Cognitive Wonderland
I haven't been active on here for a while, but I've been active on my Substack newsletter/blog. Follow me on Cognitive Wonderland
Tommy Blanchard
Latest posts
Data Bullshit and Data Illiteracy
Something I see too often in both immature data science practitioners and data science teams is overcomplication. The desire to use complex neural networks when there isn't enough data to support them, or wanting to include all kinds of variables that don't actually add predictive value. Ironically, using a simple …
Data Science Bootcamps - What They Can and Can't Do
It's pretty common that I get asked if a data science bootcamp (or a part-time Master's program, which for the most part I put in the same category) is worth it. Just to get my credentials out of the way as I weigh in: I have taught for a couple …
Decision Theory and Captain Picard's Leadership
With the start of Star Trek: Picard recently, I've been thinking about one of the big impacts Captain Picard has had on my life (as a lifelong geek). There is an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called " Attached ", where Doctor Crusher and Captain Picard become mind-linked while trapped …
Reboot
A lot has changed since I started this website and blog. When I started, I was just starting my career as a data scientist. I was looking for an outlet for posting projects so I could build up a bit of a portfolio and online presence. This was a career-building …
The Data Incubator Unofficial Frequently Asked Questions
About a year ago I wrote a review of The Data Incubator (updated review is here ). I always know when the Data Incubator application season is here because I always get a few people who have found my blog reaching out with questions about the process. I decided to put …
An Updated Review of The Data Incubator Data Science Bootcamp
A while ago, I wrote a review of The Data Incubator based on my experience in the program. Since then, it’s been the most common reason people reach out to me. I’ve had people reach out to tell me how the program went for them, to ask me …
Implementing data science in healthcare
I recently wrote a blogpost for datascience.com, which you can find here . It’s about some of the lessons I’ve learned on actually implementing data science projects in healthcare for clinicians. It isn’t about the technical side of things, but the challenges of actually making sure your …
Automated machine learning is coming... and it won't matter
Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of services and products advertising automation of machine learning. Data Robot and H2O.ai offer platforms that allow the creation of machine learning algorithms in point-and-click interfaces. They’ll even do the feature engineering for you! This functionality, or something like it, is …
It’s okay to not be a data scientist
Everyone wants to be a data scientist Being a data scientist has been hyped a lot in the past few years. Glassdoor has listed it as the #1 Best Job in America 3 years in a row, and it isn’t hard to find blog posts talking about how great …
Performance metrics aren't everything
Lately I’ve been getting pretty annoyed with an obsession with performance metrics. It’s like someone let the word out about what area under the ROC curve is and suddenly everyone thinks that’s the only measure of whether a data science project is ‘good’ or not. The problem …
Lessons learned in my first year as a data scientist
It’s been a year since I started my first job as a data scientist. In that time, I’ve learned a lot, but most of that learning hasn’t been the type I expected. I’ve certainly learned some things about new technologies and techniques, but much of what …
Motivation in Academia vs Industry
I’ve been in industry working as a data scientist for a year now after leaving academia. By all measures I can think of, it’s been a good year. I got lucky with having a great manager, I’ve gotten a bunch of experience and learned a lot, I …
"Should I do a Data Science bootcamp?"
Since I wrote a review of my experience with The Data Incubator bootcamp , a lot of people have reached out in one way or another wondering if they should bother with a data science bootcamp. Many people interpreted my review as very negative. To be clear, I do think there …
Data professional definitions: Data analyst vs data scientist vs data engineer
Lately I’ve read a lot of attempts at defining data scientist and differentiating it from other data-centric roles. The terms ‘data scientist’, ‘data analyst’, and ‘data engineer’ are obviously interrelated. But recently I’ve seen some weird definitions of them. Let me make clear that this isn’t just …
“Should I get a PhD to be a data scientist/analytics professional?”
There’s some advice I’ve read that “when you’ve given the same in-person advice 3 times, write a blog post” . I’ve decided to take that advice and write some of my thoughts on getting a PhD to go into industry. Opportunity Costs of Getting a PhD Obviously …
Data Science in Healthcare
I've recently written a couple of guest blog posts about data science in the healthcare space. The first is a pretty general article about some of the challenges and opportunities for data science and predictive analytics in healthcare. You can find it here . The second one is about the importance …
Review of The Data Incubator data science bootcamp
May 2018: Click here for an updated review , and here for a recent collection answers to common questions I get asked about Data Incubator This is a review of my experience in the Data Incubator data science program . When I decided to make the switch from academia to data science …
How to make the transition from academia to data science
Ever since I've started writing about my transition from academia to industry (both my reasons for leaving and what I think about the transition in retrospect ), I've started receiving a lot of requests for advice on making that transition. Sometimes these requests come from former peers, former professors looking to …
Retrospective on leaving academia for industry data science
It's been two and a half months since I left academia to take a job as a data scientist in industry. Although I haven't been in my new job for very long yet, I wanted to check in with my current thoughts about whether the transition was worth it and …
Does the Muslim ban make us safer?
On March 6, Donald Trump signed a second executive order banning people from certain majority-muslim countries from entering the USA. The previous order banned citizens of seven countries: Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq, but was stopped after legal action. The new ban applies to six countries - Iraq …
Unique Tag Cloud for Each Category in Pelican
Pelican allows you to put articles into different 'categories'. On this site, I have the Blog and Projects categories. I wanted 'Projects' to be able to function as a portfolio. Ideally, it would have a tag cloud to allow someone to see all the different tools I've used for different …
Reasons I left academia
I recently made the transition from academia to industry. Some people were surprised I decided to leave - I had had a pretty successful academic career. So why did I want to leave? I've read a lot of articles and opinions on reasons people leave academia. The common reasons I often …
Simple Stock Ticker App
This was just a very simple learning project I did as part of The Data Incubator program. The project itself was just a simple stock ticker. It requires as input the ticker, and produces a graph of the stock prices over time. Here is the finished product . You can also …
This Website
I felt it was fitting to write the first "Project" article on this website, since it's the most recent little project I've been working on. Choosing a framework I was looking for a few things in a website: Something easily customizable, easily publishable, capable of blog feeds, and that could …
Hello, world!
My first post, introducing my new blog