Datacast Episode 6: Data Science in the Travel Industry with Ewan Nicolson
I’m creating a new podcast about data science called Datacast! The 6th episode is my conversation with Ewan Nicolson, a senior data scientist at Skyscanner — a global travel brand. Listen to learn about the intersection between marketing and data, how Skyscanner recommends travel itinerary to its users, important signals to look for in a data-centric company, and the tech ecosystem in Edinburgh.
Guest Bio
Ewan has been working professionally with numbers and computers for the past 13 years. During the past 6 years at Skyscanner, he has seen the data team grow from 2 analysts based in Edinburgh to a global team of 25+ data scientists making a global impact.
Show Notes
(2:00) Ewan recalled his undergraduate days at the University of Edinburgh studying Physics.
(2:43) Ewan talked about his first job out of school as a Seismic Acquisition Specialist at ION Geophysical.
(5:28) Ewan briefly skimmed through his next job as a Senior Research Executive in Marketing Science at BBC.
(7:40) Ewan gave some key insights on the intersection between marketing and data.
(10:15) Ewan introduced Skyscanner and the interesting data problem that he is helping to solve.
(12:39) Ewan went over a couple of major data science use cases at Skyscanner.
(18:05) Ewan discussed how Skyscanner builds its travel recommendation system.
(23:40) Ewan emphasized the importance of doing A/B testing experiments at Skyscanner.
(27:58) Ewan talked about the differences in doing experimentation on both Skyscanner’s web app and the mobile app.
(29:31) Ewan gave a long answer on how a data scientist can effectively communicate the results to others in an organization.
(33:07) Ewan gave his two cents on possible ways a data science team can be situated in a company.
(36:40) Ewan shared the 3 most important software engineering skillsthat a data scientist can develop.
(38:25) Ewan stressed the importance of learning SQL.
(40:25) Ewan mentioned the important signals to look for in a data-centric company.
(43:01) Ewan shared more information about the data science and tech ecosystem in Scotland.
(45:40) Ewan gave advice for aspiring data scientists who want to succeed during a data science interview.
(49:45) Ewan gave advice for business executives who want to bring data talents into their organizations.
(51:00) Closing segments.
His Contact Info
His Recommended Resources
Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science