Resume - Daanish Raj

Daanish_Raj-Resume.md

				**DAANISH RAJ**

Apt 6B, 3151, Broadway, New York, NY 10027 ▪ daanishraj@gmail.com ▪ github.com/daanishraj ▪ +1-347-414-3525

*I have several years of management experience and a solid foundation in statistics and computer science. I’m transitioning my career and looking for positions in Software Engineering*


				**EDUCATION**

Columbia University Master of Public Administration; GPA: 4.1/4.0
New York, USA, 2014-2017

Relevant Coursework: Probability, Statistical Inference, Linear Regression, Machine Learning, Data Structures, Data Visualization

University of Cambridge
Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Economics
Cambridge, UK, 2008-09

			**TECHNICAL SKILLS**

• Data Structures & Algorithms: sorting, search, arrays, linked lists, stacks & queues, trees, graphs

• Programming Languages: R, Python, Java, Stata, familiar with JavaScript

• Databases, Platforms, Tools: familiar with SQL, MongoDB, AWS, D3.js, Django, Flask, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap

• Statistical Algorithms: linear & logistic regression, regularization, KNN, trees, random forests, boosting, clustering, collaborative filtering, topic modeling, Markov models

    		**PROJECTS**
  

• Implemented standard algorithms (searching, sorting, graphs, trees etc.) in Java

• Created a command line version of the popular card game BlackJack, in Java

• Master’s thesis: Compared the performance of various statistical methods: ordinary least squares (OLS) vs regularization, nearest neighbours (KNN), decision trees, bagging, random forests and boosting, in predicting house prices in Seattle

• Predicted movie ratings and found ‘similar’ movies in a MovieLens dataset with 1700 movies and over 100k users. Executed collaborative filtering by implementing a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) inference probabilistic matrix factorization algorithm

• Classified a data set of emails into spam/non-spam by implementing Naïve Bayes, KNN and logistic regression algorithms

    		**EXPERIENCE*
  

Crushh Crushh
Software Engineering Intern
New York, USA, July 2017-Present

• Crushh is a unique algorithm driven mobile app that analyzes users’ text messages to interpret feelings
• Used messaging and call log features to develop an algorithm which flagged strange messaging and phone call patterns between users & their contacts; Used R for the exploratory analysis, wrote algorithm in Python; used median absolute deviation to detect outliers
• Mined text data by querying in SQL and running scripts in Python, using Django, on the database housed on AWS

TechnoServe (Leading global non-profit implementing business solutions to poverty)
Manager
Mumbai & MP, India, Feb 2013-Jul 2014

• Analytics, business development and managerial responsibilities in a fast-paced NGO-government-private sector setting
  
• Strengthened 3 Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) established under a World Bank funded project
  
• Developed and managed relationships with diverse stakeholders, created field teams; raised $80,000 of debt capital; increased gross margins in seed and fertilizer and business lines from 7 to 12% and 0 to 3% respectively

Pratham Education Foundation *(India’s largest education NGO)
Senior Research Associate & Program Manager
New Delhi, India, June 2010-Jan 2013

• Created an algorithm which enabled identification of villages where survey data was 50% more likely to have been fudged: created questionnaires which would capture the desired primary data; processed the data and wrote an algorithm in STATA which would output villages to be targeted. This method helped us optimize our M&E strategy, improving survey quality across 500+ districts

• Led a team of 7 associates to conduct the largest non-govt. education survey in the world, across west & central India; the team mobilized partners, planned & executed the survey and disseminated findings

• Led large teams to conduct research studies and impact evaluations of interventions by Pratham and other state governments

    	**TEACHING, LEADERSHIP, DISTINCTIONS**
  

• Teaching Assistant for a course on optimization & simulation at Columbia - Decision Models (U6033) – Summer ’15, ’16, Fall ’16

• President of the Residents’ Council at the International House of New York, a 90-year-old community of 700 students & professionals from 100 nations. This is an elected body representing the interests of the residents to the administration

• Was a professional athlete (cricket) until 2007; represented my state’s (Hyderabad) cricket team at various national tournaments