1/4/24, 12:11 PM Pure Math PhD looking to transition into ML /Data Science industry. I'm looking for suggestions.

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r/datascience • 6 yr. ago

TheRedSphinx

Pure Math PhD looking to transition into ML /Data Science industry. I'm looking for
suggestions. [x-post from r/MLjobs]
Career
Hey all,

I'm a 5th year pure math phd in Probability graduating in June. I decided (somewhat late) that academia is not
for me, and I want to pursue jobs industry.

I've worked through about 50% of ESL (Chapters 1,2,3,4,7,9,10,15,16 with a bunch of the exercises done as
well), as well as gotten comfortable with Python and its libraries (Pandas, Scikit-learn,NumPy, etc.). My
experience with SQL has been limited to things like SQLZoo and the likes. I'm quite comfortable with the usual
data structure/algo questions, and I would probably I'm at a Leetcode-Medium level, if that means anything.

Ideally, I'd like a more research-based job (since I figured I'm more adept to that), but really just looking for a
job that allows me to learn more. What can I do improve my resume and excel in this field? How do I get
companies to give me a chance?

Should I try to participate in Kaggle competitions until I get better than top 10%? I've played with their data
sets but haven't competed yet. Between writing my thesis and learning, not sure how much time I can spend to
do really well on a kaggle competition.

Should I type up solutions to ESL? I've LaTeX'd solutions to a good chunk of problems from chapters 2 and 3,
and I could be compelled to do the same for the others, though not sure employers would care about this.

A lot of the interesting jobs (e.g. Spotify) seem to only want machine learning phds published in prestigious ML
journal. Would the fact that I published in top math journals be an acceptable substitute? (probably not, but a
man can wish! )

Thanks a lot!

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mhwalker • 6 yr. ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/datascience/comments/7s2pus/pure_math_phd_looking_to_transition_into_ml_data/ 1/5
1/4/24, 12:11 PM Pure Math PhD looking to transition into ML /Data Science industry. I'm looking for suggestions. [x-post from r/MLjobs] : r/data…

I'd guess that most companies, including mine, would give you a look. Top math journals should be a fine
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substitute. In addition to ML jobs, there are a lot of optimization jobs, which conventional wisdom
suggests pure math folks are a little better suited for.

The main things to do in my view would be to polish up that resume and practice interview questions. I
don't see any value in typing solutions to ESL and not much to Kaggle.

What's the likelihood you won't finish by June? An option is to get an internship over summer, and the
prior experience would be really helpful in applying later. I only ask because I know a lot of math PhDs
whose graduation dates moved forward in time in some cases faster than time itself. If it's a possibility,
you need to get your posterior in gear, because internship application season are wrapping up.

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horizons190 • 6 yr. ago

This sounds like me several years ago :) though your publications are likely better. Also, having stalked
your post history, I went to your school's probability conference for a couple of years, and really liked
meeting Elton - he was an excellent host!

Having worked through so much ESL and being comfortable with Python/Numpy, you're certainly well
suited for a general Data Scientist (or similar) job. I do believe it's harder to start in a ML research field,
since at any rate they are looking for ML publications (generally computer science PhD).

My own game plan for ML/AI, if I do transition (playing by ear), is to build up my credentials through
working in industry + finishing ESL. Like others suggested, that's probably a better idea, and also gets you
industry experience. Plus, you have a job while you transition your research expertise from pure math to
ML.

I actually typed up ESL solutions to all of chapters 2 and 3, but never got around to throwing them on
GitHub (laziness). I don't think it's that helpful, but doing the problems was for me. If you read the
Waxworks solutions, I particularly liked noticing the ones he got wrong!

Good luck! PM if you'd like to chat more.

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DRMentat • 6 yr. ago

In my experience Data Science isn’t a field or job. It’s more like applying Data Science skills to an industry.
Getting paid to research Data Science for the sake of Data Science seems highly unlikely. For the most
part people I know who are Data Scientists (including me), started with jobs specialized in a specific
industry. The high level ML/AI applications you might be interested in being involved with are hard to
come by unless you have proven yourself (which means you’re DS work has been tied to $). If you can’t
relate to the low level SQL Data analyst that makes $50k a year, then you’re probably not ready. This is
only my opinion and my experience, but others may say differently. Hope this helps. Also I have a BS in
Mathematics, Physics, and a Masters in Applied Mathematics. Never made it to the PHD level

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AlexCoventry • 6 yr. ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/datascience/comments/7s2pus/pure_math_phd_looking_to_transition_into_ml_data/ 2/5
1/4/24, 12:11 PM Pure Math PhD looking to transition into ML /Data Science industry. I'm looking for suggestions. [x-post from r/MLjobs] : r/data…

Where are you located? If you're in the right area, going to meetups can be very productive. If you
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present well, presenting at a meetup can help a lot, too. Log In

Frankly, though, I think people are going to be beating down your door, and you probably don't have to
do more than continue developing your skills.

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bharathbunny • 6 yr. ago

You already have the math background, you should start applying for Machine Learning Engineer jobs.
Pharma and Biotech companies would be a good fit for someone like you. Also satellite imaging
companies are always looking for people to help design algorithms.

Should I type up solutions to ESL? I've LaTeX'd solutions to a good chunk of problems from
chapters 2 and 3, and I could be compelled to do the same for the others, though not sure
employers would care about this.

They might look good on you repositories, but employers might not care as much. Also, health systems
and insurance companies are always hiring data scientists with research experience in probability.

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medhockey • 6 yr. ago

OpenAI fellowship could be a good option: https://jobs.lever.co/openai/54ddfefe-6483-4bba-a828-

11a156eae7eb

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[deleted] • 6 yr. ago

We have a job opening here. Just apply and see what happens. You would likely have to move to get
starting experience, but after 3-5 years you would have enough experience to go anywhere.

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Screye • 6 yr. ago

You might want to look into residency programs. All the big ML companies have those, they pay decently
well and will give you the necessary background in ML for a top tier ML/AI job.

The programs often mention that they are looking for high accomplished people from related fields.

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WeoDude • 6 yr. ago

You will be competitive at any company you apply for given you learn some industry tools. Try and go to
some meetups if you can. My suggestion is trying to contact some people at the companies you want to
work for, with guise that you are looking to transition from academia to industry and you need some
guidence.

Competing in kaggle is far and away still the best way to show that you know what you are doing imo.

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1/4/24, 12:11 PM Pure Math PhD looking to transition into ML /Data Science industry. I'm looking for suggestions. [x-post from r/MLjobs] : r/data…

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aelendel • 6 yr. ago

You are approaching Kaggle from the wrong reference frame.

Winning a Kaggle competition adds very little value to your profile, because real-world applications aren't
like Kaggle. The exception to this might be if you were focused on a very specific project and industry--for
instance, winning Zillow's Kaggle competition will get you an interview there.

To win a Kaggle competition, you have to do ensemble modeling--real world applications generally don't
use ensemble modeling. Why? Because the 80% solution that is faster, more robust, and simpler is better
for a production environment.

So, the solution for using Kaggle to help your profile is to not compete. Instead, define your own problem,
and use Kaggle to show you can solve it. Write a tutorial to show how to do something cool. Find a part
of an existing competition entry that can be improved, write your improvement, and document so a non-
technical person can understand it! For instance, I noticed that the georeferencing approach being used
by one contestant was wrong, so I wrote up the correct solution--and then said why it doesn't really
matter for the case that was written up, but would matter if you deployed it at production scale.

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xcitech • 6 yr. ago

Hi, fellow PhD here who transitioned into Data Science. I would advise you to start by applying to
companies where you wouldn't regret getting a reject from. Apply and see where you falter when you
interview. For me, the biggest jump was to look at problems from a non academic point of view, which is
difficult after 5 years in academia. Prepare from DS interview question banks to get a hang of interview
scenarios. You have probably more ML knowledge than you need right now to start cracking at interviews.
So it would be better to focus on other avenues presently, such as building on your interview skills,
networking, building a project portfolio, updating your github, etc. Networking is very important, try and
see if you can make it to few meetups in a large city near you.

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