How did you reach your ~₱300,000/month or more income?

[cyphercat]

@jameskc May I ask what school you entered for Data Science?

 

[jameskc]

@cyphercat One where it's expensive af tho, ~30k USD, I'm just lucky I didn't have to pay anything upfront...

 

[cyphercat]

@jameskc Currently finishing a course on data science before deciding if I want to chase masters for it. Would you suggest working in that industry for a few years before taking up the masters?

 

[jameskc]

@cyphercat This is what bootcamps/moocs won't tell you. Data science is really not an industry in itself (unless you refer to it as a body of research aka academia, pero misnomer pa rin e). It's a set of tools applied in various contexts. Domain agnostic nga ito actually.

Industries are like: healthcare, pharma, telecom, fintech, consultancy etc. Where do you see your expertise moving forward? If wala, honestly, figure it out first before spending money. Di ka rin mag ROI kasi walang mag hhire sayo na company kasi wala kang value creation in a specific role for a specific dept in specific industry. Case in point, I never go for production/"planta" related roles cause I know jack shit in factories and supply chain. But healthcare and sales? My bread and butter my friend

 

[cyphercat]

@jameskc I was looking more into a job that provides analytics to different industries as a start. And true i should really check if I will be able to ROI before getting into it and not just blindly. Thanks for the advice!

 

[jameskc]

@cyphercat Consultancy is the closest but that's not really an entry level thing. Usually dapat sobrang expert ka na in many "fields" and have handled a lot of business cases (see Harvard case method as a starting point).

Otherwise, yun nga, my advice is to pick 1 and go deep rather than wide. Depth over breadth lalo na pag papasok ka pa lang cause breadth is usually at the managerial or senior leadership position na, but that entails a lot of depth first.

Kahit ako di pa considered a senior leader because with 3 years of work exp, kulang pa yung depth compared to my boss na 10 years na ata sa industry I know years of exp is a bad metric cause di naman yan 1:1 with knowledge, but just to illustrate a point na salary is not just always kung gaano kalalim alam mo

 

[rene88]

@jameskc Hi, sorry I was reading your comment and got curious anong meron sa analytics sa factories and supply chain. Can you please share your knowledge re this? Thank you.

 

[jameskc]

@rene88 I literally don't have knowledge of it that's why I'm avoiding that area.....

 

[rene88]

@jameskc Oh, I thought you had a bad experience. Anyway, thank you for replying.

 

[rocky1952]

@cyphercat bump. planning on switching careers

 

[fitopia46]

@jameskc Sarap makarinig ng ganito na isinasama sa success story nila yung luck. I won't discount anyone's efforts, pero aminin man kasi natin o hindi, sobrang laking factor ng swerte. Anw, goodluck pa din sayo and sana lahat tayo can be skilled enough na pag andiyan na yunf swerte, we can take advantage

 

[jameskc]

@fitopia46 Definitely lods. Right timing, knowing the right people, and right industry lang talaga. Kahit na panget pakinggan, the industry I'm in received a huge economic boom because of the pandemic. Tapos pagka balik ko pa sa workforce, wala pang supply for their demands. Napaka niche rin kasi haha. Pero if say, 2 years early or late ako sa timing na ito or I don't know the right people, I'm pretty sure I won't be saying the things I just said above

 

[clothedingrace]

@jameskc How much was the MS more of a resume padder to get the job vs actually using concepts na makukuha mo lang in the course? Mixed reviews from people in the DS field on pursuing higher studies

 

[jameskc]

@clothedingrace Very tough one to answer without delving into work specifics. But my MS isn't the traditional academic MS eh, from a business school ito so almost 50:50 business and technicals siya.

My answer will most likely be applicable lang for graduates of a business school, but to answer the question, I am using a lot. It wasn't a resume padder at all. More than half of my battle is getting the buy in, setting expectations with stakeholders, differentiating what they need from what they are saying they want, etc. THEN saka pa lang papasok yung technicals. Leaders know this and that's what they look for kasi sila rin nga wala masyado alam in setting up a DS team from the ground up.

When you say higher studies kasi, people are expecting the fancy sht the same way things are handled in Meta/Google/Amazon/Netflix/AirBnB etc pero di naman lahat ng companies as big as then. Case of too specialized vs generalists ang kadalasang usapan dito per company and recognizing which is which, kasi most of the time di rin nila alam ano gusto/kelangan nila, is the key to successfully get the jobs. (Not to shit on MOOCs and bootcamps but this is what they don't teach you there tbh)

 

[clothedingrace]

@jameskc Good point. Higher studies for MAANG yata usually pang mga Ivy league school advanced statistics na hanap eh, and cost of education is far more expensive there hence the argument for it not being worth it siguro.

Last question, did you study full time?

 

[jameskc]

@clothedingrace Yes to both the observation and the question. It was a risk that paid off big time tho, I quadrupled my salary from before and tripled my net worth 1 year after graduating

 

[clothedingrace]

@jameskc Inspiring! Pwede na speaker sa AIM events.

 

[jameskc]

@clothedingrace Nah HAHA I am but a child to those who achieved more and have more but thanks and good luck!!

 

[jesusrwaldron]

@hope088 Madali lang to i-achieve if nag VA ka too many opportunities out there, pero kung regular office job ka lang dito sa atin don't expect na marereach ganyan na monthly salary.

 

[doomtree]

@jesusrwaldron how do you find va jobs po? super newbie at this stuff currently an undergrad whos working in a small time business habang nag aaral really interestedi in this va stuff.