At The Data Lab, we’re always thrilled to showcase the experiences and growth of our talented students from The Data Lab Academy. Jared Scott, MSc Data Science at Robert Gordon University participated in the Data Fest and FanDuel hackathon. In this insightful piece, Jared shares their journey through the event, highlighting the valuable skills and knowledge gained. Jared, along with other students, had an opportunity to demonstrate his current knowledge and push his further to learn new skills with the supportive team at FanDuel.
The Data Fest and FanDuel hackathon was an amazing event to attend, giving me a major boost to both my technical and interpersonal skills. There was an incredibly strong variety of attendees present and we all quickly formed teams and got to know each other. The sheer mix of talent on hand amongst the people around me was really impressive and we quickly identified each other’s strengths that could be applied to the task we were given – analyse a dataset surrounding historic Superbowl events to predict the winner for this year. The data had imperfections and was structured much like you could expect from a real-world dataset. This project very much felt like something you could expect in a professional environment and getting to experience working with a team like this has proven invaluable.
Navigating solutions as a team
As a team (we called ourselves the corner crew… because we happened to be sat in the corner), we then discussed potential ideas for coming up with a prediction and then worked together to implement a range of solutions to address the problem, including assessing the dataset given and any pre-processing work that needed to be done. As we had such a varied technical skillset from our different degree backgrounds, we opted to come up with different solutions individually and compare the results they gave us – one team member implemented a Python program that processed the data and worked out based on two teams, which would be most likely to win. The rest of us used R to explore, process and make analysis and predictions from the data. It really highlighted how a team with vastly different experience can come together to benefit from each other’s skills. We demonstrated that we could coordinate our workload to we make sure we were efficient. We evaluated each other’s work and offered each other support where necessary. Teamworking is such an essential business skill to have, especially in today’s world of flexible working types, so this opportunity is an excellent chance to practice and improve both teamworking and other business skills. The best part was the freedom and flexibility for us to decide how to navigate the problem and structure our solution.
Demonstrating impact and understanding a data science solution pipeline
At the end of the day, we were given the opportunity to present the work we had completed to the rest of the teams and demonstrate the implementation we had come up with. In the end, we didn’t make a direct prediction of who would win this year’s Superbowl, but instead presented our thinking, findings and a couple of tools that could help someone try to predict which teams have the best track record for winning. It was amazing to see the range of solutions created and the different methods that each team had come up with. The event really felt like it mirrored a professional data science solution pipeline (albeit shrank down into a day!), because it allowed us to break down the requirements of the problem, analyse the data, implement a solution, evaluate it and then present our findings to an audience with a range of data and AI knowledge. The staff running the event were so supportive and were always happy to help and guide us to make sure we got the most out of the event.
I had only 6 weeks data science knowledge through my university course and was unsure how my limited ability would cope with an unknown challenge. It was such a relaxed and fun event which meant I could really demonstrate my current knowledge and push myself further to learn new skills. I would definitely do this again and would encourage anyone else interested to do the same!
Thank you FanDuel and The Data Lab!
About FanDuel
The Data Lab is thrilled to announce FanDuel, North America’s Premiere Online Gaming Company, has renewed their partnership for 2024. FanDuel is uniquely rooted into Scotland’s vibrant tech and data ecosystem and this agreement marks the company’s continued support of the local technology community. Through their renewed agreement, FanDuel will continue to sponsor The Data Lab events and work with educational institutions that are fostering the next generation of innovators in data science.
Last year, FanDuel offered Jared Scott, MSc Data Science RGU and student at The Data Lab Academy the opportunity to participate in the FanDuel hackathon that was hosted during the company’s Data Summit in November.
We are honoured to be acknowledged by The Data Lab as a renewed partner for 2024. At FanDuel, we take great pride in our roots within Scotland’s dynamic Data ecosystem. By continuing our partnership, we’re not only able to incorporate data science innovation into our own platform but we’re also able to support Edinburgh’s next generation of data science innovators
Adrian Allen, Senior Manager, Data Engineering, FanDuel