Finding your first data science job might be hard. Here?s how to do it.
Data Science is a great, intellectually stimulating career which often pays a salary of over $50,000. However, it might be hard to start, especially if you?re straight out of a college, data science bootcamp, or finished just a couple of courses. Here?s how to get your first data science internships.
Data Science Internship ? how to become an intern Data Scientist.
Github portfolio of projects and data science resume
Make sure that you have done a couple of data science projects you can show to your potential employees. You should have a Github repository where you collect them with decent documentation for each project, so that people can discover it.
Another thing is creating a great data science resume. Build your profile on LinkedIn, mentioning all your past courses and certificates.
Start applying for data science internships
Once you have all your projects ready and a great resume, it?s time to start applying.
Applying for data science internships is easier than applying for other roles, especially if you?re open to having minimal or no salary. One great source of possible companies in your area (or remote) is AngelList. You can browse through startups that look for interns ? be that locally or remotely.
Another way is go to Crunchbase and search for interesting companies in data science, machine learning, data analytics domains. You can filter them by niche and location, and then just start writing to the general email they provide. Often people are not advertising that they are looking for interns, so don?t feel bad about asking.
Asking for an internship ? email
If you?re writing an email to a company or to someone from that company on social media, keep your email short. Don?t mention how it would mean a world to you, to work for them. Simply write that would be a great opportunity, you know their projects, you are a quick learner and would like to provide value. Attach a link to your GitHub portfolio of projects.
The whole email should not be longer than 2 paragraphs and 500 words at most. Keep it simple!
Be patient and scale
Now the hardest part is patience. You?ll be turned down a lot, so prepare to send at least 50 applications, to get some answers (not necessarily positive). Iterate from there by:
- asking for feedback,
- adding more projects to Github,
- being pro-active in solving problems,
- polishing your LinkedIn resume and reaching out to people.
It?s just a matter of scale, and working consistently to get your data science internship. The beginning is always the hardest.
If you want to learn more about becoming a data science intern, subscribe to my Data Science Job course. I?ll guide you through the process of becoming a data scientist.
Read how to prepare for a Data Science Job interview here.
If you prefer a video version of this text, have a look here:
Data Science Internship ? how to become an intern
