of the subject and the way he looks at and approaches data post the program has obviously changed for the better.

The end goal of a person looking at doing a course in Data Science may not necessarily be to become a Data Scientist. “For instance, I have been able to contribute better to a project that our team has been working on – which is about developing and building an assistant for enterprises like the Google Assistant. This has been possible purely because of the training I received while doing the program. I have also been taking up a lot of side projects to hone my skill and maybe one day I will end up working with companies like Google that thrive on Machine Learning and Deep Learning,” he says.

“If and when I consider specialized learning in a niche topic, it might most probably be in sentiment analysis and Natural language processing where I see a lot of potential,” adds a very futuristic Akshay.

Like Akshay, if you are looking at sharpening those data-driven skills of yours, explore Jigsaw’s Post Graduate Program in Data Science and Machine Learning (PGPDM). This might just be the course for you!