John Hawkins

John Hawkins has a diverse work experience in the field of data science and machine learning. John is currently working as the Chief Scientist at PLAYGROUND XYZ, where they focus on researching and developing machine learning systems for adtech. Previously, they worked as a Book Author at Getting Data Science Done in 2020. John also served as a Machine Learning Advisor at HealthVox, where they advised the team on ML APIs and product plans for data collection suitable for future ML applications from 2021 to 2021. John also worked as a Machine Learning Solution Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) from 2020 to 2021.

Prior to that, John gained experience as a Lead Data Scientist at DataRobot from 2018 to 2020, leading a team of data scientists and collaborating with business executives to develop machine learning solutions for various industries. John also worked as an Affiliate Researcher at the Centre for Translational Data Science from 2018 to 2019.

Before these roles, John worked as a Data Scientist at Nine Entertainment, where they built the 9Predict audience forecasting system using Apache Drill, Apache Spark, and H2O.ai. John also gained experience as a Data Scientist at Commonwealth Bank and Big Mobile, where they focused on optimizing campaign performance and applying machine learning techniques.

Furthermore, John has entrepreneurial experience as the Founder and Developer of Bailaqui, a small company dedicated to releasing mobile applications for the international dance community. John developed a free directory connecting people with dance schools, events, and festivals worldwide.

Overall, John Hawkins has a strong background in data science, machine learning, and adtech, with experience spanning research, advisory roles, solution architecture, team leadership, and entrepreneurship.

John Hawkins holds a PhD in Computer Science from The University of Queensland, which they obtained from 2004 to 2007. Prior to that, they pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Molecular Biology at The University of Queensland from 2003 to 2004 but did not complete it. In 2000 to 2001, John attended Southern Cross University and received an Associate Degree in Information Technology. Furthermore, from 1994 to 1999, they studied Philosophy at the University of Newcastle and graduated with a BA Honors I degree.

In terms of additional certifications, John Hawkins obtained various credentials. In May 2021, they received the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate certification from Amazon Web Services (AWS). John also completed multiple courses and specializations in Natural Language Processing from deeplearning.ai and NLP - Natural Language Processing with Python from Udemy between 2020 and 2021. Before that, they gained expertise in functional programming and big data analysis from Coursera through multiple certifications, including Functional Programming in Scala, Big Data Analysis with Scala and Spark, and Parallel Programming, all completed between 2016 and 2017. Lastly, in 2018, they obtained the Bayesian Methods for Machine Learning certification from Coursera.