+1. I feel the same way. If one out of 20 drive-by contributors stick around and become regular, that would be a real win for me. (I'm currently maintaining a project with 20k GitHub stars and we have four regular contributors.)
Given that many data people run across is tabular, I appreciate your advice about the importance of statistics. Also kudos for mentioning hypothesis testing (no one in this thread mentioned it). Lastly, I’d add that ML practitioners will gain a lot by listening to statisticians and economists on the issue of data quality, e.g. selection bias.
That said, I am not as cynical about “machine learning.” ML and “data science” brought the importance of prediction front and center, i.e. can you fit a model that accurately predict the target value given a previously seen input? This point is made by the recently published stats textbook Computer Age Statistical Inference (Efron and Hastie).
In some applications, it may be beneficial to choose black box models with high predictive accuracy, as the goal for these applications is prediction, not interpreting individual model coefficients.
I manage a continuous integration server for an open source project that contains CUDA code. To test, we need to run workers with NVIDIA GPUs, and so far I haven't seen a viable alternative to Jenkins.
Ah ha. I read it as saying people getting 300k in cash. It makes more sense now. For me, I'll have to wait out several years until my RSU gets fully vested. Let's hope I don't get fired in the meantime :)
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like you've gone through a lot.
I am also a recent transplant in Seattle. If you ever need someone to talk to, we can meet up over coffee or something. You can reach me at [email protected].
I'd also recommend Fundamentals of Matrix Computations by Watkins for a great introduction. It helped immensely when I had to teach myself matrix algorithms as part of my undergraduate research.
Thanks for pointing out a common misconception of the Protestant ethics. In fact, there has been many books written about the incompatibility between "American Dream" and Protestant faith. Here's one for start: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Taking-Faith-American-Dream/d...