Be yourself” was just one of the many career tips Caitlin Smallwood shared during a conversation with Stanford professor and Women in Data Science podcast host, Margot Gerritsen. Smallwood, vice president of data science and analytics at Netflix, urges up-and-coming data scientists to explore “the avenues and nooks and crannies” of the discipline and avoid limiting themselves to the most obvious paths.
Smallwood is passionate about data-driven content and predicts that deep learning will continue to propel advances in applied data science in the future, specifically in the area of machine translation. It will take some time, she says, but machine translation would allow users to watch a movie or video and understand the subtleties of language and culture at a deeper level through nuances in inflection appropriate for different languages.
Smallwood is interested in the ways that data science guides content and helps people “understand regions and cultures around the world through storytelling.” She enjoys the fact that her job allows her to engage and learn as well.“I, myself, have learned so many things from watching different pieces of content. You learn something that’s much more subliminal or that can really impact your empathy when you relate to a character and see the details of how they live their lives in an entirely different culture. And that’s different than reading a news article about a culture,” she says.
As to her own future, Smallwood expects to stay at Netflix for a long time. “There are just such massive, new, exciting problems that we’re working on now, and I can’t imagine that changing.”
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Louvere Walker-Hannon | Gaining skills and overcoming barriers to a career in data science
Menglin Cao | Data science in fintech and financial services
Karen Hao | Covering AI and Ethics Washing in the Tech Industry
Cecilia Aragon | Aerobatic Pilot, Author and Data Scientist
Kristian Lum | Applying Statistics to Promote Fairness and Transparency
Lillian Carrasquillo | Using Human-Centric Data Science at Spotify
Femke Vossepoel | Applying Data Assimilation Tools to COVID Forecasting Models
Francesca Dominici + Rachel Nethery | Using Data Science to Study Air Pollution Effect on COVID-19 Outcomes
Manisha Desai | The Importance of Data Integrity in COVID-19 Clinical Trials
Newsha Ajami | Improving Urban Water Systems Through Data Science, Public Policy and Engineering
Andrea Gagliano | The Intersection of Arts and Technology
Ya Xu | Using Data To Create Economic Opportunities For All Members Of Global Workforce
Susan Athey | Bringing an Economist’s Perspective to Data Science
Montse Medina | Lessons Learned Building a Data Science Startup
Bonus Episode: Margot Gerritsen | How to Get More Women Into Data Science
Timnit Gebru | Advocating for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethics in AI
Christiane Kamdem + Lama Moussawi | WiDS Ambassadors Bring Education and Role Models to their Communities
Sherrie Wang | Applying Machine Learning to Solve Global Food Security Challenges
Marzyeh Ghassemi | Applying Machine Learning to Understand and Improve Health
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