People know my love for data science ever since I was in college i.e. VIT, Vellore in 2003-07. I did average in biology-related subjects but in Perl and Python programming, I was rather good. In those days Bio-Perl and Bio-Python were in demand and we were learning all these. Since the bioinformatics syllabus was so vast that in addition to C++, Perl, Python, SQL, Relational Databases, and Data Mining, even Algorithms, Graph Theory, and Machine Learning, all complex mathematics topics were also included the syllabus. It was easier for me to get a chance to learn Machine Learning in depth. Not only that I used to wonder how ML also works differently from other optimization algo. How the same problem can be cracked by using the Neural Network approach, genetic algorithm, and Hidden Markov Model. Many models were created and tested by me and my friends and were presented in dozens of paper presentation seminars across India.
So, that was all history. After that, I passed out from VIT and joined IBM India. People congratulated me saying that you are now a big boss as I have joined the IT giant. But I was happy on one side and clueless on the other. I did not know what my future was now. My life itself has been like a roller coaster ride for the next 15 years where my main focus was a study of finance and other related topics.
The day came and I joined IBM India and I got to know that I’m allocated training in testing competency. After training, I was asked to join a project on manual testing. I was excited but again I was clueless as to what was next? And after 1 week of work on my 1st testing project, literally, in the meeting with my onsite boss, I started crying that I don’t like my job and I want to get out of the project. An hour later, my manager and a couple of more seniors surrounded me on a phone call, and being physically present, taught me that these works are done by every day by all and I’m no exception. Even if I get a different role, all work and tasks gonna be the same way. And I like an innocent baby heard that all peacefully and started on my work. Even though I did not like testing, I continued it in a disciplined way throughout the year and got a bravo award from the client at the year-end. They appreciated my efforts recalling my revolt on the first week, however, was a feel-good factor.
There are many interesting stories from my job roles in different companies. And my life changed a lot when I joined my last company MBB Labs. I was recruited for the Data Science team as a Lead Test Engineer. But my knowledge of data science was all practical like I studied in VIT, so I was expected to work as a QA engineer but I was excited to work or a least understand the entire project from a data scientist perspective. This led to lots of misunderstandings with seniors and I had to switch projects several times. Let’s end this topic here as I want to celebrate positive takeaways only. What I did not see practically while working on HMM modes, Neural Networks, PCA, K-Means Clustering, etc. in college VIT Vellore, I learned in MBB Labs like extracting data from different sources, like weblogs, DB tables, transaction logs, etc. Imputing missing values, data cleaning, and then practically applying clean, ordered, and the right set of data to machine learning and building models. In the process, my entire knowledge of CFA and Applied Finance was perfectly utilized. I was almost pacified that my college days of learning are now actually getting utilized. I was even awarded and rewarded for my resilience and work.
Today, after 15 years of my job with 5 years in Testing and 10 years of BA (Finance) experience, I thought that I should be teaching people. I am a great fan of the stock market and option trading strategy is my favorite weapon. I have personally made good fortunes on events like elections, budgets, special announcements on bank rates, etc. I’m not a good programmer but I know python very well, I know data science algorithms (certified by Columbia University on Machine Learning) in good length. But the best thing that I wanted to say is that my own 1st Batch of Data Science is going to complete very soon. Two more batches are in a row. It’s immense pleasure to me that what I could not become i.e. a Data Scientist, my training has started taking good shape, and it help the data scientists of tomorrow. Hope my enthusiasm for training will continue to be the same and I will prove my data science training to be efficient and more efficient with time.
Prabhat Kumar
#DataScience #Testing
