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by ryndbfsrw 2100 days ago
>> If you don't and just storm in talking about something something neural nets, they'll see it as a waste of time, won't bother explaining nuances

>> Another major point is specifying the metrics. The real world metrics, not AUC or F1 scores. You need collaboration to get there, too.

>> you need their help getting data, and their expertise to understand it.

All this x100. And it's made worse as this humility isn't taught in schools and rarely asked in data science interviews

1 comments

Humility is discouraged in software engineering with job ads for ninjas and rock stars.
It should be taught. Lack of humility almost cost us a project. In that instance, humility unscrewed the project and unblocked 400k by simply sliding a sheet of paper and a pen to the client across a table, and asking them to draw the dataflow they thought we were going to build. A couple of boxes and arrows made it clear what the problem was. We drew the actual dataflow. The security person said "Oh, I thought... OK.. if it's like that then we're good to go". Legal said they're OK with that. Data people said OK. A dozen people were relieved.

The previous person on the project, although brilliant technically, thought they were "idiots who didn't understand crypto", as if it were the end goal. All it took was to keep quiet for a second and listen to what they had to say, and let them talk about what was problematic, instead of snark.

I am actually starting to believe that (too) smart developers can actually be a hindrance in the wrong circumstances. We have a prima dona on my team and while smart, he doesn't make things easy to follow for the next dev.