Why Data Science?

I'm often asked what it is about data science that I find so interesting. It's a great question - the field has absolutely exploded over the last few years, and I'm sure we all have our own reasons for entering it. For me, I love that data science lets me tell stories through numbers, while acting as the keeper of the truth for my company. 

I've always loved math, dating back to preschool, and AP Statistics was one of my favorite classes growing up. But there was also a period where I wanted to be a writer. I enjoy the challenge of taking an idea and conveying it to someone else through words. Data science, to me, is the bridge between math and writing. You take an idea, support it with numbers, and express it to another person. You make hypotheses and chase down the evidence like an investigative reporter. It's fun. 

I also often remember what a professor told our class on my last day of grad school. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like, "People will trust you to read the data and tell them what's happening. Nobody else will have the same knowledge or expertise, so take that responsibility seriously and be committed to the truth." 

I remember being on a call with investors during my stint at a startup earlier in my career. We had submitted a bunch of documents for our Series C fundraising round a few weeks before, and one VC fund had a few followup questions. As the only data scientist at the company, I was in the meeting, laptop open, ready to run queries in case they wanted to see the data in a different way. I flashed back to what that professor has said, and I knew that I was the only person who knew the data well enough to handle any new questions. It was fun. 

So that's why I love data science - what about you? What got you interested?