Data Science is a great career option whether you are from a technical or a non-technical background. Upskilling in Data Science can give you a great career boost. Read further to learn about Keya Choudhuri Ganguly’s journey with Great Learning’s PGP Data Science and Business Analytics Course in her own words.
I am a Chemical engineer by education. After completing my post-graduation in 1990, I worked as a research fellow in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for some time and later joined a Chemical and Fibre Manufacturing plant as a Quality Engineer. I shifted to the IT industry in 1998. I worked with various companies such as iGate(now Capgemini), Tata Consultancy Services, Dell, and NTT Data Services primarily as a Quality, Business Excellence, and Six Sigma Professional.
As numbers and data analysis always kept me enthralled, I found Six Sigma quite interesting and started learning various tools and statistical techniques while working for General Electric as a vendor. I completed my Black Belt Certifications from ASQ(American Society for Quality) in 2006. After that, I primality focused on Six Sigma and Lean implementation /training, Process improvements, Quality certifications. etc. In 2018, I took a break and started working as an independent consultant. I wanted to acquire skills in line with the contemporary industry demands, so I decided to enroll with Great Learning for Post-Graduation Program for Business Analytics and Business Intelligence(PGBABI) in June 2019. I completed this program in Dec 2020.
However, for the last 20 years, I have been working on data analysis, so Data Science was not new to me. I already knew some of the statistical techniques before I joined this Data Science course.
I faced quite a few professional challenges in my career. When I worked in a plant as an engineer, at that time very few women were working in a plant, so there were always some restrictions. In IT Industry, sometimes consulting opportunities came for working with organizations in non- English-speaking countries like Portugal, Uruguay, and China, with little known cultures. I sensed initial hesitation in the minds of my superiors in allocating those assignments to me. But I was able to convince and finally handled those assignments successfully. I always enjoyed what I was doing. I have never felt any discrimination.
In my career, I have never taken a long break. In 2018, after working for 28 years, I quit my last company and took a break for 6 months. I wanted to work as an independent consultant, but It took some time for me to establish myself as a trainer and consultant. I am still trying to build and improve my network in Analytics, Digital transformation, and the Six Sigma space, but then it’s a continuous process and does not happen overnight.
I strongly feel Data Science is a good career option for women who are from Engineering, Science, or even Commerce backgrounds. Even if they don’t want to do coding, without any hesitation they can join any of the Data Science courses, because along with coding they will be learning some of the very useful statistical tools like AzureML, Knime, Tableau, etc and all the statistical techniques which are required for data analysis.
Choosing Great Learning for my Analytics program was one of the best decisions I have ever taken. I spent almost one and half years (6 months more because of the pandemic) with some of my wonderful batchmates, brilliant faculties and very supportive staff of Great Learning. During this time, I learned various tools, techniques, and coding, completed multiple assignments & quizzes, and a Capstone project. I was also able to present a paper at an international conference along with some of my batchmates. So overall it was a fascinating period and a great journey.
For me, professional life was not very demanding when I started doing this program. Just before that, I worked in a leadership position, and that period was much more hectic. So I was able to balance my professional and personal life, though sometimes I had to work for long hours.
Now, I have started working as an Analytics consultant and trainer. I feel good when I am able to guide a professional in doing meaningful data analysis and achieving business objectives. I am always a data enthusiast, so I enjoy using my data analytics skill to solve some problems in my day-to-day life.
