In this podcast episode, we talked with Isabella Bicalho about Career advice, learning, and featuring women in ML and AI.

About the Speaker:

Isabella is a Machine Learning Engineer and Data Scientist with three years of hands-on AI development experience. She draws upon her early computational research expertise to develop ML solutions. While contributing to open-source projects, she runs a newsletter dedicated to showcasing women's accomplishments in data science.

During this event, the guest discussed her transition into machine learning, her freelance work in AI, and the growing AI scene in France. She shared insights on freelancing versus full-time work, the value of open-source contributions, and developing both technical and soft skills. The conversation also covered career advice, mentorship, and her Substack series on women in data science, emphasizing leadership, motivation, and career opportunities in tech. 0:00 Introduction 1:23 Background of Isabella Bicalho 2:02 Transition to machine learning 4:03 Study and work experience 5:00 Living in France and language learning 6:03 Internship experience 8:45 Focus areas of Inria 9:37 AI development in France 10:37 Current freelance work 11:03 Freelancing in machine learning 13:31 Moving from research to freelancing 14:03 Freelance vs. full-time data science 17:00 Finding first freelance client 18:00 Involvement in open-source projects 20:17 Passion for open-source and teamwork 23:52 Starting new projects 25:03 Community project experience 26:02 Teaching and learning 29:04 Contributing to open-source projects 32:05 Open-source tools vs. projects 33:32 Importance of community-driven projects 34:03 Learning resources 36:07 Green space segmentation project 39:02 Developing technical and soft skills 40:31 Gaining insights from industry experts 41:15 Understanding data science roles 41:31 Project challenges and team dynamics 42:05 Turnover in open-source projects 43:05 Managing expectations in open-source work 44:50 Mentorship in projects 46:17 Role of AI tools in learning 47:59 Overcoming learning challenges 48:52 Discussion on substack 49:01 Interview series on women in data 50:15 Insights from women in data science 51:20 Impactful stories from substack 53:01 Leadership challenges in projects 54:19 Career advice and opportunities 56:07 Motivating others to step out of comfort zone 57:06 Contacting for substack story sharing 58:00 Closing remarks and connections

🔗 CONNECT WITH ISABELLA BICALHO Github: github https://github.com/bellabf LinkedIn: / isabella-frazeto

🔗 CONNECT WITH DataTalksClub Join DataTalks.Club: https://datatalks.club/slack.html Our events: https://datatalks.club/events.html Datalike Substack - https://datalike.substack.com/ LinkedIn: / datatalks-club

New Music Spotlight: Interview with Bryan Kuznitz From Fame On Fire