24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

START CODING TODAY CAREERS IN CODING LEARNING TO CODE

29 JANUARY 2019 / INSIGHTS

How to Build a Data

Science Portfolio
A lot of us, data fans, are trying to launch
data science careers, and we do not
initially have work experience. In fact, we
are looking for a rst data science role so
we can check off the work experience
requirement that is listed in most data
science job postings. To get unstuck from
this catch-22, we need to complete
projects and build a data science portfolio.

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 1/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

A data science portfolio is a great way to showcase

your skillset in lieu of work experience. It also
demonstrates your passion for data science, and
assuming that passion is genuine, you will also have
a lot of fun completing your own projects and
learning new data science skills through them. This
article will provide some tips to help jumpstart your
data science portfolio.

Talking to Data Scientists

There are two ways to better understand the skills
you need to showcase in your data science portfolio:
talking to data scientists and analyzing data science
job postings.

It may sound simple, but many people should be

spending more time talking to other data scientists.
In hot data science cities like New York and San
Francisco, there are many events where data
professionals and "amateurs" alike meet and discuss
the data science projects they are working on.

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 2/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

Meetup and Eventbrite are great resources to nd

these gatherings.

For those of us living in areas where data science

meetups aren’t as common, there are still ways to
nd other data scientists. My preferred method is to
read the Towards Data Science blog. When I read an
article I really enjoy, I often nd and connect with the
author on LinkedIn.

My naive assumption is that people who dedicate

their time to writing data science blog posts love
talking about data science, and they would likely
enjoy talking to me about it. Below is an example of
my interactio with one such author on LinkedIn:

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 3/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

The data science community is an incredible

resource, and tapping into the expertise of others in
the eld will accelerate your growth.

Reading Job Postings of

Your Dream Job
Another way to identify skills to showcase in your
data science portfolio is to analyze job postings.
Hiring managers will include the skills they are
looking for in the job posting. Reading these
descriptions will help you understand what skills you
need to showcase.

LinkedIn and Glassdoor are great websites for

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 4/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

nding data science job postings. However, an even

better resource would be the network you’ve formed
by talking to other data scientists. Many job
opportunities aren’t even posted online, and the only
way to nd out about them would be through
referrals.

While looking at job postings, make sure to nd

multiple options you are interested in. Just as you
don’t want to build a machine learning model that
over ts to a small and narrow dataset, you don’t
want to build a portfolio that is based on limited
insight from only one job posting.

In addition, some organizations that are newer to

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 5/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

data science may not have a clear idea of the type of

data scientist they’re looking for, and the job
postings they create may be overwhelming.

Below are some quotes from data analyst and data

science job postings I've found through LinkedIn
jobs:

“Strong Microsoft Excel skills. Must have

working knowledge of pivot tables, formula
creation, conditional formatting, VLOOKUP,
and Index Matching.”

“Working knowledge of database structures

(SQL, Access, etc.)”

“Ability to independently produce high-

standard, presentation-ready deliverables”

“Strong Knowledge in Data Science, Data

Analytics, R, Python, Etc”

“Strong Knowledge in Statistics, Mathematics

and Machine Learning”

“Use data visualization tools and

programming languages like Tableau, Hive,
Oracle, R, Python, Excel, Workday, Vizier and
https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 6/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

many other internal tools to work ef ciently

at scale”

This is just a starting point, and depending on your

desired industry and type of data science job, you
may nd different desired skills listed in the job
postings you read.

Find a Dataset to Address a

Problem You’re Curious
About
Now that you’ve identi ed the skills you need to
showcase, it’s time to generate project ideas. There
are many other people already doing data science
projects and sharing them online. Looking at other
people’s projects might give you inspiration for your
own project ideas. Below are two great places to see
other people’s data science projects:

Towards Data Science blog

Kaggle Kernels

Another great way to generate project ideas is to

nd datasets that interest you. Below are some
resources to help you nd free datasets:

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 7/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

Google Dataset Search Tool

Reddit Datasets Thread

Awesome Github Repository With a List of

Datasets

In my case, I wanted to do projects that showcase

my interest in education. One project I found
especially interesting was Predicting School
Performance With Census Data.

After searching for education datasets in the Google

Dataset Search Tool, I came across the College
Scorecard, which includes data on U.S. higher
education institutions. Someone in my network
mentioned that she wanted to do work with
community colleges, so I thought it would be cool to
do a project exploring trends in U.S. community
college enrollment.

“Complete” Your Project

and Seek Feedback
Completion is a vague term because there is almost
always additional work you can include on a given
project. The key is to set clear milestones for
yourself. For example, in my College Enrollment
https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 8/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

Exploration project, I wanted to showcase some of

my data visualization skills. In this case, my
milestone was a slide deck with visualizations
explaining the data.

Once you have reached a milestone, make sure to

seek feedback. Create a Github repository for your
project, and share your Github repository with your
network.

In the beginning, you will likely receive constructive

criticism. Here is the Github repository for my
College Enrollment Exploration project. Clearly, I
have a lot more work to do, and below are some
areas that need additional work:

My Github Repository does not contain a

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 9/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

readme le that describes the organization of

the repository and a description of each le.

I did not include a pdf le for my slide deck,

and I did not discuss the “business problem” I
was trying to address.

My Jupyter notebooks did not include

comments on my overall thought process.

Although I stuck to orange and blue for my

visualizations, I alternated the representation
of data (orange and blue were both used to
represent both community colleges and other
colleges). This could be confusing for my
target audience.

I did not regularly commit and push changes

to my Github repository as I was working.
Rather, I only started making commits
towards the end of my project.

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 10/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

My project clearly isn’t ready for my portfolio yet,

and that is okay. If I continually make progress with
the guidance of my network, the project will
eventually help me differentiate myself from other
data science candidates. More importantly,
continually cycling through the feedback loop will
accelerate my learning and ensure that my work is
aligned with hiring managers’ needs.

Brag About Your Project

Eventually your project will become portfolio-
worthy, and people in your network will actually
encourage you to share your work with others. At
this point, you should add a link to your Github
repository on your LinkedIn pro le and resume.

In addition, you may choose to write a blog post to

practice your written communication skills. Medium
is a great platform for rst time bloggers to create
posts.

You may feel trepidation when broadcasting your

work in this way for the rst time, and that is

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 11/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

completely normal. The important point to keep in

mind is that if the data science community has been
a valuable resource for your growth, by posting your
work, you are helping others overcome their own
challenges as they enter eld of data science.

This will also be a good time to brag to your non-

technical friends about your project. In business,
data scientists often have to communicate with non-
technical stakeholders, and this is a wonderful
opportunity to practice that skill. In general, my
friends are curious about my work, and they enjoy
conversations about data science (given that I
communicate in a way that they can understand).

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 12/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 13/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

Repeat
Data scientists do data science. Although you might
not have a job as a data scientist yet, by completing
data science projects, you are doing data science
(and, dare I say, you are a data scientist).

Of course, many of us are starting at level zero, and

our rst few projects won’t have the level of
sophistication of more experienced data scientists'.
By continually doing projects, we can level up our
skills and eventually work on cooler projects.

After your rst project, you may continue to expand

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 14/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

the scope, or start on a new project with a new

dataset. In my case, once I have completed the
visualization milestone for my College Enrollment
Exploration project, I could try implementing
machine learning algorithms, or I could shelve it and
begin working with another dataset (such as NCES’s
Common Core of Data). The key is to work with
datasets and topics that interest you while
continually expanding your capabilities.

Get more practice, more projects, and more guidance.

Upgrade to Pro

Albert Lee Read More

Read more posts by this author.

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 15/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

4 Comments Codecademy News 🔒 Disqus' Privacy Policy 

1 Login

 Recommend 10 t Tweet f Share Sort by Best

Join the discussion…

LOG IN WITH
OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ?

Name

Aditya Mehta • 16 days ago

Thanks for this amazing write-up. One of the most genuine and practical pathway online to
work into DS
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Brian R • 18 days ago

Top tier info and helpful tips! Thank you!
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Harinath Kotla • 4 days ago

Great article.
Thank you, Albert!
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Priyanka A K • a month ago

Thank you! This was really inspiring.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

✉S d ⚠ S

— Codecademy News —

Insights

7 Tips for Learning from Home

While Social Distancing UPDATES

Updates to the Code

Learn From Home: A Guide for Foundations Path
https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 16/17
24/08/2020 How to Build a Data Science Portfolio

Teachers, Students, and Parents We're adding new content to

During Covid-19
our Code Foundations Path!
Learn what programming is
MySpace and the Coding and what it's like without
Legacy it Left Behind
having to commit to one
language or technology.

See all 44 posts → CODECADEMY TEAM

INSIGHTS
5 Skills Developers Need Beyond Writing Code
Learning to program tends to center around, well, programming. But
developers spend most of their time on tasks that require a different set
of skills.

KARL LYKKEN

Codecademy News © 2020

Latest Posts Facebook Twitter

https://news.codecademy.com/how-to-build-a-data-science-portfolio/ 17/17