Discover the 15-year career journey filled with courage and adventure of Subramanian Ayyappan!
From mechanical engineering to being a Finance Analyst to being a Process Associate and growing to the level of Lead Reporting Analyst in 15 years is now a Procurement Associate Manager in the data analytics space at DXC.
In the 3rd year of his mechanical engineering, Subramanian realised that engineering was not what he was looking for as a career, and it was not his cup of tea! He always liked number crunching, the stock market.... basically anything to do with pure numbers, so after graduating, he went ahead and did an MBA in finance.
After the 2008 global financial crisis that took away many jobs, Subramanian became a finance analyst at Oracle. Here, the pay was a mere 12k, so he had to look out for other job roles where he could use the knowledge he gained from his mechanical engineering and MBA finance.
He finally found a role at TCS with the exact job requirement and joined as a process associate.
Why did he consider a career change?
Subramanian was quite happy with his job thinking that he would be settled for a long time because TCS is known for job security.
One day, the project he was working on was nullified, and he was suddenly let go. Though Subramanian was a senior resource on that project, they removed him, leaving him feeling very puzzled and anxious. So, he was on the bench for almost 3 months, and during this time, he tried to attend different interviews to work on the internal projects, but he could not clear most of them.
It was a big wake-up call because I could not even crack the interview for internal projects. I got very scared. Though I got a project in 3rd month, the fear of it getting shut down again and me not being able to work on anything else grew big daily.
How did he consider data science and OdinSchool?
It got very clear to Subramanian that unless he upskilled himself, he wouldn't be able to survive for long. So, he started exploring various career options that are always in demand. He soon came across data science that is powering the biggest businesses in the world and is used by each of them to develop algorithms to increase customer happiness and boost revenue.
So, Subramanian started learning data science through various free resources on the internet. Soon he noticed that he could not dig deep in any subject with the help of free resources. And the more he researched, the more he realized he needed a structured curriculum to study data science correctly.
He wanted to join a data science course that could help him with placements. As he already had 15 years of work experience, he had to find a suitable job, but his first criterion for joining was the industry-relevant curriculum. He also wanted a budget-friendly course, unlike most courses in the market with lakhs of tuition fees.
Finally, he joined OdinSchool's data science course which met all his requirements. As per Subramanian, the best feature of the course is that it gets regularly updated as per the industry requirements.
They also have OdinTalks that proved very useful for me, where industry experts talk. From the beginning of the course, they also train you on soft skills, storytelling, and behavioural skills. Have mock interviews and help you to fine-tune your online professional profiles like LinkedIn, Kaggle etc.
OdinSchool believes in project-based learning, so along with the regular hands-on assignments, they also have workshops with real-world projects and hackathons.
Subramanian recollects
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Though I have 10 years of experience, I'm a fresher in data science. Hence, to distinguish myself, I applied my knowledge to the various projects I have done in the past. Here are different data science projects for beginners and advanced you might want to consider for your portfolio.
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Recruiters always try to understand the thought process behind your solution.
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Your education/career background is never the criteria to enter the data science field because only skills matter, and by joining the right data science course, one can easily gain the right exposure. Here are some inspiring success stories.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Am I eligible for data science?
If you have a genuine passion for data and numbers and are willing to dedicate yourself, your educational and career background should never be a barrier to entering the field of data science. The only thing that truly matters is possessing the relevant skills in data science.
How to prepare for a data science interview?
Below are the key steps, but look at this questionnaire, which has a detailed breakdown of different data science questions.
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Do background research for the company.
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Review the job posting.
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Study their competitors.
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Check the company's values and culture.
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Find out the company's recent achievements.
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Research your interviewer if possible.
