Moving from psych to stats/DS is totally doable Depending on your training, there may be some gaps you need to fill, content-wise, but those gaps 1) aren't insurmountable + 2) will not automatically make you a bad data person just because you're working on filling them.
1/8
1/8
Doing good DS requires hard work/rigor but it’s not exclusive to “math” people. You can do it.
2/8
2/8
Personally, I had gaps in math + comp sci. I learned to code (Python, R, C++, SQL) and took/audited a bunch of probability, stats, and linear algebra classes. Those classes CERTAINLY helped me, but I could've learned the content w/o them it was just easier/more structured.
3/8
3/8
It can feel like you’re “leaving” psych, but to be honest, once your psych friends find out you’re good at and like stats they will DRAG you into their projects for stats help, haha😂
4/8
4/8
My current work is stats but it’s stats applied to psychology/behavioral data so while I “left” psych, I still have my hand in the psych world. I *did* face some discouraging statements from people who said I could NEVER make the switch because I didn’t have a good background
5/8
5/8
…(particularly there was one person who said no grad school would ever accept me and I should do something “easier”) but other than that, most people have seen my psych background as very useful.
6/8
6/8
We learn more about experimental design than some math/stats programs. We know how to think about human behavior (and a LOT of DS data is dealing with human behavior in some way) And knowing about psych as a field gives you domain expertise that others don’t have.
7/8
7/8
TL;DR it may be a lot of work to be a rigorous Data Scientist (stats is hard…) but your background in Psych will certainly not hold you back if you put in the work to learn. In fact, your background will probably help set you apart as a well rounded Data Scientist ✨
8/8
8/8
