Earlier this month, our data science club was fortunate to host a panel of alumni back on campus to share their experiences and provide advice to current students.

Our Alumni

Talah Cummins

  • Senior Product Analyst @ Visa, Co-Founder at PoolUp
  • Supplies AI/ML solutions to products within Visa
  • UCSB Mathematics and Dance, 2019
  • USC MS in Business Analytics, 2022

Phi Do

  • Data and Graphics Journalist @ LA Times
  • Writes code for data analysis, interviews, and designs stories
  • Created the data journalism section of the UCSB Daily Nexus

Erik Vargas

  • Operations Research Analyst @ US NAVY
  • Forecasts and analyzes the Navy recruiting supply chain
  • UCSB Mathematics, 2015

Maya Samet

  • Data Analyst @ Uber
  • Works closely with data engineers and analysts for internal reporting on the Uber customer support metrics systems
  • UCSB Statistics and Data Science

Brian Lim

  • Software Engineer @ Amazon
  • Works on ground devices that communicate across space to bring internet to remote locations
  • Former president of UCSB Data Science Club

David Campos

  • Data Scientist at Delta Emerald Ventures, a cannabis investment firm
  • Co-founder of Inertia7
  • Graduated with Economics, Spanish, and TMP in 2015
  • Did Tech Support and got into Regression Analysis
  • Data Scientist at a venture capital fund in NY city investing in technologies for cannabis

The Event

A key theme was the importance of networking and making connections in the data science community. Our alumni emphasized seeking out mentors both at work and through professional associations. They also recommended networking with alumni from our program, reaching out cold via LinkedIn or email.

In terms of finding that first job, alumni advised students to cast a wide net and apply broadly. Though it can be challenging to get your foot in the door, once you secure that first data science role, doors continue opening in the future. When evaluating job offers, consider opportunities for growth and learning.

We are proud of our accomplished alumni and thank them for giving back to the data science club. Their journey demonstrates the breadth of career paths enabled by a data science education. For current students, their insights help prepare us for the next step after graduation.