"Hey, I'm Dawson, a professional data scientist. I graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Data Science in 2021. I started doing programming and data work part-time while I was still in school, and since graduating have held a couple different full-time roles as a data scientist in consulting firms and startups. I currently work at a small AI consulting firm.

A major takeaway from my experience in college is that learning is best done in real-world scenarios. I truly believe that more of my own education has come from job experience or passion projects than from classes or assignments. As an industry professional, my approach is to take the things you are learning in school and contextualize them in their real-world applications. This often involves taking a step back and discussing the bigger picture before returning to the smaller details that usually comprise an assignment or exam. This way, you aren't just memorizing things--instead, you're actually seeing the bigger picture and feeling your professional skillset develop. This not only makes things more enjoyable--it makes things make sense, and actually stick.

While I was still in college, I tutored students in programming for the intro-level CS course for one year. This tutoring took the form of one-on-one guidance with assignments and exams in the study center. I founded the data science club at CSU, which revolved around real-world, team-based data science problem solving experiences. I worked closely with members of the club to contextualize the things learned in class and build new skills.

I see tutoring as an opportunity to help where formal education can fail--by providing the context of industry experience and relating it to the content, by building one-on-one relationships where your strengths can be recognized and celebrated, and by having open-ended discussions about the bigger picture that make a big difference in the effectiveness of all types of learning." less...