How to build a data science team 20115.03.13v6
- 1. Teralytics Pte. Ltd. 261 Waterloo Street #02-24 Singapore 180261 23.03.2015 Phone E-Mail Web +65 9873 7882 [email protected] www.teralytics.net How to build a data science team Confidential Jardine OneSolution Big Data Seminar, 13th March 2015, Hong Kong
- 2. 223.03.2015How to build a data science team Teralytics provides insights on human behaviour on a global scale in real-time 350 Million behavior profiles tracked globally every day 180 Billion events processed in real- time every day covering location, demographics, web traffic etc.Offices in New York, Zurich and Singapore with clients across four continents
- 3. 323.03.2015How to build a data science team Video
- 4. 423.03.2015How to build a data science team 5 Answering questions from businesses and governments • What is the mean and median distance residents take to travel from home to work? • How many people pass through the streets of Berlin and where do we place our ads to reach our target segments most effectively? • Which malls in Singapore have the highest number of visits from wealthy female shoppers between the ages of 25 and 35?
- 5. 523.03.2015How to build a data science team We need to form a data science team as we ship data products Data Sources Human behavior data obtained from location, consumption and financial data Powerful Analytics Anonymization, aggregation and analytics based on state-of-the-art algorithms in a secure environment Data-as-a-Service Real-time and historic view of actionable insights presented on a beautiful web dashboard Financial Data Payment Processors, Credit Cards, POS Consumption Data Browsing Activity, TV, Loyalty Cards, CRM Data Location Data Mobile Network, WiFi, GPS What we build
- 6. 623.03.2015How to build a data science team This is what our customers buy and use
- 7. 723.03.2015How to build a data science team Data science team in Singapore builds one of the three products that is deployed globally Singapore
- 8. 823.03.2015How to build a data science team Is anyone in the room looking to build a data science team? Data Tools Data Scientists Harvard Business Review: Data scientist: the sexiest job of the 21st Century.
- 9. 923.03.2015How to build a data science team Don’t hunt for the unicorn! Maths & Statistics • Machine learning • Statistical modelling • Experiment design • Bayesian interference • Supervised learning: decisions trees, random forest, logistic regression • Unsupervised learning: clustering, dimensionality reduction • … Domain Knowledge & Soft Skills • Passionate about business • Curious about data • Influence over authority • Hacker mindset • Problem solver • Strategic, proactive, creative, innovative and collaborative Programming & Database • Computer science fundamentals • Scripting language e.g. Python • Statistical computing package e.g. R • Database SQL and NoSQL • Relational algebra • Parallel databases and parallel query processing • MapReduce concepts • … Communication & Visualization • Able to engage with senior management • Story telling skills • Translate data-driven insights into decisions and actions • Visual art design • …
- 10. 1023.03.2015How to build a data science team Build a team!
- 11. 1123.03.2015How to build a data science team Build a team with different, overlapping skills ModellingSoftware Engineering Data engineering / DevOps Two other skills missing here: • Business analysis (taken care by the business team) • Visualization (taken care by visualization team) New York Times: For Big-Data Scientists, 'Janitor Work' is key hurdle to insights Tech lead 1 1 1 2
- 12. 1223.03.2015How to build a data science team Building the team How to find them? How to evaluate them? How to get them to join you? How to get them to work together as a team?
- 13. 1323.03.2015How to build a data science team How do we find them? Headhunter was the most effective • Worked with six different headhunting companies (no more BI folks please!) • One company placed four out of six of the team members Schools Job portals Head hunters
- 14. 1423.03.2015How to build a data science team Profile of the data science team in Singapore: no single reservoir which you could recruit from Nationalities Education Previous employers
- 15. 1523.03.2015How to build a data science team How do we evaluate them? 5 stages of interview First interview Take-home test Technical interview Co- working day Reference check • Requires 12 man-hours in total from us • Getting the team involved helps in integration of new hires Two key benefits for candidates: • They get to understand the work that they will be doing • They get to interact with the colleagues they will be working with
- 16. 1623.03.2015How to build a data science team How do we convince them to join you? Money is not everything • No need to be high • Pay sufficiently so it is not a talking point Money? Team? Adventure? • A-players like to work with A-players • Learn different area of expertise from other team members • Have access to a lot of data / many different forms of data • Work on interesting and practical problems
- 17. 1723.03.2015How to build a data science team How do you get them to work together as team? Burn them in through a delivery • Clear goal and hard deadline • Burn them in • Deliver quick wins for the company Give them a project Co-locate, co- work and communicate • Sit them in the same location • Get the modellers to do some of the work of the software engineers / data engineers • Get the modellers to talk about their models in team presentations
- 18. 1823.03.2015How to build a data science team How long does it take to build the team? It’s possible to ship a product and build the team at the same time Product development Hiring Mar 2014 Jun 2014 Sep 2014 Oct 2014 Nov 2014 Dec 2014 1st data scientist hired 2nd data scientist (tech lead) hired 3rd 4th 5th 6th data scientist hired Start development of v1.0 of product Shipped v1.0 of product
- 19. 1923.03.2015How to build a data science team N = 1 This is my experience and I have only built one data science team
- 20. 2023.03.2015How to build a data science team Thank you! Lin Zhihao Head of Asia Email: [email protected] Tel: +65 (0) 9873 7882