Until now, all my experiences leading up to Hike with a Data Scientist have meant going to some indoor organized event where there will be one or a small panel of speakers that will speak to a larger group about a topic relating to data science. Pitched as a way to, “have fun, make friends, talk about data, and help your hiking buddy with his or her data questions,” Hike with a Data Scientist seemed like a welcome deviation from the norm.

On April 1^st, I joined 6 others on a walk around Central Park. It had poured the night before and it was 40 degrees and cloudy. Not exactly ideal weather for strolling, but a dedicated few showed up anyway. I was excited because it was really nice to get outside since I spend the majority of my time behind a desk in class or behind a cubicle at work.

The Machine Learning Society organized Hike with a Data Scientist, and the event aligns well with their overall mission to establish a community that organizer Brian Rogers calls, “getting together without sounding sales-pitch-y.” I would describe it as a group of data and tech enthusiasts from various professions and interests coming together to geek out in the best ways possible.

Rogers founded the New York chapter of the Machine Leaning Society. The Machine Learning Society started in San Diego and has since expanded to New York. Rogers says, “I think that here in New York we have the opportunity to grow like in San Diego, I mean we’re an infant, but in one month we’re already seeing comparable numbers.” Demand for data scientists is high and people are interested in getting involved to learn more or grow their resumes.

Aside from some of the explanations he gave us about the Machine Learning society, we spent much of the time aggressively talking about data science-related topics including self-driving cars, protecting your data, and passport carrying cows. I mentioned this NPR article that mentioned how cows in the European Union are so carefully monitored that they essentially carried passports. We then launched into a full debate about the involvement of data in agriculture. On other similar topics we came to the same conclusion: Getting data is not the major problem anymore, it is making sense of the noise.

If you have the time, these kinds of events may not land you your next job, but they do provide a platform for more engagement and conversation. I would recommend that if you’re willing to face the weather, you should definitely try one of these out. The next Hike with a Data Scientist is happening on April 30^th. See you there!