Start From The Bottom | Carlos Mercado

On this episode of The Artists of Data Science, we get a chance to hear from Carlos Mercado, a
data scientist, economist and urban studies enthusiast.

Throughout his career, he's had a diverse range of experience, including time as a freight broker, a year long stint teaching English in Korea and working as a data science freelancer. He's currently a senior data scientist at a global consulting firm.

Carlos shares with us his journey into data science, the importance of building your brand, and
tips for those who want to break into the field. Carlos is an example of someone who has
worked hard to learn the fundamentals, and his story shows that it is possible to break into data
science!

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

[5:16] Where is the field heading?

[10:23] Carlos’s background in economics, and how it relates to data science

[23:52] Lessons regarding how to get the job you want

[30:39] How to use reframing and paradoxes for your mindset

[45:24] Advice on building a resume for data science

[51:40] Building your personal brand

QUOTES

[23:12] “...without the history, you’re not going to have context.”

[25:51] “...your resume is a sales document. So if you don't include it in your sale, they're not going to know to buy.”

[29:33} “...the most important part of data science, besides knowing math, is being able to communicate to business people and making sure that they understand...”

FIND CARLOS ONLINE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crmercado/

SHOW NOTES

[00:01:36] Introduction of our guest

[00:02:52] Let's talk about how you first heard of Data science and what drew you to the field.

[00:05:12] Where do you see the field headed in the next two to five years?

[00:06:42] How to be a great data scientist

[00:08:31] Natural language process and voice data

[00:10:15] What is economics and why data scientists should care

[00:11:12] Economics and big data

[00:14:11] Bitcoin and Data Science

[00:17:24] What you need to know about GIS, Urban Economics, and Data Science

[00:22:26] Do you have any other resources or articles that are kind of covering that topic that our readers can go check out if they want to learn more?

[00:23:24] Lessons learned in the data science job search process

[00:26:58] What you've learned about Data science working for a psychiatrist at a nonprofit school.

[00:30:20] Reframe and Paradox

[00:34:36] What it's like working as a consulting data scientist

[00:39:09] How does this differ from working in a regular organization?

[00:40:34] Phoenix project and Unicorn Project

[00:41:04] Freelancing as a data scientist

[00:45:15] How to make a good data science resume

[00:49:57] How to make a good data science project

[00:51:33] How to build your data science brand

[00:53:05] The qualities that Carlos looks for in a data scientist

[00:54:06] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story?

[00:54:49] The lightning round