Meet our team: Trouni, Data Science bootcamp manager

I studied engineering in one of the top engineering schools in France but also quickly realised that I was passionate about bringing business ideas to life. I got involved in my first digital venture while writing my master’s thesis on the optimization of wastewater treatment, which further convinced me that I really wanted more than a traditional desk job.

My entrepreneurial experience revolves around launching or growing startups, offering either software or hardware solutions, and across various industries. It forced me to quickly learn a broad and diverse set of skills, from product development, sales and logistics, to IP management for example. I’m a generalist and I love having to constantly sail out into uncharted waters – it keeps me on my toes and reminds me to never stop learning.

In the past 10 years, I’ve been involved in several cool projects around the world, like Australia’s first Uber-like taxi booking app, or multiple popular IoT devices for musicians. After setting up the international operations in Berlin for my company at the time, I moved to Tokyo a couple of years ago to run and expand our Japanese office. After that, I decided to join Le Wagon’s coding bootcamp in Tokyo to acquire the key skills that I needed to prototype and test-drive new ideas in a fast and efficient way.

I always loved DIY, and I see coding as the ultimate form of DIY, but highly collaborative and scalable. The ability to imagine things, and then build them, truly feels like a superpower.

I’ve always been analytical, but my interest in Data Science has been fueled over the last decade by the rise of machine learning and the popularization of new AI-based products and services like AI-composed music or self-driving cars. That interest pushed me into new and interesting subject areas. I started researching the impact of Data Science in transforming business and in the way humans interact with data in our daily lives.

Like I do with most subjects I’m interested in, I started exploring and trying my hand at machine learning. I took Andrew Ng’s famous Machine Learning and Deep Learning specializations and started from there. For my Demo Day, I also developed Loquence, a platform to aggregate sales data from all your e-commerce channels into beautiful and easily customizable charts and dashboards.

 

 

After the bootcamp, I launched my software consulting company and was also regularly teaching at the web development course. When Tokyo CEO Sylvain told me the first-ever Data Science bootcamp in Tokyo from Le Wagon was successfully launched in Paris, I got really excited. Considering my fruitful collaboration with Le Wagon and deep interest in Data Science, leading a Data Science course in Tokyo seemed like a great next step for me.

Why learn Data Science today?

Working with the Le Wagon team is really fun, we have a very friendly and supportive environment.

Teaching abstract concepts to newcomers is very challenging, yet also the most rewarding experience. I feel that being able to bridge those with real life examples, something that students can relate to, makes an essential part of my teaching assignments.

I love the coding bootcamp’s format because the curriculum needs to be extremely sharp due to time constraints, and witnessing how people evolve from day one to Demo Day is extremely inspiring. I feel that we teachers shoulder a heavy responsibility to ensure all of them achieve their goal – and for many of them, it’s not just a hobby but a turning point in their career path, sometimes a life-changing decision.

Don’t do what I did, which was to start my learning journey focusing on the theory. In hindsight, it would have been more beneficial to first focus on a more practical approach. It’s ok to not understand all the inner workings of a neural network when you’re starting. You will start developing an intuition about how to train your models, which will eventually make it much easier to study and understand the underlying theory.

The good news is that the Data Science bootcamp has a very good balance of theoretical knowledge and practice. In addition to learning some of the theory, about 80% of your time at the bootcamp is spent actually using the tools of the trade, which is really what I wish I had when I first started my learning.

Thanks for your time, Trouni! Looking forward to seeing you teaching at the upcoming Data Science bootcamp.