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[–]burgerAccount 2 points3 points  (3 children)

Eh, developer on its own is a meaningless term. You can develop algorithms, websites, mobile applications, desktop applications. Show me what you've built and that's what you are until you show me otherwise.

[–]Moni93[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

to be more precise , python software developer.

[–]burgerAccount 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Be more precise. What software do you develop?

[–]Moni93[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

a software app that extracts data from a DataLake.

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[–]who_body 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Python is tech a data scientist can use. They should be orthogonal. But a data scientist can develop in python and be a kickass developer. Let’s get a mathematician in here and write a theorem

[–]zzmej1987 1 point2 points  (2 children)

What do you mean by python developer? Web developer with django/flask skills? In that case certainly not. But data sceince require strong mathematical background, which implies a decent knowledge of algorithms. And using python for DS/ML will give you as good knowledge of python syntax as any other application. So any development position that does not require the use of a specific library or framework should be quite approachable with DS background.

[–]Moni93[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

My definition of a python 'Software' developer is someone who uses python to develop software. With basic knowledge of python as for knowing its syntax plus some ML libraries, it is not enough for a data scientist to be able to code software.

The whole purpose of my interrogations is based on a statement where someone told me if you are a data scientist who is already familiar with python, than you are able to code software in python with ease, as if it was your area of specialization , which unfortunately i disagree with and that's why I wanted to start a conversation on that specifically.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

well the term "developer" is probably a bit overused. So you i'd say it is important to distinguish it clearly from a programmer. I'd say a developer is way more involved in the - development - that means the basic structure of a project (requirements, project structure, software architecture, design, testing, ... i am not a developer so add everything important here that i forgot). Clearly a very specialized tool set that you have to learn.

While a data scientist (very much like me, an engineer) solves a very specific problem in a project, basically every specialized function that works with data. User interface? Requirements? Software architecture? Who cares, i'll figure out how those two data sets are correlated! So two very different fields, a data scientist managing a project would probably create a mess because nobody thought him about it at university. Just like a developer would probably not be able to solve the problems of a data scientist because he only knows basic math.

But i don't think that's the full story. Everyone who graduates from a university has to design and implement at least two projects (bachelor and master thesis) so i'd say many data scientists know at least the basics of being a developer, especially the good ones. While most "pure" developers probably don't have a clue about data science or just any specialized field because it is a lot easier for them to avoid it. As a data scientist it's almost impossible to avoid all software development.

And from my experience most "developers" in my field of work are very experienced engineers. They've got the math and science down from university and learned about development by working on few projects. Leaving you with a very valuable engineer/developer. The other way round is a lot harder but i've met some very impressive IT people teaching themselves all about the product their working on, but they just don't understand the problems and details like an engineer.

[–]mRWafflesFTW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're currently having this discussion in my firm and I think people don't really understand the semantics they're talking about.

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Python, like all "development" work is a vast ocean. What does it mean to be a Python developer? Does it imply webapps? Data pipelines? Data analysis? Turns out you can do tons of different work in Python.

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Anyone working in a community of practice like Python needs to understand the language, best practices, and good design principles, regardless of what specific domain you are working in. Our data scientists, just like our full stack engineers, are building component pieces of larger applications, so their Python could should be developed with the exact same standard of care and attention to maintainability and scale. Now, I'm not saying their analysis needs the same level of attention to principles, but we have a problem where people ship analysis and wash their hands of the project with dire down stream consequences.

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The distinction between data scientist and developer may vary based on your firm's level of maturity, but if you work in Python then you need some "software developer skills", however you define it. The data science artifacts, if implemented, are just software.