Hi all,
I will like to know if anyone here attended the Hack Lagos Traffic Big Data masterclass organised by Andela on the 26th of March 2016. I was unable to attend due to some other important engagement so I will like to know how it went and how good it was in general. Tell us about the positives and negatives.
Keep in mind that I am more interested in the thoughts of seasoned programmers especially those with a background or at least a little experience in data science and not the opinions of drooling fanboys who were so enthralled that they probably didnt learn anything other than how awesome it is to know about data science.

Seriously? Is it that no one on this forum attended or are the criteria laid down in the OP too stringent?
Okay I will be open to hear from anyone who attended and isn't even a programmer at all. Cheers

no fuel

There is a dude that attended, he has obviously not seen this thread. Probably, he has no fuel to read this post.

^^Hehehe. U guys got jokes. But seriously I need to know how it went. It will really let me know if big data is beginning to have a foothold in Nigeria. Dhtml8 u can help us talk to your friend and give me us a feedback here.

He went to buy fuel, he will soon land here. . .

@NPComplete:

I was there and it was nice.

Topics discussed include issues with traffic management in Lagos, problems faced building apps that try to solve traffic problems [street mapping, bus-stop naming, routes], how traffic data analyses (Big Data) can be used to solve the problem (case study https://www.tsaboin.com/ and .....) and IBM Bluemix cloud platform. etc

Not as technical as I expect, though..

jacob05:
@NPComplete:

I was there and it was nice.

Topics discussed include issues with traffic management in Lagos, problems faced building apps that try to solve traffic problems [street mapping, bus-stop naming, routes], how traffic data analyses (Big Data) can be used to solve the problem (case study https://www.tsaboin.com/ and .....) and IBM Bluemix cloud platform. etc

Not as technical as I expect, though..

Hmmm
So it wasn't technical? Maybe that's because it was targeted at a wide variety of audience. I would have loved a more technical exposure though.
@the part in bold, did they go through a step by step process of a (maybe simple) problem and actually solved it? Or did they just go like "hey guys here's an example of an app that uses big data to solve a traffic problem, shiny ain't it?"

NPComplete:


Hmmm
So it wasn't technical? Maybe that's because it was targeted at a wide variety of audience. I would have loved a more technical exposure though.
@the part in bold, did they go through a step by step process of a (maybe simple) problem and actually solved it? Or did they just go like "hey guys here's an example of an app that uses big data to solve a traffic problem, shiny ain't it?"

Exactly the bolded .. lolz

jacob05:


Exactly the bolded .. lolz

LMAO. Thanks for sharing bro

Hey NPComplete,

Farouq here. I'm a Machine Learning Engineer working at Konga.

I didn't attend the IBM session. Weird I didn't even know about it until it passed.

Lately, I've been working on predictive analytics, recommendations and computer vision. And there's this NLP task I've been struggling with for a while now.

It appears you have some questions about Data Science (perhaps even not related to the IBM session?). I'd be glad to help however I can.

I don't normally identify as a Data Scientist because it's not exactly the same thing as a Machine Learning Engineer but there are indeed areas of overlap.

Cheers.

I tweet frequently, you can find me here @farouqzaib

farouqzaib:
Hey NPComplete,

Farouq here. I'm a Machine Learning Engineer working at Konga.

I didn't attend the IBM session. Weird I didn't even know about it until it passed.

Lately, I've been working on predictive analytics, recommendations and computer vision. And there's this NLP task I've been struggling with for a while now.

It appears you have some questions about Data Science (perhaps even not related to the IBM session?). I'd be glad to help however I can.

I don't normally identify as a Data Scientist because it's not exactly the same thing as a Machine Learning Engineer but there are indeed areas of overlap.

Cheers.

I tweet frequently, you can find me here @farouqzaib

Hey farouq, nice to catch you here.... Wow it's great to hear developers in Nigeria are already looking at mastering and applying the area of data science, machine learning and what not. Good stuff.

How's it coming for you and others there at Konga?

BTW... overlap? (referencing the bolded) I think you've got to grok the science behind a thing before being able to engineer the shi{} out of it?....please explain the overlap you mean there.

farouqzaib:
Hey NPComplete,

Farouq here. I'm a Machine Learning Engineer working at Konga.

I didn't attend the IBM session. Weird I didn't even know about it until it passed.

Lately, I've been working on predictive analytics, recommendations and computer vision. And there's this NLP task I've been struggling with for a while now.

It appears you have some questions about Data Science (perhaps even not related to the IBM session?). I'd be glad to help however I can.

I don't normally identify as a Data Scientist because it's not exactly the same thing as a Machine Learning Engineer but there are indeed areas of overlap.

Cheers.

I tweet frequently, you can find me here @farouqzaib

Hi Farouq, nice to have u join us. When u say u have been working on predictive analytics, I am sure u are referring mostly to recommender systems considering Konga being into e-commerce and all, though the extent to which it is applied in Konga's business paradigm remains unfamiliar. I am curious about the computer vision aspect of ur interests; do u use computer vision professionally at Konga or it's just a side interest for u in ur free time?
Sadly, I have often found myself afflicted with a very strong aversion to twitter. I would love to hear more from u if u will be willing to share here.
Cheers

Hello DAvit0,

With respect to the job titles, the lines are somewhat blurred. However, when defined formally, there are some differences. For example, a Data Scientist cares a lot about explaining data and understanding it - they do a lot of causal inference. Not to say an MLE doesn't care about understanding data, an MLE just doesn't care as much. On the other hand, an MLE must know tons of advanced ML algorithms, not just the theory but also the details so he/she can implement, tune and improve them. But will a Data Scientist care as much about mastering advanced algorithms? No.

I think this guy explains it well https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-data-scientist-and-a-machine-learning-engineer/answer/Manish-Tripathi?srid=nSVb

Compare these job descriptions Data Scientist -https://www.facebook.com/careers/jobs/a0I1200000I9nSlEAJ/, Machine Learning Engineer - https://www.facebook.com/careers/jobs/a0IA000000G34SMMAZ/

I'm sure you'll notice the difference in the description.

The areas of overlap involve both groups understanding the basics of each of their respective fields.

Cheers

Hi NPComplete,

I participate a lot in Kaggle competitions (https://www.kaggle.com/) where I get to do a lot of predictive analytics. Sadly, I haven't won any yet .

I don't refer to personalization/recommendations as predictive analytics. I think they are distinct fields. Predictive analytics usually involves predicting one continuous/categorical value for a datapoint - e.g trying to determine if a loan applicant will default, if it'll rain tomorrow, if an insurance claim is valid etc. Unlike recommenders systems where the predicted values are usually not as restricted.

For computer vision it's mostly personal work. I do the usual object classification and scene labelling. I'm particularly interested in building a device for visually impaired people.

Enough about me. What do you do?

I dont even know what they are talking about on this thread. . . . .

farouqzaib:
Hi NPComplete,

I participate a lot in Kaggle competitions (https://www.kaggle.com/) where I get to do a lot of predictive analytics. Sadly, I haven't won any yet .

I don't refer to personalization/recommendations as predictive analytics. I think they are distinct fields. Predictive analytics usually involves predicting one continuous/categorical value for a datapoint - e.g trying to determine if a loan applicant will default, if it'll rain tomorrow, if an insurance claim is valid etc. Unlike recommenders systems where the predicted values are usually not as restricted.

For computer vision it's mostly personal work. I do the usual object classification and scene labelling. I'm particularly interested in building a device for visually impaired people.

Enough about me. What do you do?

Ah yes me. What can I say about me? Ever the dilettante, I dabble into programming quite often when my day job lets me to. Most times I try solving my problems using programming often in Android or Python. I was once into machine learning and data science some two years back. These days I have been a little too distant from that field so I am trying to find my way back. So u can only imagine how giddy I became when I learnt of the event that made me create this thread. Alas, it was not to be. And from what I have gathered, I didnt miss anything important by not attending. Hopefully the organizers will put a little more effort next time.

I attended and they gave us gala and viju milk

tgmservice:
I attended and they gave us gala and viju milk

Hehehehe. U don't seem very happy about it. Anyway I am particular about ur take away from the event that are not of the edible variety: what u learnt and how u feel about the event.

tgmservice:
I attended and they gave us gala and viju milk

i need a job in ur bed room if u decode

tgmservice:
I attended and they gave us gala and viju milk

So that is all you have to say ehn? was that why you attended the program?

irunooboo:

i need a job in ur bed room if u decode

Send me the ip address of your bedroom. . .

dhtml18:
I dont even know what they are talking about on this thread. . . . .

My head even started aching at some point while reading this, lol.

Lol. . .

dhtml18:


Send me the ip address of your bedroom. . .

hmmmmm....aboy I think say you don marry

Nmeri17:
hmmmmm....aboy I think say you don marry

I want to give the up address to my friend, what has that got to do with being married?

dhtml18:

I want to give the up address to my friend, what has that got to do with being married?

this one na "rendering of agency services" with respect to bridging the gap between olosho and awon boys.

pleece Holla when nest una begin recruit.....that kain agency, me sef go love o

^^^Do we have any olosho on this thread ni? me i no understand you again o. E be like say you wan start third world war for here.
Me i don hide behind banana leave o, i no dey dia o.

dhtml18:
^^^Do we have any olosho on this thread ni? me i no understand you again o. E be like say you wan start third world war for here.
Me i don hide behind banana leave o, i no dey dia o.

The irun*obo chic

Santa maria! what is this dude talking about?