5 Data Science Podcasts To Follow in 2021

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration When Unmotivated to Learn Data Science

Dec 13, 2020

5 min read

If we only learn data science through a rigid curriculum created by universities or online courses from Coursera or Udemy, we may find the learning process too boring. If you ever find yourself losing motivation in this long journey of studying data science, you may just need some podcasts to break the routine and get some inspiration. The major difference between these two approaches of learning is that the former focuses on theory and concepts, whereas the latter introduces more practical experience and projects that add flesh to the bones.

Listening to podcasts is a great way to absorb knowledge while you are commuting or doing the chores. One of the amazing apps that I recommend using is called "Airr" which allows users to highlight the content of the podcast and transcribe the highlight into notes. This tool is especially useful for technical podcasts since information is more easily erased if you are more of a visual learner than an auditory learner. Therefore, putting it into notes somewhere would assist in transforming them into long term memory.

On the other hand, if you are more of a visual person who prefers to learn through reading, then have a read of the Data Science website list that I curated 🙂

Top 15 Websites for Data Scientists to Follow in 2021

1. Super Data Science

What I love the most about this podcast is that it blends technical skills and soft skills together. It covers a wide range of topics, including data science, artificial intelligence, data visualisation and big data. Guests from different industries are invited to talk about their entrepreneurial journey or their work experience in the data science field. Additionally, the host Krill Eremenko also talked about lifestyle design and productivity hacks. So if you found yourself overloaded with technical contents, you can always jump into episodes that explore self-improvement and personal development.

Some episodes from Super Data Science:

2. Towards Data Science

Since you are reading this article which is published on "Towards Data Science", then I guess you might be already familiar with this blog platform. Needless to say, it is one of the most popular data science publications on Medium. Personally, it is the platform that I get most of my data science inspirations from, either as a source of learning new concepts or exploring innovative projects or career advice. Recently, I found out that TDS also has a podcast. Just like their blog posts, they also provide high quality and deep-dive discussions about data science on their podcasts. Compared to other podcasts mentioned in their article, TDS puts most of the efforts on AI and machine learning related topics, with a focus on data science industry trend and ethical issues. You can find the full lists of podcasts on their medium platform, meanwhile also have an exploration of their blog posts.

Some episodes from Towards Data Science:

3. Data Engineering Podcast

Data Engineering Podcast brings weekly deep-dive in data management, data warehouse, and data governance. Experts from various industries are invited to talk about their experience of handling massive database at the enterprise level or some powerful tools utilised to maintain a clean data environment. Therefore, if you would like to have more exposure to this cornerstone of the data pyramid, Data Engineering Podcast may be helpful for you to absorb some knowledge about common practices in data architecture.

Some episodes from Data Engineering Podcast:

4. The Digital Analytics Power Hour

If you are more interested in implementing your data science skills in the digital marketing and digital analytics fields and to have a better understanding of customer behaviours, then this podcast would be a perfect fit. Although the name is "digital analytics", I found the scope of contents to be way beyond the depth of digital marketing. Rather, it is a great integration between data science and digital transformation. The podcast also emphasized on the implementations of statistical modelling, data analysis and data mining techniques in business contexts, for example to provide insights for A/B testing, attribution modelling and web analytics.

Therefore, if you want to engage your customers with an online presence or if you want to learn more about using analytics to attract the right audience to marketing campaigns, Digital Analytics Power Hour surely will give you some inspirations.

5. Data Viz Today

This podcast focuses mainly on data visualization and dashboard design. The host Alli Torban articulates the storytelling side of the data science. She uses creative projects to demonstrate how to transform data insights into amazing visual experience. Since Alli Torban is a data viz freelancer, she invited many guests to share insights on their side projects or freelancing journey. So it is an amazing source to get inspiration if you are starting your own freelance business, or if you are interested in delivering your next data insight more effective (you may also find some insights in this article I wrote "Dashboard Design Principle").

Some episodes from Digital Analytics Power Hour:

Take-Home Message

If you ever found yourself losing motivation in this long journey of learning data science, I recommend these five data science podcasts to follow:

Super Data Science
Towards Data Science
Data Engineering Podcast
The Digital Analytics Hour
Data Viz Today

Each podcast has its own competitive advantage which allows them to stand out in the list. Choose those aligned with your taste and I hope that they bring you more inspirations.

URL: https://towardsdatascience.com/five-data-science-podcasts-to-follow-1b82d7a092a5/