Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Today was the first of many talks that Big Community plan to organise and deliver in the coming months and years. This talk held at Multi Media University in Cyberjaya was focused on a career in Data Science, with our headline speaker Ms Kam Lin Mah, Group Data Scientist at Maybank.

Due to corporate sensitivity we were not able to record Kamlin’s presentation but we are really appreciative that she took time out from her busy schedule to deliver her talk.

Kamlin explained that she had turned down 6 other speaking engagement requests this year, but agreed to this talk organised by Big Community specifically because it was open to students and she wanted to give them the benefit of her knowledge. A fact that we know all who attended also really appreciated.

Kamlin mentioned on many occasions throughout her talk, that she was in danger of making herself the most unpopular person in the room, because of her straight talking. Infact the reverse turned out to be true and her straight talking only endeared her more to the audience that attended.

Her main concern is that some of the focus from non private sector in trying to create data scientists may be missing the true spirit of what data science is really about. No doubt, analytical and programming skills are critical, but Kamlin was more interested to explain to the students that life experience and a questioning nature are just as critical.

She started by ripping up the student rule book, when at the start of her presentation she noticed many of the students with pens at the ready about to take notes. To paraphrase she told everyone “No Note Taking in my presentation, You will miss the important things, Just relax and listen, otherwise I promise you will miss the point!”

Kamlin gave concrete examples of actual projects she has worked on, she showed screenshots from analysis she has undertaken, but much more than that she truly inspired those who heard her, by giving an insight of the real DNA of a data scientist, which in addition to being good at maths and problem solving also requires a sense of humor, the ability to look for the “not obvious”, and not to over complicate or over engineer the task at hand.

She also gave a hint of what someone good with data can earn, and the numbers are big $180K USD a year is very achievable, even in ASEAN countries. We loved the analogy she gave to explain why a good data scientist can command this kind of salary. A mechanic fixes the heart of a car, a surgeon the heart of a person, but the surgeon earns maybe hundreds of times times more. Maybe If the mechanic could fix the heart of the car whilst it is still running they could charge more money!

Kamlin is obviously bright, academic, business savvy and an excellent communicator. In our opinion the overarching message she wanted to get across is that the technical and analytical part of data science taught in schools and backed by government programs is only one part of the challenge in becoming a data science professional. The ability to truly open your mind, desperately want to solve problems and use your imagination are the really critical aspects that she believes aspiring data scientists need to understand.

On imagination, her rationale was compelling, she pointed films from 30 years ago that had far-fetched inventions that were only products of our imagination such as drones and glasses that acted like TV screens. Her point being that with data we can make anything happen, but only if we imagine the possibilities first.

Participants listening intently as Kamlin speaks.

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