How are things?
For me, the last two weeks have been extremely busy. I am not sure if this is a common problem or just mine, but I hate to work on several things in parallel. Anyway, the good thing is I managed to finish off a few things, so this letter is about a few updates. Here they come.
New implemented from scratch work
There isn’t probably a better way to test understanding of algorithms than trying to implement them from scratch. One of the algorithms I particularly like is a good old friend called a Decision Tree. It is a simple algorithm that often comes to handy, especially if data volumes are small. A nice thing about it is a fact, that training it poses a completely different problem than neural nets. If you are interested in its inner workings, plus you would like to practice your Pandas skills, take a look at my recent article:
https://zerowithdot.com/decision-tree/
It is a +1 to my “from scratch” series (see that too!)
On transferability of skills in technology
As for another topic, I had a moment of reflection lately regarding both the future of data-science and transferability of skills. I am talking about a hard-core technical competence, which unlike soft skills (communication, presenting, time-management, etc.) seem to be firmly attached to particular technical domains. One day, you may change your job, or even pivot your entire career, or (what will inevitably happen) the technology will shift. What happens then? What skills, do you think, you will be able to carry?
I pondered these thoughts for so long, so I have decided to both write and make a video about this subject. You may find them here:
I hope you’ll enjoy both of them.
Last, but not least, I have been participating in a semi-voluntary project, whose goal was to support social research. My contribution was this interactive map, or more precisely, processing raw geographical data to render the contours.
https://inclusive-churches.eu/
This is it! I hope you like the stuff and if you have some suggestions, please let me know by email!
Kind Regards,
Oleg