How Data Science can Help You Actually Think Different

Along with opening up new opportunities in terms of career paths and options, learning data science plays a huge role in simply providing you with new perspectives and helping you think about your work in a more enlightened manner. The PGPDM (Postgraduate Program in Data Science and Machine Learning) had exactly this impact on Abdul Baasit, who was a student in the very first batch of the program.

“I had a background in IT but in around 2015, I discovered my interest in data and generally working with mathematical solutions,” he told us. Abdul initially completed the course in Data Science with SAS and while he did then move into the data science space, he felt that it wasn’t quite enough.

“I’d noticed the potential of analytics in the job market and was keen to get further into it. I felt that doing another more in-depth course would help with that.”

In the course of choosing an appropriate program, Abdul was also selected for a Business Analytics program at IIM-Bangalore. However, the University of Chicago endorsement for the PGPDM was too good an opportunity to pass up and a conversation with Jigsaw Academy’s CEO, Gaurav Vohra, helped convince him to enrol in that instead.

“The in-person classes were also a big draw. I knew it would help me network with the right people and chart a better path for myself in the industry. And after speaking to Gaurav about what the course had to offer, I knew that enrolling with Jigsaw would be the right choice” And it proved to be the right choice, as the impact of the program was evident early on.

“The course material was quite vast and I did have to do a lot of self-study as well. But the faculty were excellent, especially Mr. Anil Chaturvedi from the University of Chicago, who provided us with a lot of real-time examples.”

He adds, “All the courses were very well structured, and while I wish we could have gone a bit deeper with a couple of concepts, the UChicago input and the practical sessions provided a great platform for all of the students.”

And as with most of our other PGPDM students, Abdul felt that the Capstone Project was a highlight. “It provided some excellent insight, as we were working with a different company. We were able to see how they function and this definitely helped us better understand the application of the concepts we’d learnt.”

“At the end of the day, the course as a whole simply helped us think about things and approach problems from a more informed position and I know this will serve us all well in our careers going forward.”