Dana Bezalel is a fierce achiever, a mother to two beautiful girls aged five and seven years old, and a Fellow in ITC’s Data Science program. She describes herself as having the courage to make changes, and it is evident in her rich academic and professional STEM experience. She graduated from Ben-Gurion University with a B.Sc in Biotechnology Engineering and a M.Sc in neuroscience from the Weizmann Institute of Science. Her experience in various domains has touched on Bio-tech, Ag-tech, the Pharma industry as a researcher and leading various types of scientific projects.
While speaking to Dana, we found out a lot more of what drives her passion for the field.
How did your interest for data science start? Were you always interested in this field? If not, why did you transition?
One of the projects that I worked on in the Ag-bio field, dealt with big data analyses, which exposed me for the first time to Machine and Deep Learning terms. I felt really interested and started learning it by taking an evening course. Eventually, I felt that I wanted to get more hands-on experience and be more familiar with the theoretical aspects and decided to come to ITC. I heard about ITC from friends and while searching on the internet for a place to get good knowledge and hands on experience with Machine and Deep Learning.
Why did you decide to join this ITC program? What made you choose ITC over other training providers?
-
- ITC had some advantages compared to the other courses I checked:
- Have strong connections with Israeli companies and can help with job placement
- Pay attention on hands-on skills
- Teaching both Machine and Deep Learning
- Have 5-week projects in a high tech company
- Have 1 month of high-tech company lectures and sessions built into the program
- ITC had some advantages compared to the other courses I checked:
What’s one advice you would give aspiring women in tech?
If you feel that this is right for you, don’t be afraid to try.
How can women get the most out of the ITC experience, and how can they best get ready for their next job during the training?
The course is built in a way that helps to prepare you for job interviews through many different channels – there are many hours dedicated to self study, hands on coding, and exams. I am certain that the ITC team will help us to be prepared for job interviews, based on our personal knowledge, achievements and strengths and weaknesses.
What has been your proudest achievement in this field so far? (A cool project you worked on, a topic you wanted to learn, a challenge you overcame)
-
- Firstly I am most proud of the fact that I am handling the course requirements, such as the materials and submitting all exercises on time. This is not trivial for me, as this is the first time that I am writing code.
- I am looking forward to our first project that will handle data from start to finish.
What do you think is the best part of being a woman in the tech industry?
I think that it is equal to being a man… and the differences between people are more related to personality rather than gender.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not coding?
Hanging around with my family, traveling, jogging, reading and hiking.
What’s next for you? Where would you love to see yourself in a few years?
I hope to succeed in finding a job that will be in R&D (research and development) in Machine learning and Deep learning in biology and health care field.
Do you feel like you could take on the Israel Tech Challenge Data Science program? Apply now to secure your spot for the upcoming cohort!