Women and Data Science - My Pledge
David Langer
The DIY Data Science Guy. Consultant. Educator. I'll teach you Python for free.
Writing this post has taken me far out of my comfort zone. I have done my best to do right by the topic. I also hope those that read this will give me the benefit of the doubt and realize that this content comes from a deeply uncomfortable place that I, and arguably all men in analytics, need to recognize and proactively address.
I am honored that many folks over the years felt that I could help them in their career journeys. In recent years this has primarily focused in the areas of Data Science. Currently I mentor a number of folks on an informal basis - some of which are women. Until today I never gave this much thought - a kind of blindness born of being an American white guy that had many advantages throughout his life.
Today I received an email from a female mentee asking for some assistance regarding data manipulation with R code. As mentioned above, I didn't think much of it. As I enjoy mentoring and teaching, I prioritized responding to this email (hopefully providing some useful and intuitive guidance) and then went about my work. About 30 minutes later I received an email that floored me and took me some hours to process.
As I do not feel comfortable going into the details, I will simply state that the email distilled down to, "Thank you for believing in me. All the messages I've received in my life is that as a woman I shouldn't pursue math, coding, and analytics. With your help I have hope that I can realize my passion for analytics." Again, my particular kind of blindness didn't prepare me for this response. I don't have the words to adequately express how I feel. Therefore, I shall replace action for words.
My pledge is to be blind no more. My pledge is to no longer to be oblivious. This National Women's History Month I pledge to leverage my role as a Data Science instructor and mentor to the fullest extent possible to encourage and support all women in their pursuit of analytics.
This will also take the form of prioritizing the creation of free educational content on my YouTube channel that women will find most helpful in their Data Science journeys. I humbly request interested women to provide suggestions/topics here.
Lastly, I challenge all men in analytics to craft their own version of this pledge - let's not repeat the travesty that we see today in Software Engineering!
Data Science professional, Public Speaker
5 年Your article moved me to tears. I am the only senior data scientist in my team and the messages that I get from my current context people like me do not belong here. It's not explicit but representation makes a difference and the journey is that much harder when you do not have examples. Thanks for this.
Data Scientist
7 年I am so happy this article has saved me writing you on this opportunity of having you as a Mentor in my quest as a Data Scientist. You're sure #1 Data Scientist and best instructor one could ever wish for. Your videos has been so simple, useful and best as a foundation and guide to suceed in this field. Thank you for pledge. Wishing you all the best.
BI Development
7 年I enjoy your tutorial videos however this article reveals you've been watching a little too much CNN. It's 2017. ... enough with this "females need empowerment" bullshit.
Data Scientist proficient in statistical & exploratory data analysis and Machine Learning using Python | MLOps | GenAI | R | SQL | Tableau
7 年Dave, you are #1 Data Scientist not just on YouTube ... One of the important qualities of a DS is to tell a story - your mentoring style is like storytelling which makes it so much more easier to understand concepts like feature engineering. Thanks to you today I'm a confident data-sleuth using R (just love dplyr because of you)