9/10/2021
This will be a quick and informal update. These are some of the things that I’m working on right now.
- Started the first online course on Google Cloud’s Data Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer learning path. This course is a self-paced online course offer by Coursera called Google Cloud Big Data and Machine Learning Fundamentals. My goal is to finish the course next week, the whole track before Thanksgiving, and then take the Professional Machine Learning Engineer certification exam before Christmas break of this year. (I’m treating this as essentially another class this semester). Again, I don’t think online certifications are worth anything, but testing yourself with an exam is a good way to force yourself to study and recall the material.
- I’m still applying to jobs on Handshake, LinkedIn, and company websites every week (graduating in December 2021 and looking for full-time jobs). I have been noticing a lot more Data Engineering jobs than Data Science (and a lot more Software Engineer than both combined). I might write up what I’m seeing in the job market sometime.
- Still getting used to working on this website. I added a few posts on personal projects this week. I’m trying to follow the advice in Show your Work by Austin Kleon and treating the blog as an appendix to my resume where I can highlight how I work and think about problems in more detail than my resume. I’m still in the early iterations of this website but I hope potential employers or other students find this useful.
- I’m pursuing my Master’s Degree in Data Science so I had class and homework this week just like every other week. Monday was a holiday, so that gave me more time to work on content for this website.
Stephen Gass 