The Rise and Rise of Data Science

This is a recording of a talk I did for the Institute of Physics about the history of Data Science.

Introduction to Python

In this series of courses you will get to grips with using Python, even if you have never programmed before. This series follows a structured and supportive learning experience. You will code along with me and learn:

  • Downloading and setting up your IDE
  • Different types of data available to use in Python
  • How to write lists, tuples and ranges
  • Complete a real data practice available to hone your skills learnt so far
  • Control flow in Python, so how to ask questions of your data using if, elif and else statements
  • How to construct the unbelievably useful for and while loops to automate actions in your code
  • Finally, how to write a basic function and use it
  • Then we combine functions, control flow and loops and a final real data practice for you to practice everything you have learnt
This course is suitable for people who have no prior experience or knowledge and will take you to being comfortable to manipulate and integrate data with Python code.

Graph Plotting

In this series of courses you will get to grips with using Matplotlib and producing stunning bespoke graphs. This series follows a structured and supportive learning experience. You will code along with me and learn:

  • why use matplotlib and how to install it
  • how to customise graphs including axes, font, colours, labels, line types
  • how produce a range of different histograms and customise them
  • when a scatter graph is the right choice and how to produce and customise them
  • when a line graph is the right choice and how to produce and customise them
  • when a pie chart is the right choice and how to produce and customise them
To get the full benefit from this course you will need to be comfortable with the following skills:
  • have Python set up on your computer
  • have a good foundation in Python programming
  • how to define and manipulate numerical data types, strings and Booleans
  • how to set up, slice, order, add, append and alter mutable sequences lists, lists of lists, immutable sequences tuples and ranges
  • how to write and use functions with Python data, loops and control flow
You can get all these skills from the previous course.

Introduction to Data Science

In this series you will go from knowing how to programme in Python to someone who does data science and understands how to approach handling data sets and finding their hidden secrets. You will learn:

  • How to use numpy, an important data science tool
  • What you can do with numpy
  • How to do mathematical functions in numpy
  • How to create a range of different numpy arrays to store your data in
  • How to alter and manipulate numpy arrays
  • How to use control flow with numpy arrays
  • How to use pandas, an important data science tool
  • What you can do with pandas
  • How to describe and alter your data set with pandas
  • How to alter columns and combine pandas data frames
  • How to export your results using pandas
  • The basis of data cleaning
  • How to write a supervised machine learning algorithm
  • Understand when and how to use decision trees
This course is suitable for people who have Python programming skills including understanding how to use and manipulate numerical data, strings, Booleans, lists, tuples and ranges. You should be comfortable with the programming fundamentals of if, elif and else statements, for and while loops and functions. Be able to plot scatter, line, histograms and pie charts in Matplotlib, and how to choose which graph to use. No prior experience with Data Science is required.

Early Career Job Applications

I have a lot of experience selecting candidates for interview and interviewing people for their first engineering job. I have interviewed for apprentice, year in industry, summer placement and graduate roles alongside experienced roles. For many years I was the co-ordinator for a graduate scheme, so was also responsible for selecting candidates to interview on the basis of their application form.

In this series you will be comfortable with the application and interview process to get you your first engineering role. You will learn:

  • where to apply
  • how to decide what is important for you in a company
  • how to fill in application forms with least effort
  • what to include in a CV and covering letter for your new job
  • what online tests to expect and how to prepare for them
  • the range of structures of an assessment day
  • the kinds of tasks to expect at assessment days
  • the different types of interviews used by engineering companies
  • how to excel at competency based questions
  • how to prepare for a group task
  • how to give a good presentation for your interview

Radio Frequency Engineering

I will introduce you to the fascinating world of radio frequency engineering, often dubbed the ‘black art’ of engineering.
In this series you will learn You will learn:

  • What electromagnetic radiation is
  • The electromagnetic spectrum and uses
  • Properties of electromagnetic equations
  • Important equations to describe electromagnetic equations
  • How atmospheric absorption impacts the space industry
  • Sections of the RF and microwave spectrum used in the space industry
  • The hardware used to test Radio Frequency hardware
  • Types of Radio Frequency hardware testing – bench, free space and anechoic chambers
  • How to set up a bench measurement and interpret the results
  • How to set up an anechoic chamber measurement and example results
  • How electromagnetic simulation is used in the space industry
  • Types of electromagnetic simulation
  • How to set up an electromagnetic simulation and interpret the results