Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know what all those words mean, I've studied critical theory, and I have no idea what your point is.
whenever I hear the word ontology I reach for my dictionary
It's starting to become a buzzword in data science too
Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
61–70 of 81 posts
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#62I think they are evolving to more specific roles. A couple of years ago some "Data Scientists" were actually doing Data Engineering. Now that distinction is more clear. You also have Machine Learning Engineers, who can help with deploying models or you can even see things like "Deep neural network engineer" or NLP data scientists.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#63My guess is that data science roles will merge with business analyst roles. Python and r will slowly join excel as tools of choice for making tables and charts to stick in powerpoint slides and pdf reports. Meanwhile the machine learning side of things will be the domain of _something_ engineers with candidates more likely to come from the computer science/math/engineer world rather than the sciences. (Other then tho…
> My guess is that data science roles will merge with business analyst roles. Data Scientist is a buzz word for Statistician. Business Analyst is buzz word for Industrial Engineer. For example 10 years ago if you studied at my university you would witness that some Statistics students were doing second major mostly at Industrial Engineering and vice versa. They are already related for many years but average Joe has n…
>Data Scientist is a buzz word for Statistician
It's really not. The skill set we need in terms of some software, system design, and a rich knowledge of modern data science libraries and trends is not something you should expect a statistician to have.
Similarly, I certainly cannot prove asymptotic theorems like a statistician.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#64It’s been subsumed inside traditional BI teams, who don’t interact with “generalist” developer teams and are an entirely different audience.
So the field keeps growing, but in more specialized forums. Increases in Python adoption, for instance, mostly come from re-skilling initiatives in BI teams inside my customers.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#65The best quote I've heard for ML is "ML promises to deliver what Computer Science promised to deliver in the decades before as AGI will promise to deliver in the future"
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#66It wasn't 'just' hype, but the real problem was that very few companies had any data that you could actually extract much value from. Garbage in Garbage out is as true as ever.
That being said I've observed that the data science techniques and tools that have developed over the past few years have been absorbed and adopted by a lot of people that aren't "data scientist". So while companies are hiring a lot less "data scientists", a lot of "data science" is now done by domain experts and analysts as part of their work.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#67I think what companies really want is smart generalists with advanced math, programming, and modeling skills coupled with domain knowledge. That skill set will always carry high value in technical companies. The reason it carries value is the skills are difficult to acquire. I think the recent decline in interest reflects the rise of new data science candidates that are taking the path of least resistance to a career…
> The recent decline in interest...
Can you quote a source for this?
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#68No it isn’t a fad. Data collection by every man and his dog is really happening. The need for people that can use the data in order to improve business outcomes is the consequence of it.
Data collection will become more prominent IMO because:
1. Data driven business preference, competitive advantage and FOMO. Already dominates sales and marketing. Starting to dominate in product and dev. Already dominates production.
2. IoT, and more data marketplaces resulting from it.
3. Extensions of the global SaaS value chains (usually connected by data).
Hence data science will thrive in the future.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#69I think what companies really want is smart generalists with advanced math, programming, and modeling skills coupled with domain knowledge. That skill set will always carry high value in technical companies. The reason it carries value is the skills are difficult to acquire. I think the recent decline in interest reflects the rise of new data science candidates that are taking the path of least resistance to a career…
Yes. Unlike software development, data science is not completely business agnostic and a fair amount of business understanding is required. For e.g. if you work with sales data, you need to be aware of seasonalities, purchasing patterns etc to understand the trends that you observe to discern between what is a true outlier and what is explainable.
What makes me cringe the most is to see flashy presentations with claims akin to 'Data Science will change your world'.For sure, it can and has been proven to automate decisions (think, credit scores), assist in decision-making (think, sales trends) and anomaly detection (think, security systems). I find so many data scientists that I interview are so hung up about the esoteric techniques they employ, often failing to even explain why was it useful or how it helped their businesses.
What has been transformational and path-breaking is the breaking of enterprise monopolies in this space (for e.g. SAS/IBM SPSS) and a variety of open-source frameworks have made it easy and convenient, apart from opening it up to software developers to build these skills. Important, though, to not lose of the sight that data science is at the sweet spot of expertise in domain, data and technology.
Re: Ask HN: Was data science just hype?
#70I think what companies really want is smart generalists with advanced math, programming, and modeling skills coupled with domain knowledge. That skill set will always carry high value in technical companies. The reason it carries value is the skills are difficult to acquire. I think the recent decline in interest reflects the rise of new data science candidates that are taking the path of least resistance to a career…
> The recent decline in interest... Can you quote a source for this?
Yes I'd be quite keen to see that also, I wasn't aware there was a decline already (although it's obvious the interest can't just keep going up forever).