Rob Hipps, Data Scientist
Rob Hipps, Data Analyst at 3M, came by data science organically. With a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, he was already in the territory, but he felt drawn deeper into the data he was encountering.
I would see a data set and provide answers to the questions that were being posed. I found myself wanting to dive a bit deeper into the data, and I wanted to learn skills that would allow me to do that.
Hipps’s learning story is an interesting one. He took a hybrid approach to learning data science. First, he was enrolled in a Master’s degree program for data science, but he discovered holes in what he was learning. His program focused heavily on learning R, but he wanted to also learn Python, and he wanted to learn it hands-on, which is how he discovered Dataquest.
For me, I need to be able to be interact with the data in a hands-on way, and Dataquest offers this style of learning. After about an hour or two I signed up for a premium membership.
Learning with Dataquest
Hipps credits Dataquest with helping him learn how to take a project from start to finish, as well as how to solve real-world data problems. He found the Dataquest platform particularly appealing because of its self-determining nature. Unlike a Master’s degree program, Dataquest allows you to pick and choose when and what you learn. Traditional degree programs often require you to advance through a prescribed process, one module or unit at a time, even if your interest lies elsewhere.
What makes Dataquest unique is the ability to choose what you want to learn and when, opposed to having hard deadlines on material that is catered to a larger audience.
A New Career
Having used his hybrid approach to learn data science, Hipps secured an internship at Verisk Analytics and then went on to get a job with 3M Health Information Systems. He describes the long interview process as heavily focused on SQL and data analytics tools, like R and Python. His time with Dataquest and Verisk helped him gather the specific experience he needed to advance to his role today, and he has a few words of advice for anyone still on their data learning journey . . .
I think people make the assumption that programming is too difficult for them to learn. Programming is like anything else, if you put in the time you will see results. I would challenge anyone who thinks programming is beyond them to try Dataquest.
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