Uber launches Data Science Apprenticeship Program

Update September 2023: Our Data Science Apprenticeship Program is no longer active.

As part of our commitment to fight racism with technology, reflect the diversity of the communities in which we operate and hire, and increase equal employment opportunities for talent from nontraditional and historically excluded communities, this is the 4th program we’ve launched in 3 years that encourages participation from talented  people from nontraditional backgrounds to join us—first recruiters, salespeople, and engineers, and now data scientists. For our first DSA cohort, participants are expected to have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a STEM field and/or 2 years of experience working full-time in a data-related role, with basic knowledge of statistics and SQL.  All qualified applicants without regard for race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age or disabilities will be considered.

University of Maryland Global Campus professors will lead the first 3 months of DSA, hosting live training to refresh skills in statistics, analytics, data manipulation, and visualization. Uber’s Data Scientists will lead the following 3 months, deep-diving into defining performance measurements, consumer product experiment design and analysis, and statistical modeling. The program will culminate with a capstone project focusing on a real-life Uber project. At graduation, apprentices will share their projects as a final expedited interview for a full-time role on our Data Science team.

“We’re invested in setting up apprentices for long-term success at Uber and beyond,” says Kim Tamayo, Inclusive Recruiting Program Manager. “That’s why we’ve partnered with the University of Maryland Global Campus to ensure that apprentices have a strong foundational knowledge of data science fundamentals that will benefit them today and tomorrow. They will receive college credits for completed courses and will be eligible for an undergraduate certificate in business analytics from UMGC.” 

Inspired by company-led training programs encouraging participation from underrepresented groups but that focused on engineering and product management, Sara Potgeter, who leads the Data Science Sourcing team for Uber in the US and Canada, saw a gap in similar offerings in the data science space and partnered with Tamayo and Subana Paramuthevar, also from Uber’s Inclusive Recruiting team, to bring the program to life.

“Uber as a company has been extremely data-driven since day one. Our products are in the hands of millions of users around the world, and therefore, we need to use rigorous statistical analysis and experimentation to continuously improve the safety and experience of our global users,” says Potgeter. “However, data science as a function has not been around very long, and the pathway has been less socialized than other technical roles. This has led to less-diverse data science teams when compared to other tech functions.”

“We are creating this program as an opportunity to encourage people who recently graduated with STEM degrees to pivot to the data science career track,” Potgeter says. “Additionally, there are many talented people who have been working in data science or analytics roles outside of tech who can leverage the DSA program as a foot in the door. This program will emphasize training and hands-on experience relevant to Uber’s 3-sided marketplace.”