My DSN Impact Story
by Victor Olufemi Osinkolu
My data science journey with DSN started in OAU (Obafemi Awolowo University ile-ife) with the data science ife community now called AI+OAU. The community inspired me to learn more about data science to achieve my goal of becoming an expert in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
I was encouraged by Okunowo Similoluwa, an elite tutor in AI+OAU to participate in the 2019 Bootcamp qualification hackathon, I gave it a try and turned out to be the 74th candidate on the private leaderboard.
The 2019 all-expense-paid Bootcamp was my first Bootcamp ever, it inspired me to push forward in the field of machine learning and AI. With the best of the best experts from all over the world sharing their knowledge, ideas, experience, and advice, it was impossible not to be motivated. After the Bootcamp, there was so much confidence in me. I started contributing to my local community (AI+OAU), participating in several data science and deep learning hackathons on Zindi and Kaggle to hone the skills acquired during the Bootcamp. I also learned to deploy machine learning projects.
I had been anticipating the 2020 DSN Bootcamp since the day we left the 2019 Bootcamp grounds. The qualification hackathon for the 2020 DSN Bootcamp was far more challenging, all participants that enrolled were all relentless. I had had a taste of the DSN 2019 Bootcamp and couldn’t afford to miss out on the 2020 edition. Alas, I was among the 250 participants chosen for the all-expense-paid Bootcamp 2020 ranking 147 on the leaderboard. The Bootcamp was another awesome experience, funny how Data Science Nigeria has real magic when it comes to such events, it was indeed a great time learning from top professionals in the field. My local community AI+OAU won a lot of awards during the event which was indeed a stepping stone for me too.
The impact of DSN hit me the most shortly after the Bootcamp when my team (Team Solo) ranked 2nd place in the umojaHackNigeria competition which lasted for 9 hours. I am ever grateful to DSN, AI+OAU, and AI+OAU alumni Odemakinde Elisha for their strong impact in my journey. I am so glad to be part of this community.
