SDS 400: Think Bigger

(00:15):
Welcome back to the SuperDataScience Podcast everybody, super pumped to have you here for this anniversary episode number 400. And of course, congratulations. And thank you. Thank you, whether it’s your first episode with us, whether it’s your 50th, 100th, 400th episode, super pumped to have you on the show. It is possible because of you, because you listen to this, that’s why we do it, that’s why we bring you amazing guests that are super always, super pumped to share their stories and to provide their insights and tips. So thank you so much for being here. 

(00:51):
And for today’s episode, I wanted to share the same message that I shared at DataScienceGO Virtual, our virtual conference which happened in June this year, and that is because I think this message is simply just important. And the message is for all of us to think about the purpose why we’re doing what we’re doing, specifically, why are you learning data science? Why are you doing data science? Why have you chosen data science as a profession? 

(01:19):
And of course, there are probably reasons such as that you love data, you’re passionate about it, you love your industry, you love the work that you’re doing, you see a future, you’re excited about it. And those are all amazing, fantastic reasons, but I would like another one, and that reason is in the future in order for us all to enjoy a wonderful, joyful, cheerful world, we’re going to all have to chip in. And if you have data skills, if you have the power of data science on your side, you will have leverage to make an even greater impact on the world. 

(01:52):
And why do we need to make an impact? Well, as you’ve seen just from this year, there are tons of challenges and some of them are new challenges that we’re facing, we’re going to be facing as the world together. For instance, at the start of the year, we had Australia burning 46 million acres of land were burning, one billion animals have been estimated to have died. The territory that was in total burning was the size of England and Wales combined, approximately. So that gives you a perspective of how great. Also there were fires in California at the end of the previous year, we also are seeing the pandemic, COVID is not the first, not the last, with 26 million cases right now. We’re still learning how to deal with it, we’ll have to learn how to deal with more of these pandemics, which are predicted to occur in the future. There are other challenges, for instance, we’ve talked out pandemics, food and water security, global warming, ethics and biotechnology, irreducible uncertainty of AI, inequality, social media addiction, loneliness, and depression. 

(02:55):
Those are just some of the challenges we’re going to be facing the next couple of decades, and we need to do something about them. And as mentioned, if you have the power of data science on your side, you will be able to have a massive impact on these areas. Just one of the examples we had on the podcast on Episode 367, Sam Hinton, who is one of us who was just a podcast guest a year prior to that, and we got to know him. He’s just another one of us, a data scientist, and now he is helping the COVID critical care consortium to build the data pipelines. So it might be you, you might be the next person that’s called upon to help in one of these global challenges with your data skills. So when you’re learning data science, my call to you is when you’re learning data science, when you’re applying it at your job, don’t just think about the industry, the project that you’re doing, the company that you’re working for, the problem that you’re solving, think bigger. 

(04:03):
Think how can you apply these skills one day to help the world become a better place, because you never know, this might come, and moreover, if you seek out these opportunities, if you take the next step and you volunteer in different places and you try to help where you can, you will expedite and increase the chances of this actually happening and you helping the world. So in the coming years when you’re learning data science, think bigger, how can you help the world? And even if you don’t find an answer to that right away, just remember that the reason why are you learning this is not just to propel your career, which is of course an important reason, it’s not just to help your company or industry and learn new things and experience exciting challenges, but it’s also to be ready one day if the time comes and it is necessary to apply your skills to solve one of these global challenges that we will be facing, because they are going to be solved with technology and the power behind technology is data. 

(05:12):
All technology uses data, and so it’s going to be us data scientists who are going to be helping the world in a extremely powerful way to solve these problems. So with that note, I’ll leave you with that, keep that in mind and we’ll be bringing amazing guests to inspire you and to help you find new ways to progress your career, maybe one day you’ll be solving the next global challenge. Thank you very much for being here, remember to think bigger and I’ll see you next time. Until then, happy analyzing.