
…w how to write a basic SQL query, and understand how a business works and what it needs to succeed. If you want to be a valuable contributor to a business, instead of spending your weekend working on a data mining competition, go work in a small business. Talk to customers. Watch what products sell and which ones don’t. Think about the economics that drive the business and how you can help it succeed more.
…ing valuable isn’t “data science”, but is instead just “business intelligence” or “data analytics”. I can’t argue with that arbitrary definition of data science, but it doesn’t matter what you call it — it’s still the most valuable way for most people who work with data to spend their time.
…m is that most of what people talk about as being data science isn’t what businesses actually need. Businesses need accurate and actionable information to help them make decisions about how they spend their time and resources. There is a very small subset of business problems that are best solved by machine learning; most of…