Exploring the World of Data: Welcome to My Data Science Portfolio
Are you a new data professional trying to break into the data science space, or are you a presently working in the field? Although I currently work as a data professional and have a master’s degree in data analytics, sharing my work with anyone outside my current employer or clients is an industry No-No. Intellectual property and non-disclosure agreements make the lawyers frown upon such actions. The solution: “Build a data science portfolio”, they say. I wish it were that easy. No one teaches you how to do that or what a data science portfolio even means. Questions like: “Where do I start?”, or “What do I include?” may nag at you and keep you from even getting started. Just take a look at the /datascience subreddit and you will find threads like What makes a good personal project – from the perspective of a hiring manager, People who make hiring decisions: what do you want to see in a portfolio?, and How to Build a Data Science Portfolio. As you can see, I was obviously wondering the same things since I did the searches too. However, I tend to learn better by doing, so I’m planning on “winging-it,” sort of.
What do I mean by winging it, you may wonder? I’m all in favor of using the tools that are already available, so I took to ChatGPT for some guidance. My first prompt was simple: “how to build a data scientist portfolio.” True to form, ChatGPT did not disappoint, and its advice was simple and concise:
- Select Relevant Projects
- Clean and Document Your Code
- Create a Portfolio Website
- Project Descriptions
- Include Jupyter Notebooks
- Visualize Data Effectively
- Highlight Your Skills
- Include a Blog Section
- Add a Resume or CV
- Engage in Open-Source Contributions
- Seek Feedback
- Update Regularly
- Network and Share
Consulting ChatGPT will continue throughout the processes.
To help manage the moving parts in this process, I’m relying on Atlassian’s JIRA software to build a roadmap that will not only manage the process of standing up my portfolio, but to also keep track of the progress of my individual projects.
Jira Software is the #1 agile project management tool used by teams to plan, track, release and support world-class software with confidence.
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As for sharing my work with the world, you’re here so it must be working. As I work through the points laid out by ChatGPT above, I will document my journey and share my thoughts, successes, and frustrations here. Follow along to see the portfolio grow.