About

Job market status

I am currently on the job market. If you are reading this and want to employ me, remotely or in the greater Hamburg area, please get in contact. A link to my CV should appear on this site, or you can email me.

James as a Data Scientist

Background

My empirical prowess stems from my economics education. After the two-year Masters of Science in Economics program at the Universität Hamburg, I began a PhD at the Graduate School of Economics, Finance, and Management in Frankfurt. My first two years were coursework, including advanced econometrics, time series analysis, and Bayesian inference.

I also have professional experience with Statista as a researcher for the Editorial Research Intelligence Department. We researched and prepared domain-specific dossiers on topics from the effects of the George Floyd killing to the cost of European monarchies. Upon joining the team, my writing reduced the turnaround for the drafting phase by over half, with fewer revision requests from the editorial team.

English is my mother tongue, and my German is advanced (B2/C1, depending on the day). I also speak intermediate Spanish (B1) and basic French (A2).

Coding

My primary language has been MATLAB. Both my computational economics courses required it, and I used it for my master’s thesis. I have also worked in projects using R, Python, Stata, EViews, Gauss, and Excel. A few assignments required knowledge in C++, implemented using the RCPP wrapper.

In my personal time, I have also learned SQL and Tableau, as well as general use commands in Bash (Linux). My mathematics background has helped immensely, and I continue to develop in this direction through MOOCs and research.

Methods

My preferred method is the vector autoregressive model (VAR). It is both straightforward and versatile, and Bayesian methods enable calculation of a vast number of variables without losing degrees of freedom. I am also particularly interested in latent variable models, whether they be state-space time series models, logit regressions, or factor analysis. As an economist, causality is a constant question. As such, experimental design for A/B tests and other data-gathering schemes comes natural.

I consider myself a senior data scientist trapped in a junior analyst’s body. I have programmed the Metropolis Hastings algorithm from scratch in Matlab and tweaked parameters in the R source code. However, I am still finding my feet in packages like Pandas and scikit-learn. In other words, I am the opposite of a recent IT bootcamp graduate. My coding is a little slower, but I understand advanced methods easily and have seen a wide range of data types in the wild.

Seemingly Unrelated Work History

Before returning to academia for my masters, I lived and worked on four continents. Jobs included tourism, English teaching, managing a hostel, and nonprofit fundraising. While these were chosen more as a way to fuel my desire for international experience, I took each position seriously, delving deep into the topics offered.

Through this, I have developed a range of skills which have benefited me in surprising ways. First and foremost, living so long in such different cultural contexts required flexibility and self-reliance. Secondly, as these were all public-facing positions, they developed my communication skills in all contexts, from written to large presentations. Finally, I have accumulated a library of background knowledge that I use to contextualize my current projects.

Other interests

I identify as a nerd and throw myself into topics as they catch me. This has included international relations, linguistics, history, ecology, composting (particularly vermicompost), and whitewater kayaking. By no means am I an expert in these, with the exception of whitewater, but I find it useful to keep myself entertained. It also fuels my creativity.

The reason for leaving my PhD Program

The elephant in the room is that I am leaving my PhD studies for a traditional job. I love research, but the academic stress during the coursework phase led to a burnout. In the course of working through that, I have elected to seek a path with a better work/life balance. This does not mean I refuse to work late for a big project on occasion, but that I do not want consistent 60-70 hour weeks. I am happy to talk more openly in a personal context.