Frequently Asked Questions:
Statistics & Math
You trained in math, right? So how did you end up teaching Statistics?
When I began grad school, I assumed that I was on a number theory research track, however, after teaching during grad school I changed my plans. After leaving graduate school, I took a temporary job in the Math department of BCIT. I was given a Statistics class to teach as well as my more familiar Calculus. I had a basic understanding of Statistics from my undergraduate degree, and a strong background in probability theory thanks to my mathematical background, and I dove into learning Statistics.
To my surprise, a course that was low on my list of priorities became an enduring passion! Almost ten years and many classes later, I can confidently say that Statistics and Quantitative Methods is a subject close to my heart. In fact, I love Statistics so much that I wrote a book about it!
Talking about the book, why did you write one? And why with Wiley, and not open source?
Oddly enough, writing a book has always been on my list of things I wanted to accomplish in my life. (Along with reading 1000 books (done!) and travel to each continent (nowhere near done)). So when the opportunity came up, I decided to act on it. I also have mixed feelings about the open source world. While it is incredibly amazing, I feel that sometimes it offloads the true cost of developing content onto other people. Writing a book takes time, energy, and a lot more people than you’d think. We had four authors and an amazing editor as well as copywriters, fact checkers, and layout people. Each chapter has been reviewed multiple times, and the revisions that came out of these reviews really made the final product a clearer and stronger text. I was lucky to have such a great team at Wiley, and I feel lucky that they have put so much faith into our team.
Ok, I get that, but since answering the above question, you did contribute to an Open Source book? Huh?
I still feel that people need to be paid for their work! Luckily, BCIT and BCcampus OpenEd both agree - our team was supported financially by our department, as well as an OpenEd grant. That made this a win-win situation: lots of attention by a team, as well as being free and open for students.
MDS program
I don’t get it, you already have a great career! Why did you decide to join the MDS program at UBC?
A tough one! I love my job, and I have no plans to switch careers, but I’ve always been a person who loves learning new things. I’ve had colleagues joke that it is important to come up with new projects for me, to keep me from getting bored! Over my years at BCIT, I’ve taken on many new challenges: learning how to code to create an online homework system, delivering tutorials to help improve algebra fundamentals, taking on an administrative role and helping as an academic coordinator in our Part-time Studies.
I had heard about the MDS program while it was still in development, and thought about it for years. Somehow, I realize that I never felt I was done with graduate school, and it felt like the right move for me.
So… now that it’s over, was the MDS program worth it?
Yes! It was one of the toughest things I’ve done, and it was a stressful year, especially the month a pipe burst in my ceiling, and I had to move out of my home for a month with my family while trying to work on my machine learning skills. But I learned a lot about data science, my R skills are awesome, and my coding has definitely levelled up. I learned that there are few things I like more than taking a badly formatted batch of spreadsheets, and transforming them into a tidy dataframe for analysis. I learned that while machine learning is incredibly sophisticated, and an amazing use of math, it’s not something I want to work on full time.
I hear Data Science is the wave of the future. Should I learn Data Science?
Yes! I mean, only apply for an MDS if you are ready to buckle down and work hard, but there are so many resources out there. Read a book! Learn some R! Master the pivot table functions in Excel! Understanding how to gather, clean, and analyze data is like having a superpower in the business world.
General
Enough about math! What do you do in your free time?
Well, I’m a parent who works full time and just finished an intensive graduate program and wrote a textbook, so free time isn’t a thing I have a ton of. That being said, I’m a life long reader, I try to make time for painting, and I also knit. I have time to go to about one movie a year, and so for the past several years that pretty much only covers Star Wars.
You said you paint, can I buy one of your paintings?
Sure! Check out my art here.
Do you consult?
Sometimes! If you’re interested, email me at amygoldlist (at) gmail (dot) com (Sorry about the obscured email, but I think this helps me avoid webscrapers). As mentioned above, I’m just coming off a really busy couple of years, but now that writing and grad school are done, I should have more time. We can discuss.
Goldlist? That’s an unusual name. I feel like I saw that in a heritage minute one time, how’d that end up on TV?
Yes you did! That was probably this Heritage Minute showing the history of Kensington Market in Toronto. The store you see in the beginning was my grandfather’s poultry shop. This Heritage Minute was created by my very own brother, Michael, and talks about our grandfather. You can read about it here.