How Kyle Stewart Went from Industrial Automation to Data Science at SpaceX

Kyle Stewart, Data Scientist

For the first four years of his career, Kyle Stewart worked as a product manager in industrial automation. “I was working for a fortune 500 company. I managed products that helped industrial processes, like at an oil refinery.”

He wanted to move into the more dynamic tech industry. “In industrial product management it’s difficult to make changes. The tools we make are expensive, so it’s not practical to make changes once they’re built. Software is at the other end of the spectrum, it’s much more exciting.

Kyle had heard of data science but didn’t have a full understanding of the industry. But that all changed while on vacation in Japan.

Kyle visited the Miraikan museum, dedicated to emerging science and innovation. “They had a whole section of the museum dedicated to data science.

“As soon as I entered the room sensors started capturing data about me. When I approached the stations, they would share data about me, for instance how many steps I had taken. It was amazing and it showed me the power of data.”

Before he left Japan, Kyle had decided he wanted to learn data science.

Learning with Dataquest

I knew nothing before I started Dataquest. It was my big intro into this complex world.

Returning home, he tried a few online courses on Udemy. “I was learning with video lectures, but it wasn’t working. I realized that when watching video it seems like you’re learning, but in reality you’re only being entertained. I found that you only learn through doing.”

When Kyle found Dataquest, he knew he’d found a better approach. “The layout is clean which makes it easy to learn, and the interactive coding meant I learned by doing.

Dataquest’s career-focused learning paths gave Kyle confidence. “They gave me an overview of learning; I didn’t need to worry about missing skills. Dataquest helped me learn without being overwhelmed.”

A New Career

After about six months of studying, Kyle started applying for jobs. He landed an interview at aerospace company SpaceX.

In his first interview, he realized he was going to improve his SQL skills. “Dataquest was great here. It was easy to pivot to a new topic – I went straight to the SQL modules to prepare.”

His hard work paid off, and Kyle is now a Business Systems Analyst at SpaceX.

“It’s such an exciting company. It will help me start to gain the knowledge I need to move into tech product management.”

“I knew nothing before I started Dataquest. It was my big intro into this complex world. Dataquest changed my career.”