Building a Data Science Career Against All Odds — with Christina Stathopoulos
With great passion, you can make the impossible happen. No matter all the circumstances surrounding your dream, go for it.
In today’s Lights On Data Show episode, we have a conversation with Christina on building a data science career against all odds. She is a well-known data voice and host of a book a week challenge. She developed her analytics career in Madrid, Spain, and has held a data specialist role at Google for over four years. She is a professor of analytics, guest lecturer, and alongside her corporate work, she is an international conference speaker.
In today’s show, we dive into her data science journey despite having to learn via a second language in Spain, dealing with culture shock, tips for finding the right mentorship, and learning data analytics. Besides, she highlights her drivers to success, the impact of building your communication skills, as well as discovering your area of specialization.
If you’re looking for essential skills to succeed in data science, this episode is for you!
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in:
- [01:13] Christina’s biggest passion for travel
- [04:25] About the book a week challenge
- [06:17] The health benefits of reading
- [09:25] Christina’s story in data science despite all odds being against her
- [10:25] Dealing with culture shock
- [12:02] Tips for learning data analytics
- [14:14] Settling for what to specialize on
- [17:58] Tips to finding mentors
- [21:26] What has made Christina so successful
- [25:47] Building your communication skills
- [31:11] Essential skills to get you successful in data science
- [37:40] Setting up data literacy for a company
- [38:26] What Christina would change if she were to start over
- [40:08] Having your own website to showcase your skills
About Christina Stathopoulos
Christina Stathopoulos is a well-known data voice and host of the #bookaweekchallenge on LinkedIn. Originally from the US, she developed her analytics career completely abroad in Madrid, Spain, and recently relocated to NYC. She has held Data Specialist roles at Google for over 4 years, most recently as an Analytical Lead at Waze. Alongside her corporate work, she is also an Adjunct Professor of Analytics at IE Business School, a guest lecturer at other universities and an international conference speaker.
Resources mentioned
Related Episodes
- Evolutionary Optimization Algorithms: https://anchor.fm/lightsondata/episodes/Evolutionary-Optimization-Algorithms-e1dmt0f
- Natural Language Processing for Documents: https://anchor.fm/lightsondata/episodes/Natural-Language-Processing-for-Documents-e1ass5t
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- Podcast platform: www.anchor.fm/lightsondata
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/lightsondata
- YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/lightsondata
- George on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/georgefirican
- George on Twitter: www.twitter.com/georgefrican
