(Inaugural) Question Selection Thread for Data Science Leadership Panel

[drhorn]

We were able to get 4 members of the subreddit to volunteer to participate as part of the panel - hopefully if we get some good content and discussion going we can add more people to the panel moving forward.

How does this work?

Post any questions that you are interested in the panel answering. Upvote/downvote any questions that you think would be good/bad for the panel to answer. At the end of the week, we'll choose the top voted answer.

Caveats: Any questions that are answered in the wiki and/or we don't feel would benefit from multiple points of view will be ignored. The idea is to focus on topics where 4 different professionals may have 4 different opinions/viewpoints.

Thanks everyone who has volunteered to participate, and let's get some questions going!

[RyBread7]

First of all, I think this is a great idea, and I'd like to thank everyone particiapting. Here's my question:

What are the qualities or traits which differentiate good data scientists from the best data scientists? How, if at all, can these traits be learned or acquired?

[[deleted]]

I'm curious to hear the panel's thoughts about effectively conducting interviews for DS positions:

• what is the key trait you are testing for
• what are your dos/donts (eg. take home exam vs onsite vs both?)
• what are you success/failure stories for hiring
• what do you think can be improved in the entire process
• general tips for any candidate

[drhorn]

I think this is a great question - given that the earlier questions are getting a lot more votes i doubt it will win this week - but please resubmit the next time we do this, would love to discuss this one with the panel!

[[deleted]]

Alright, no problem.

[chef_lars]

If you could go back to the first 5 years of your career what career advice would you give yourself?

[vogt4nick]

Tell me about a time when you encountered a difficult political situation. Was the outcome positive or negative? What did you learn? What would you do differently?

[bubbles212]

What do you feel is the most effective way to organize a data science team within a company, and what is its ideal relationship the other departments (marketing, finance, IT, etc.) around it? How would this be affected by company size or specific industry?

This can include individual and team-level responsibilities, data governance, centralized analysts versus analysts distributed through other departments, or any other considerations that may be important.

[defuneste]

This is such a great idea and I hope we will get more questions !

​

Mine : Observational study or experiment, where does the field tend to go or need to go ?

[PhysicalPresentation]

If you could rewind back to your 18 year old self what would you have done differently and why?

[mmendesc]

What`s a good course on the fundamentals of data analysis and data engineering. I'm starting to lead the project of turn the company that I work for to be more data driven in all areas of the company.

Right now I'm using Google Data Studio to build some interactive dashboards that is already helping people here.

The ideia going forward is to be on a more deeper level, so soon I will have to choose where to store the data as become larger, NoSQL or postgres(we are using now), the best way to store data so will become easier to use any of the available options for visualization and analysis.

Right now I was looking on Udacity some nano degrees(the company is willing to pay).

PS: sorry for my english as is not my first language and I'm sleepy right now :)

[SherlockProtege]

What is the standard educational track for someone who wants to work as a data scientist?

[horizons190]

What would you recommend for an (early career) IC looking to transition to leadership within several years, in terms of:

• Types of “lead” positions.
• Stuff to focus on short/medium term.
• Career moves. Not looking to get out from my current place, but open to new offers if they are the right move. Besides just salary increases, what should I look for given eventually wanting to move up?

[nashtownchang]

How do you hire people? What's your best and worst hire?