Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
My 3 Major Career Pivots in Data Science
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I’ve made three major career pivots in data science. None of them involved climbing a ladder. I thought academia was going to be my forever job. I imagined being in a university until the day I retired - possibly until I died, because academics last forever. Then I got to the end of my PhD and realised: I don’t actually want to spend the rest of my life in school. So, I made my first career pivot - from academic to insurance pricing manager. A few years later, I heard about this exciting new thing called data science. Instead of leaving my job to chase it, I convinced my boss to expand my team’s remit. We became the actuarial and data science team. That was my second pivot. Then COVID hit. I had time to rethink everything. I realised if I kept doing what I was doing, it was going to become Groundhog Day. So, I made my third pivot - leaving corporate to start my own data consultancy. Each pivot taught me something new about creating value as a data professional. And the biggest lesson of all? You’re not stuck following the one career path. You can pivot, experiment, and build on what you’ve already learned. I unpacked all of this (and more) in my recent conversation on the unDubbed podcast with hosts Sarah Burnett and Fi Crocker. This approach transformed my career. It might transform yours, too. Talk again soon, Dr Genevieve Hayes |
Data Science Impact Algorithm
Twice weekly, I share proven strategies to help data scientists get noticed, promoted, and valued. No theory — just practical steps to transform your technical expertise into business impact and the freedom to call your own shots.
When I was 9, I didn’t want to be a data scientist. I wanted to be a radio host. My favourite “game” involved recording episodes of my radio show using an old cassette recorder and blank audio tapes. I would bring on my family and stuffed animals for interviews, then cut to my favourite songs - sometimes sung (badly) by me. So, when I launched Value Driven Data Science three years ago, I saw it as a great way to learn from data scientists I admired, while living out my childhood dream. What I...
“So this is Christmas and what have you done?” - John Lennon It’s that time of year again. The time when work grinds to a halt and everyone tells themselves they’ll “figure it out in the new year.” Then January hits. Nothing changes. Before you know it, another year’s over and you’re scratching your head, wondering how you got so little done. It’s not that you can’t achieve big things in a year. It’s that most people never actually start. Maybe you’ve spent years building technical skills and...
If you think the best use of LLMs in data science is coding, then you’re missing some of the most powerful opportunities. Late last year, I had an important conversation coming up with a key stakeholder who I’d known for years. And when I say important, I mean the sort of conversation that could make or break a career. Let’s just say that this person had a very particular way of responding to situations, and I knew from experience that if I made one false step, the conversation could go...