Alumni Spotlight: Sofía Wang, Business Intelligence Analyst at The Trade Desk
The skills I demoed here can be learned through taking Data Science with Machine Learning bootcamp with NYC Data Science Academy.
Sofía recently landed a Business Intelligence Analyst job at The Trade Desk. Before her wonderful career at NYC Data Science Academy, she worked at AIG for 5 years, Sofia wanted to get more into the insights and communicate with stakeholders. She decided to join the bootcamp as she loved the curriculum and believed in what was the best for her. The program offers a range of data science tools to apply in real-world situations as well as preparing her for interviewing skills to become a data scientist.
Can you fill us in on your education and your career background?
I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Santa Clara University, and I worked for a few startups, mostly in technical roles as Product QA Analyst and Web Developer, and I eventually worked as a Data Analyst at AIG for 5 years. Now, I have moved up to The Trade Desk as a Business Intelligence Analyst.
Tell us about your new job? What's your specific responsibility?
I started a few weeks ago, at the end of March. The Trade Desk is a digital advertising platform, and our role is to study the consumers’ behavior. Our job is to know what and how many ads we should display the customers to not overwhelm them. As well as what are the most efficient channels. We perform a lot of data analysis, predictive modeling and machine learning to capture the patterns of the user behavior. For now, I am working on the consumer insight part, but hopefully, I will dig into predictive modeling soon.
Are you happy with your new career you just landed?
Yes, I am very happy. In my previous jobs, I was able to draw on all the technical coding parts that I had learned before. But in order to grow, I wanted to get more into the insight generation and communication with stakeholders, which is why I needed the course of study offered by the NYCDSA.
Why did you choose the NYCDSA as your stepping stone?
I wanted to learn more about Data Science. I began looking for a school by entering the tearch term “Best Bootcamps in New York” with the Reviews on Google. I found out that the NYCDSA had the curriculum that fitted the best in my case. The NYC Data Science Academy also had many good reviews, so it appeared to be a smart choice..
After studying the curriculum, what's your feeling about it?
The curriculum is very solid. They went through all the components of Data Science and all the technical skills. The projects are the part of the curriculum I loved the most. They give you hands-on experience on how to apply all the concepts that you learn.
How did you decide your topic for your projects while in the bootcamp?
For the R Shiny project, I picked on having a dashboard to see how ETF are performing. I picked that because at the time I was trying to learn ETF andI thought, “why not have a friendly dashboard for my use?”I was very happy with the results, and I am still using it.
The Python Web Scraping project applied web scraping to news, to connect with ETF and see how events can affect the prices of the ETF.
For the Capstone project, which was my favorite, I predicted the probability of each person defaulting on their auto loan. I applied my data engineering skills, so I implemented the AWS hosting model there, as well as all the machine learning concepts I learned in school. I used mainly Xboost, ROC curve and all of that.
How did you balance work and study? How many hours did you put on your study?
I took a 6-months program, but I overlapped a little bit. I had a lot of work, and, fortunately, the bootcamp allowed me to extend it a little bit more. I decided to put in 20 hours a week. However, I dedicated extra time to get more from the bootcamp. I put in 3 hours a day and even more on the weekends. I was determined to review all the concepts I didn’t understand and read through alternative materials. It was challenging, and I practiced a lot. Practice is the key to really absorb what you learned.
How did you find your job searching experience after the bootcamp?
My job searching experience was quite smooth and very fruitful. It has been five years since the last interview, so I was very nervous abou t it. I went for the mock interviews with every mentor, and they gave insights into what a manager is looking for. They not only explained what to talk about on the interview but also how use body lanaugage and tone to show interest and confidence. It was very helpful. I actually landed five offers thanks to them!
Why did you decide to take the job offer at The Trade Desk?
I was very impressed with the culture. I also am excited to work in digital advertising because it is a growing industry. Each person that I interviewed with at the company gave me a good feeling about working there. The salary offer was very attractive, too.
What advice would you give to future students who are considering taking the online bootcamp at the NYC Data Science Academy? And how can they get the most out of it?
Balance between work and study is challenging but possible. Do pay attention to every single thing they give you because the bootcamp contains extensive expertise of data science condensed in a few months. Practice but have fun with it and try to apply all the concepts to your personal challenges, for example, what do you want to solve or what do you want to learn about, use it in your projects.
Did you find the tuition worth the value?
Yes it is a good return on investment. Keep doing whatever you're doing! It was great and I hope we can all keep in touch.
Do you want to change to a career in Data Science like Sofia Wang? Check out our Immersive Data Science bootcamp, Remote Part-Time Bootcamp and Remote Intensive Bootcamp. To read our student reviews and alumni testimonials, check out NYCDSA's profile on SwitchUp.
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