I would like to thank all of my friends and family who have supported me throughout my career and the writing of this book. A special thanks to mum, dad, brother Stu, and best friend of 20 years, Gem. They have not tired of listening to my repeatedly saying how excited I am about becoming a published author, something I am very proud of. Kudos to all at Packt Publishing for making this possible!

I am especially grateful to Leo who has fully supported my learning, development and career aspirations. Leo has been a true joy to work for and I am very grateful to him for everything. Last but not least I would like to thank Badoo for all of the opportunities presented to me and for facilitating an environment that has enabled me to flourish as a data scientist; something I will be ever appreciative of.

I would like to dedicate this book to my grandad; a talented engineer and passionate scientist with a curious mind who continued his university studies into his nineties!

                                                                                                                               --Laura Mitchell