#42 Maintaining an Updated Skillset Despite Rapid Technological Advances with Michael Tamir - Head of Data Science & Data Science Lecturer

Mike serves as Head of Data Science at Uber ATG and lecturer for UC Berkeley iSchool Data Science master’s program.  Mike has led several teams of Data Scientists in the bay area as Chief Data Scientist for InterTrust and Takt, Director of Data Sciences for MetaScale, and Chief Science Officer for Galvanize he oversaw all data science product development and created the MS in Data Science program in partnership with UNH.  Mike began his career in academia serving as a mathematics teaching fellow for Columbia University and graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. His early research focused on developing the epsilon-anchor methodology for resolving both an inconsistency he highlighted in the dynamics of Einstein’s general relativity theory and the convergence of “large N” Monte Carlo simulations in Statistical Mechanics’ universality models of criticality phenomena.

In this episode, Michael talks about how he accidentally got into data and his work with simulation. Then, Michael discusses his background in data science product development and data science education. He reveals all the mistakes he made with his transition from academics to industry.  Later, Michael tells us what attracted him to data science education and how he balances industry projects with his teachings. Rapid growth is a challenge with technology management because your skillset will get rusty as the technology advances. Lastly, Michael talks fake news, bootstrapping, and Fake or Fact. 

In This Episode:

[00:20] Michael accidentally got into data

[02:15] About Michael Tamir

[03:40] Transition to industry

[06:40] Software engineering challenges 

[08:45] Data Science Education 

[15:15] Adaptive learning 

[17:15] Team management

[19:05] Challenges with rapid growth

[24:25] Fake news

[27:25] Toughest challenge

[28:50] Fake or Fact

[31:20] Listener questions

Mike's quotes from the episode:

“You have to be really careful about what you do and what you do not teach in order to make sure students are successful in the long-term.”

“Decisions are going to be best made by those who are closest to the ground.”

“You’re not going to be the expert in every group you are managing.”

“I take full responsibility for any failures with the algorithm.”

“Most of my time is spent on my day job.” 

“Find out what you enjoy about data science skills; find the role that is looking for those skills.”

“I enjoy the science and making sure we are asking the questions in a scientifically sound way.”

Connect:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MikeTamir

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/miketamir/

Website - http://www.fakeorfact.org

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UNSW Master of Data Science Online: studyonline.unsw.edu.au 

Datasource Services: datasourceservices.com.au or email Will Howard on [email protected] 

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