As we know, in the latest reports of IATI and Start-Up Nation Central, Data Science is one of the most in demand jobs in the tech industry. Our latest cohort of participants know this and are working hard towards becoming data scientists ready for the working world in just 5 months.
Meet our October 2018 Data Science Fellows! The largest Data Science Fellows program so far at ITC started 2 months ago with over 50 participants!
Each one of them arrived with their unique story, lots of motivation and drive to transform their lives and career and enter the Data Science field. They’re almost half way through and are scheduled to finish training on campus in February, and about forty leading companies in the data science field will collaborate with our participants and host them for their final projects. So far, they have managed to create one of the strongest and expert-driven cohorts. This intensive track has our participants studying for up to 10 hours a day, through lectures, workshops, projects, hackathons and more.
We are always striving to offer them the full experience, by also bringing in experts in the field to present lectures and workshops. Last week was a busy one, we recently had Matti Picus, the core developer of PyPy, who is renowned for open source code, an expert in Python and a top contributor to Numpy. Miki Tebeka, Organization Committee member of PyCon Israel, taught our cohort about implementing development to production. Intel ran workshops about data understating, preparation, modeling and evaluation.
The Fellows also had demo’s where they presented their Data Mining projects with creative and interesting insights, all the while practicing important coding and Data Science skills. On a different day our graduates also stopped by and delivered a session about advanced Python tips for Data Science. Finally, the Fellows focused hard on their Deep Learning classes held with our great teacher Assaf Speiner.
Intel presenting to our Fellows about data understating, preparation, modeling and evaluation
This cohort is made up of a variety of very strong educational backgrounds, featuring PhD, M.Sc. and B.Sc. participants. Our participants studied at some of the most renowned and leading universities such as the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, McGill University, University of Southern California, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Université Panthéon Sorbonne and more. They all came with an impressive mathematical, science or engineering degree (B.Sc. / M.Sc.) and background.
The selection process for the Fellows program is highly competitive and only 1 out of 10 candidates get accepted. Programming experience is a must for enrollment and is tested throughout the screening process. Applicants complete an online technological test focusing on coding and Data Science. The next step is a personal and professional video interview for participants who succeed in the test. This interview sheds light on the applicant’s skills and motivations in moving forward with the process of becoming a Fellow. ITC’s Admissions Committee makes the final decision regarding the acceptance of the applicant.
In this cohort, we have six women participating. Noemie Marciano from Paris comes from an actuarial and mathematical background, and Neta Wechsler from Israel, who has a PhD in Earth Science decided to join ITC because they wanted to enhance their expertise in Data Science. We are proud of their achievements so far and can’t wait to have the number of women in the program grow bigger and bigger. In this cohort we also have many parents, and people of different ages (21-44), which helps to create a unique and cool group dynamic.
Geographically, our October 2018 cohort is made up of eleven countries from nearly all corners of the world (at least one from every continent). We pride ourselves on and encourage diversity in our programs. We have Israelis, Olim Hadashim (Immigrants) and Non-Israelis in the program. While the programs are taught in English, our participants come together and bond over their love for Data Science and the goal of making their impact on this industry. For those who want to improve their Hebrew language skills, we also teach Hebrew Ulpan at our headquarters. Lifelong friendships and networking begin in our classrooms and keep our thriving ITC Community alive and growing.
Stay tuned for what’s coming up next – tracks, companies workshops, group projects and more.
For more information on the Fellows Data Science track, click here.