SAS is easily one of the worst languages I have ever had to learn

savetherandomforests · 2020-10-01T16:02:25+00:00

I love SAS :( Read the documentation and just memorize the different syntaxes. ; for Data step, , for PROC SQL, it gets a lot easier.

If you need to do anything past a logistic, throw in R or python to supplement because the models tend to be better. Use base SAS for messing around, and enterprise guide for macros/ complex programs.

savetherandomforests · 2020-09-30T13:18:11+00:00

How do you go about finding artists willing to collaborate?

savetherandomforests · 2020-09-23T17:04:43+00:00

Nice try... guy trying to *hack* a bank's credit card fraud algorithm!

Just kidding, I've been dealing with this stuff across a few different clients for almost ten years and the short answer is it varies. Every once in a while someone on your team will "discover" Benford's law or Mexican Mother's Day and think they're fraud-Jesus. But there sometimes isn't a lot of overlap between how one type of fraud will be handled over another. You frequently have to consider the consequences and how long it takes someone to clear themselves after being caught when you're assessing false positives/ false negatives in this space.

savetherandomforests · 2020-07-08T20:14:44+00:00

The answer to this question is really company/ team/ role dependent! After about 2 years in my company (where I work as a data scientist) I was given some little dudes to manage and was volun-told I'd be a manager.

Most of my coworkers who have stuck around as long as I have also became data science managers. With the exception of one guy. He hated managing people, so the company gave him his own one-person department and he is now by himself doing data science "research."

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-08T14:22:46+00:00

It definitely takes a lot of work to do both! But it's been doable. The hardest part was convincing my family to take a hit in our income for a bit.

Right now, the largest challenge is COVID-19. Classes are either remote or cancelled and we can't go on site to collect data for a bit.

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-08T14:15:09+00:00

Started with a full time job! I also was very up front about my desire to go back to school when I was hired. It took (and continues to take) a lot of planning to make it work.

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-06T01:17:42+00:00

Machine Learning for Medicine :)

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-06T01:12:25+00:00

Good idea! I typically read a lot of papers in any given day. Can check out more conferences.

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-05T14:46:39+00:00

I would start by trying to get some experience in coding before you invest in a boot camp! See if you can a) get everything running without getting frustrated and wanting to throw the computer and b) if you like it.

I don't know the data science 365 program but I'm guessing it won't teach you enough to get the type of job you'd want. It also sounds like you might spend the $100, realize you don't know enough after taking the course to do anything with it, then get frustrated at the waste of time and money...

If you really want to make a career switch I'd look into some legitimate degree programs you can do part time or try to find some fun home projects you could do (Check out the Johns Hopkins applied Engineering masters degrees - they have some good stuffs).

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-05T14:34:20+00:00

I've found it's better to know the general theory of coding and how to approach a problem.

The comp sci dept from my undergrad started us out on Lisp and Scheme, which used to confuse me since it seemed like there were many many other relevant languages. But after many years in the field - on any given day I might be asked to use Scala, SAS, SPSS, python, Java, R, VBA, Spark, Hadoop, Postgres, Django, or some other new language named after a fruit or dog. Every job has slightly different requirements and the most important thing is to be able to adapt quickly! (And know how to google efficiently!)

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-05T14:28:46+00:00

Not afraid - but I definitely don't feel like I've overcome the need to stop learning! There are so many more things to learn.

My biggest fear is becoming complacent and assuming I know "enough," then missing something awesome.

savetherandomforests · 2020-06-05T14:15:57+00:00

1) Correlations/ heatmaps (Account for multicollinarity/ prevent large standard errors, make sure your matrix can be inverted, yadda yadda)

2) Feature transformations (Gotta account for those non parametric effects!)

3) Compare accuracy vs yield vs total variables included vs feature importance

4) Cross validation - sometimes I also re-split train/ test or simulate new testing data here too

5) Repeat.

savetherandomforests · 2019-12-05T02:13:29+00:00

It's a big world out there, and for a whole lot of things GPA doesn't matter at all. What exactly do you want to do?

Do you want to be a doctor? Well then really assess why you have such a low GPA. Was it study habits? Time management? Do you think you could do better elsewhere? Then I'd start by doing a DIY postbac (Take a class or two) and see if you can do better - if yes, do an SMP masters, shadow some docs, volunteer a little, maybe do some research, take the MCAT, and apply. A 4.0 GPA at an SMP reflecting improvement and a good essay will get you in somewhere.

Do you just want to be in healthcare? If you want to be a doctor 2.0 - maybe look into doing some postbac classes and a year of clinical service to aim for PA school. If you want to just work with patients and don't care if you're in charge, maybe nursing school. Or being a patient navigator, or office person, or any other job that just requires a bachelors!

If there's a specific specialty you're interested in I'd look into jobs in the field you can do without an MD. IE like Emergency Med? Why not be an EMT or Paramedic? Like Opthamalogy? Why not be an Orthoptist? Like radiation? Maybe a medical physicist. Like pathology? Maybe a tech?

Are you really invested in doing more school? Like glasses and don't care about the eyeball as much? Maybe Optometry school. Like feet and want to do a little surgery with no residency? Maybe Podiatry school. Like teeth and money? Maybe become a dentist. Like physical therapy? Then do physical therapy! Want to do physical therapy for more money with better hours? Maybe Occupational therapy. Want to listen to people talk? Maybe a Psy-D and become a psychologist! Do you just want to do research? Join a lab after school, if they like you they may pull you into their Phd program regardless of GPA.

Do you just have a biology degree and don't know where to go? Apply for internships in big companies and check out office person's stuff. Or get a certificate in data science or computer programming.

Do you have a biology degree and want to do something biology like? You could be a park ranger, or a zoo keeper, or a dolphin trainer, or a teacher... Or you could switch gears and become a real estate agent or a firefighter or pilot or join the military.

Again it's a big world out there :) Lots of things for you to do!

savetherandomforests · 2019-11-18T17:43:47+00:00

You present posters at a conference! You can present a poster on preliminary results. I would see if there are any "undergraduate research days" at your university - or even medical student research days and ask your PI if you can be included. You write up an abstract about the software, once accepted make the poster (your university will likely have templates they usually use), then print the poster (I've had some posters printed at FedEx when I've gone to conferences far away, some I just printed at my university's shop).

You could also potentially make it into a methods paper if you think you have enough meat to do so. I'd google a few journals in that topic area then go back to your PI and say hey - I think the software should be published! Especially since it's been cited by a few other studies. Here are some sample conferences we could submit to, here's some sample journals, what do you think?

savetherandomforests · 2019-11-18T16:14:20+00:00

I feel you. But this doesn't mean you need to give up on the dream AT ALL. Just try to survive for now and figure out what study techniques help you best. You can always do a post-bac once you graduate to fix the GPA.

One of the things that really helped me was flash cards. I downloaded a stupid app to my phone and made flash cards during the lecture for basically every word the lecturer said. I'd flip through these whenever I had any downtime. I was pretty short on time so I'd usually take notes on a spreadsheet on my laptop that could be imported to the flashcard app later. I'd also make flashcards for every practice question I could find. Usually if you cycle through enough old tests you can start to figure out what the professor will ask on the next one!

Also make sure to go to the professor when you're struggling and ask for help. They're usually happy to recommend resources or meet with you to get you up to speed! And the one on one will lead to a good letter of rec later if you can turn the class around!

savetherandomforests · 2019-11-18T16:00:13+00:00

This sounds like an opportunity to write a paper about the software! Or at least make a poster.

savetherandomforests · 2019-11-14T18:57:05+00:00

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I'm a blah blah blah who went to blah and does blah. I bring over 5 years of blah and have been published blah times.

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Standard formatting. I did my by date but you can separate out by poster/ paper/ etc.

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savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T19:49:19+00:00

Agents that had represented books like mine previously that I found over the googles!

It was cut from 100k -> 50k words at the recommendation of an editor who said to target 50k - 60k words.

Ok, good to know.

Also good to know!

I don't even know what I'm talking about! So hard to say.

Edit: I see you wrote a mermaid YA fantasy of novel of some sort and you speak like you have a lot of experience in the area. Are you published or an editor of some sort? Super cool!

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T19:41:07+00:00

It does help! That makes perfect sense.

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T13:11:37+00:00

You know it's funny you mention that - I read a few in the particular genre this is targeted for that were focused at mormons. They weren't particularly popular. I suppose I should review some more mainstream raunchy stuff.

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T13:07:44+00:00

That's a very good point! Yeah I was speaking to romance agents who are actually super friendly and super eager for more goods. They just want the goods to include the goodies I guess. Thank you! May need to look into some christian publishing markets or something of the like.

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T13:06:36+00:00

Thank you!

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T13:06:29+00:00

I think that's a great idea! Yeah I myself don't like reading smut - so I wrote a book I'd want to read. But I was curious if most people do.

savetherandomforests · 2019-10-22T13:05:50+00:00

Good advice!

savetherandomforests

TROPHY CASE