Hi ,
What's the best career advice you received in 2024?
At the end of each episode of Value Driven Data Science, I ask my guests what advice they would give to data
scientists looking to create business value from data.
In 2024, I interviewed 23 leaders and professionals from in and around the data space. Here are the highlights of their advice:
1. Start with a Business
Question
"Before you go into the rabbit hole of what's really cool and interesting and fascinating, start with a business question and then figure out what data and what analysis is really necessary to get after that. And honestly, say you're working alongside a CEO. If you give them that answer and it's great and it's helpful. There will be the opportunity to dig in deeper because if it's useful, more data in that
area will be useful too." - start-up finance expert Lauren Pearl
2. Be Relevant
"You may not think of yourself in this way, but you were taught to be a member of a cult of precision. That is fundamentally incompatible with most businesses. It does not
answer the questions that they care about at the speed or latency that they need it. So if I had to give any data scientist a piece of advice, I would say be relevant before anything else." - Mark Stouse, CEO of Proof Analytics
3. Focus on Deployment
"I
think that first and foremost, you've got to focus on exactly what the deployment is going to entail. It's not the fun part from a scientific standpoint, but it's the only thing that matters from a business standpoint. So focusing on that concrete value proposition and what it means to actively operationally get there." - Eric Siegel, author of The AI Playbook
4. Be Curious
"Be curious and want to learn, but not just the technical aspects, learn what's important to your customer. What do they care about? What is the problem they're trying to solve? What's important to them in terms of the cost of the solution, the time it takes for that solution, who's going to use that solution? Learn, listen to them and then encourage them to ask
good questions. You may not know all the answers this time, but next time you'll be far more prepared, and ready to answer those questions." - Howard Friedman, co-author of Winning with Data Science
5. Prepare for the Future
"80% of the work of
data scientists is data engineering, which is really unpleasant work. And that's what's getting automated away. So I encourage the data scientists to look at how much data engineering they're doing and the automation tools that are available to make that work materially more pleasant. Start experimenting with those tools and the integration of those tools into (your) workflow. That's how best to prepare for the future." - Eric Daimler, CEO of Conexus AI
If you missed any of these interviews the first time around, you can find all the episodes of Value Driven Data Science HERE or on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Spotify.
Happy New Year and talk again soon,
Dr Genevieve Hayes.
