It’s very early for data science programs, according to Dr. Ahmet Bulut, director of the Masters in data science program at the Istanbul Sehir University. In fact, his graduate program admitted its first batch of students this semester. Bulut visited theCUBE at the IBM Insight conference and chatted with hosts Dave Vellante and John Furrier about the principals of the only data science master’s program in Turkey — one that he’s helped to handcraft and put into action. The Istanbul Sehir University embraces a collaborative “data science as a discipline.” “Data can embrace everybody,” Bulut said. “Data science is the table that brings all the practitioners together.” Everybody needs to “lean in” and participate in collaborative computing in order to get the most out of data science, he furthered. In fact, Bulut values the social aspect of data science so much that he has his students code in pairs — one programs and the other checks the code and asks questions. “They have to be able to interact,” he stressed. Bulut selected Python as the main programming language for his master’s program. Why? Because students get bored when confined to Java or C, Bulut explained. And, he added, “a key design criteria for the curriculum was not to lose the student’s excitement or curiosity.” If students want to learn Java later on, Bulut said, he’s just fine with that, “But they’ll have their self-esteem built on Python.”