Mental Health of Data Scientists

I didn’t want any of this; it was the first job I got. Granted, my Uni grades were good, and I was particularly good at Econ, but had I known this is how much I’d have to suffer, I would have never done it. And no, I’m not talking about just the rigors of learning all the stats, comp sci, and business. I’m talking about the emotional toll this field has had on me over the past 6 years. But it was all worth it and now I want to make sure the next generation of data scientists get the best help and adivce there is on the internet.

Mental health is a much-talked-about topic today for healthcare workers struggling with stress, for students dealing with depression, and for career go-getters stuffing down their anxiety. But what no one talks about is the self-esteem destruction a budding data scientist undergoes on his epic pilgrimage to AI. Yes, we knew what we signed up for, and this isn’t a rant against the industry or programming community; it’s just a letter to other aspiring data scientists who know this field has gotten harder than they expected.

It all seemed so possible a few years ago when I plugged in some TensorFlow code for an MNIST dataset. Sure, it took a while to run because I was too poor to buy a GPU-enabled computer, but it looked all too promising. Just swap out the data set with something else, and everything will be just fine. NO! It won’t; the setup will stomp you, the theory behind neural nets will send you all the way back to high school, and don’t even get me started on platform selection; the decision will swallow your identity.

On the way to becoming a Data Scientist you will face challenges that were unexpected simply because the industry is changing so fast. So here are my tips of how to maintain your mental and physical health during your coding sojourn.

Goal setting: The industry has requirements and you have capabilities, do your best to bridge that gap by “inventing” projects that allow you to exhibit these special skills. Be strategic about your personal projects each one should get you closer to your goal.

Project Management: Think of this time as a way to practice bieng a manager, so think about how much overhead this new technology will be, think about how quickly this new feature can be implemented, think about how you would lead a data team in the future. Write out your plans and adjust them as you encounter challenges, this will keep you accountable and raise your self awareness.

Physical Exercise: Spending all that time in front of your computer using your brain to figure things out is a wonderful trip know what goes well with that? Using your physical body to figure things out, try BJJ or wrestling or any other martial art, your brain will thank you for it but maybe not your bones.

Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques: There will be times that a problem will haunt you for any length of time that you simply wont let go of. I do not want you to give up, I want you to realise that the code is only as good as the concept so take a nice very long walk and just let the ideas flow. Soon enough you’l find yourself running back home to try your new solution.

Seek Support: You might find that you either suck as comp science or stats, so go out there and talk to people who know either, even if you think you know both. Also sit in webinars and video series but I find in-person connections who take the time to explain concepts to me were far more useful than just being a face in the crowd.

Celebrate Achievements: Absolute must, once you decide what your big goal is and you achieve it GO! Just go and travel for a while, let all the new knowledge sink in, then come back refreshed for the next boss monster to slay.

I hope these tips help you on your journey to data science. But remember every one is on a different path and these are just ideas to jog your imagination, find what works for you and share it with the rest of the community. If you like a particular idea or have an even better one share it in the comments and let me know.