Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Data science and AI

Data science is an engaging profession which is becoming even more accessible as a career as technology options and business adoption evolves. As a specialized expertise with innovation at its core, it is easy to get excited by the different types of analysis and output a data science team generates. The impact on businesses and citizens is immediate both in identifying opportunities and efficiencies, and reducing risk.

The COVID pandemic has rapidly advanced the data science field and the career possibilities. Throughout COVID, the general public – including our organization, our members, and clients of CGI – have leaned on data for answers to the tough questions that have an immediate impact on health and safety: How will the transportation industry support citizen movement while maintaining social distancing? How will citizens stay up-to-date on changing rules and remain safe and healthy? How will they understand the reasoning behind each new regulation, and how to measure the impact of its implementation and adoption/adherence?

In this new world, Artificial Intelligence, or ‘AI’, and machine learning are at the heart of the solutions to address these questions and decision-making. For the data science community, it’s been a fantastic opportunity to highlight the power of gathering insights from data, and to showcase the innovation in our field to the wider public.

It is also notable that citizen expectations for data and data visualization is increasing. With real time analytics now available on smart devices for personal health, finance and shopping decisions, citizen expectations has driven both data literacy and end user adoption.

Career pathways in data science

As a very new and rapidly advancing industry, there is no exclusion or barriers based on gender in data science. It’s a great, wide open career path for women interested in the technical, scientific or business aspects of data collection and analysis.

Some of our most successful new data science recruiting at CGI has been from data informatics and business analytic programs that give a great balance between the business, technical and academics. Having insights into research methods has helped new team members advance in the field very quickly, as data science requires a research lens to ensure there is a good understanding of the science side (such as statistical relevance and bias, or variances in data modeling). This is its main differentiator from typical data analysis.

There are also many different paths you can take to join the data science world. With the development of new technologies, many of these are now less technical and bring data analysis closer to business subject matter expertise.

Our team has evolved to attract members from healthcare, finance and bio-science as well as technology programs, which helps move away from the less gender-balanced enrollment and attendance in Information Technology and Computer Science programs.

The most relevant career paths in our experience are data-focused areas such as health informatics, data architecture, bio-sciences or data analysis. 

Carving a female path

In Canada, the COVID response has been supported by CGI resources across many provinces. What’s more, women have been very visible as leaders of the data-driven science behind Canada’s COVID management.

Canada has very public facing females in our health and COVID response leadership, who have been demonstrating the power of data for decision-making. These wormen include (and are not limited to) PEI’s Public Health Officer Heather Morrison, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam, Dr. Kami Kandola, Chief Public Health Officer for the Northwest Territories, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw, New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell, and British Columbia Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. 

These health leaders are amazing role models for young women in data teams across Canada. Extensive female leadership in the fight against COVID has demonstrated the potential for advancement in this field that has largely been reliant on data for the past year.

 My personal journey with data science and CGI

 I have personally had amazing opportunities as a data scientist at CGI. One that stands out has been the opportunity to build up the Analytics and Data Science practice in Western Canada. At the time, there was no clear expertise or focus in this area. From minimal resources 5 years ago, we have built the team up to its 50 existing members and are continually expanding due to ongoing demand.

We have delivered some very exciting projects with clients in the Health, Education, Energy and Mines, Utilities and Transportation sectors across Canada. Our whole team has been able to act with the excitement and energy of an innovative start-up, but within the arms and security of a large company and its associated best practice processes.

This combination of new expertise alongside decades of refined and best practice delivery, management and support services at CGI, have resulted in a winning combination and helped us carve out a niche in this space.

As well as leading the CGI data science team, I am a visiting lecturer at Simon Fraser University. I have also presented and collaborated on course material for multiple conferences in health, finance, government and municipal analytics, including contributing and presenting data science course material to UBC Medical School.

Inspiration for emerging data science enthusiasts

To aspiring data scientists, I say follow the path you find interesting and take on what excites you, because your enthusiasm will be contagious.

It’s easy to generate excitement around data science and AI because there’s so much to share and so much interest and engagement with it. The more you talk about the impact of the work, and the innovation, the easier your message will be to convey. If you have a passion for what you are working on and truly enjoy what you are doing, your clients, teams and colleagues will always be more interested in your journey and your support will grow.

It’s important to recognize that there will be tough projects and problems to solve, but every new engagement brings something new to your “skills and tools”. There will always be something to learn and grow from in this field. By working in teams, we enable our teammates to ask questions and receive advice to help continual growth.

Are you keen to explore an exciting career in data science with CGI? Please keep an eye on the careers section on our website where we list all our latest job opportunities.