Meet the Team: Darina

Meet the team: Darina

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This month, we had a chance to sit down with a Principal Data Scientist at Bayes Esports, Darina Goldin. From Bayes Live Match Predictions to our Live Odds products, Darina has helped us drive the esports industry forward with data as the foundation. From her early beginnings at DOJO Madness, to her biggest Bayes Esports highlight, she shares all. 

While her creativity and talent are apparent in her achievements the past eight years at Bayes Esports, she has many other milestones under her belt. With the perk of remote work and ongoing support of Bayes Esports, she has achieved World Championship status. 

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‍Tell us about your career journey. How did you get to become the Principal Data Scientist at Bayes Esports?

DG: “I started working as a Data Scientist for DOJO Madness over eight years ago. This is the company which eventually became Bayes Esports. From there on it was just a question of learning more and gaining more experience alongside our great team. I was also the Director of Data Science for a while, however I realized I’m not interested in the management track and prefer to be an individual contributor.”

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What made you interested in data science in the first place?

DG: “My PhD is in Control Science, which is an area heavily involved with statistical modeling of our world. From there the jump to data science seemed tiny - all I needed to do was learn to code in Python.”

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What would you say to someone else looking to follow a similar career path?

DG: “People make it look easy - just do a boot camp in data science, learn to train some models, and you’re ready to go. I don’t think you’ll get very far if that is all you do. Call me old-fashioned but I believe that you need to have a good understanding of why things work and how they work in order to be a good data scientist - and that also means being good at math.”

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‍What made you want to work for Bayes Esports initially?

DG: “While studying for my PhD, I played a lot of Team Fortress 2 and got quite good at it. So when the time came to find a “real” job, working with esports data seemed like a fun career choice where I could combine my love for esports with my interest in data science.”

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Tell us about the data science team at Bayes Esports?

DG: “My co-worker is Notger Heinz, who is also a Principal Data Scientist. We’ve been friends since our PhD years and we’ve been working together since the company was first founded as DOJO Madness. After more than eight years working together, you can definitely say that we make a good team! For now the team has shrunk to just the two of us, but we hope to expand in the near future.”

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What are your values in leading the data science team?

DG: “I think it’s important to have a culture where nobody is afraid of admitting their mistakes. At the same time, we should do everything in our power to never make the same mistake twice. Finally, we should always strive to see the big picture behind the task we are currently working on. And try to have a little bit of fun while doing it.”

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What has been a career highlight at Bayes Esports? 

DG: “The first time we made live odds work still takes the cake – it seemed like such a complex task to solve, yet in only three months we were able to set up a pipeline, train models, and deliver a product our customers were happy with. Of course that wasn’t my only highlight, but it’s still the most memorable one.”

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You recently competed at the World Combat Games. Can you tell us more about it and how Bayes supported you on this journey?

DG: “I’ve been a martial artist and competitor for most of my life. Currently I’m a member of the German Grappling national team: I was able to qualify for the World Combat Games by winning the World Championship in 2022.

The World Combat Games are the Olympic Games pendant for non Olympic martial arts. They take place every 3 years. This is probably the closest I’ll ever get to being in the Olympics and it was an incredible experience.

Bayes Esports have been incredibly supportive of my athletic endeavors from the very start. Professional training sessions are usually in the middle of the day because that is typically the primary focus for pro athletes. I’m able to attend these and still have a challenging job because Bayes Esports lets me have a flexible schedule. I also get special leave for major competitions like the Games - a massive perk, without which I wouldn’t be able to compete as much as I do.”

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To wrap up this interview, we have a couple of quick fire questions. Ready? 

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• Favorite video game? “Team Fortress 2”
• ‍Best thing about the Bayes Esports office? “The plants in my office”
• Favorite Bayes Esports perk? “Remote work. It lets me combine my job with training camps.”
• Best thing about the Bayes Esports team? “Tobi the dog!” 

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