[pilarphosol]

Being a data scientist is what I imagine being a lawyer is for idealists who go into the profession. They think there is an underlying reality that holds bad actors to account—for attorneys, this is the institution of “The Law”—but, in fact, most of the job is helping those bad actors justify what they already wanted to do anyway.

And just as most legal disputes end in settlements, most data scientists are excess capacity, kept around because the programmers who will put up with typical dev nonsense aren’t smart enough to hit the high notes… when the fact is that said high notes only need to be hit very, very rarely in business. Being a corporate lawyer comes down to intimidation—no one wants to face off against Apple’s team of lawyers—and 99% of being a corporate data scientist is talking in maths to impress (or defraud) clients and investors.