do you need graduate degree for data science towards你数据科学吗走向.pdfVIP

Do

you

need

a

graduate

degree

for

data

science?

Maybe

so.

Maybe

not.

Jeremie

HarrisFollow

Dec

19·8

min

read

I’lllevelwithyou:I’maPhDdropout.

I’vegottenalotofmileageoutofthattitle,bytheway:ithintsthatI’ve

donealotofgradschool,butstillmaintainstheauraofbadasserythat

onlytheword“dropout”canprovide.Insomeways,it’stheultimate

humblebrag.GraduatewithaPhD,andyou’reonenerdamongten

thousand.Butdropout2.5yearsintoit,andyou’reanedgynerd.

Peoplewillwonderwhatotheredgyshityoumighttodonext.“Elon

Muskdroppedoutofgradschool,”they’llsay.“Thisguycouldbejust

likeElon!”

Asmuchgoodasdroppingoutofgradschoolhasdoneformy

reputationasanunpredictable,4-Dchessplaying,closetnerdgenius,

it’sbecomecleartomethattwoofthekeyingredientstobecominga

PhDdropoutaren’tforeveryone:1)startingaPhD,and2)dropping

outofaPhD.AndthesamegoesforaMaster’s.Thisistrueforthe

averageaspiringSTEMprofessional,butit’sevenmoretrueforaspiring

datascientists.AndI’llgettothereasonwhyinasecond.

Butrst,youmightbewonderinghowIknowthis.

Wellhere’sthething:Iworkatadatasciencementorshipstartup.And

throughthatworkI’veprobablyinterviewedoverathousandaspiring

datascientists—somewithPhDs,somewithMaster’sdegrees,some

withundergrads,andsomewhodroppedoutateverystagein

betweenAndthat’sleftmewitharareandpreciousthinga

statisticallysignicantsampleofdatasciencecareerstories.

Andhere’swhatI’velearnedfromthosestoriesthere’satimeaplace

andaforwhomdierentdegreesmakesense.Butbecausemost

peopleturntouniversityandcollegegraduateadvisorstodecide

whetherornottodogradschool,theytendnottogetacomplete

pictureofwhat’swhatbeforetheysignup

Sotakeitfromaformeracademic-turn