One course on Coursera was enough for Kemberli to know she had a passion and talent for data science. Despite working two jobs to make ends meet, she was able to complete numerous courses in R, Python, machine learning, and more – and eventually, she landed a competitive internship and a full-time job at a top company. Here’s her story:
I come from a programming background – but when I found Coursera, I was working as an administrative assistant, which I hated. I enrolled in one of the courses in the Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization just because I thought it sounded interesting, and I fell completely in love with the topic. I was fascinated by the idea of using tons of data to solve problems. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a career move into data science.
I started loading up on data science and programming courses – R, Python, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, etc. Despite having multiple jobs, I was barely making enough money to afford food and my mortgage, so it was amazing to have Coursera as an affordable resource. Thanks in part to my course and project experience, I was chosen – out of thousands of applicants – for an internship with a big multinational technology company here in Chicago. The internship was an incredible learning experience, with lots of hands-on projects and working with other interns and professional data scientists to solve problems.
Eventually, that same company hired me as a full-time employee. Now, I wake up every day happy and excited to go to work. I’m still learning new things constantly, but I’m so much more confident than I was. I’ve learned to believe in myself and not give up.