How AI Happens Bell Senior Data Scientist Dalia Shanshal
In today’s episode, we are joined by Dalia Shanshal, Senior Data Scientist at Bell, Canada's largest communications company that offers advanced broadband wireless, Internet, TV, media, and business communications services. With over five years of experience working on hands-on projects, Dalia has a diverse background in data science and AI. We start our conversation by talking about the recent GeekFest Conference, what it is about, and key takeaways from the event. We then delve into her professional career journey and how a fascinating article inspired her to become a data scientist. During our conversation, Dalia reflects on the evolving nature of data science, discussing the skills and qualities that are now more crucial than ever for excelling in the field. We also explore why creativity is essential for problem-solving, the value of starting simple, and how to stand out as a data scientist before she explains her unique root cause analysis framework.Key Points From This Episode:
- Highlights of the recent Bell GeekFest Conference.
- AI-related topics focused on at the event.
- Why Bell’s GeekFest is only an internal conference.
- Details about Bell and Dalia’s role at the company.
- Her background and professional career journey.
- How the role of a data scientist has changed over time.
- The importance of creativity in problem-solving.
- Overview of why quality data is fundamental.
- Qualities of a good data scientist.
- The research side of data science.
- Dalia reveals her root cause analysis framework.
- Exciting projects she is currently working on.
Tweetables:
“What I do is to try leverage AI and machine learning to speed up and fastrack investigative processes.” — Dalia Shanshal [0:06:52]
“Data scientists today are key in business decisions. We always need business decisions based on facts and data, so the ability to mine that data is super important.” — Dalia Shanshal [0:08:35]
“The most important skill set [of a data scientist] is to be able to [develop] creative approaches to problem-solving. That is why we are called scientists.” — Dalia Shanshal [0:11:24]
“I think it is very important for data scientists to keep up to date with the science. Whenever I am [faced] with a problem, I start by researching what is out there.” — Dalia Shanshal [0:22:18]
“One of the things that is really important to me is making sure that whatever [data scientists] are doing has an impact.” — Dalia Shanshal [0:33:50]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Canadian Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CANAI)
‘Towards an Automated Framework of Root Cause Analysis in the Canadian Telecom Industry’