How do I break into data science without a relevant degree, experience?

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I’ve done dozens of interviews and ZERO people do this. As someone who might not have a traditional math, statistics background, this is the single best strategy to break into data science. 

If you’re looking for advice on learning technical skills, read my Quora post. 

In 2019, there are dozens of masters programs sprouting up at major universities like MIT, Berkeley etc. Although the technical skills are important, you won’t be able to compete directly with PhD’s in math. 

You’ll need to use the briefcase technique. And this is how it works: 

1.Informational Interview: Before applying for a company, you’ll need to discover your target company’s pain-points. There are multiple ways to do this: 

  • Conduct an informational interview

  • Use the product and find areas of improvement 

  • Read forums, comments from users on areas of improvement

The most informative will be conducting an informational interview. Conducting informational interviews deserves a separate post. For now, I’d recommend this post. When conducting the interview, the most important question you can ask is what are your biggest challenges? 

This will give us ammunition to WOW the hiring manager later on. 

2. Briefcase/Pre-Interview Project - Once you have the pain-points, spend 3 to 5 hours researching this problem. Then you’ll package this research into a doc or slide deck to send to the hiring manager. Document should contain: 

  • Pain-Points

  • Project Ideas

  • Resource Requirements

  • Time estimated

  • Prioritization 

When you send this to the hiring manager, do this tactfully. DO NOT expect anything in return. Although you’ve spent time thinking about their problems, they do not owe you anything.