As an aspiring data scientist, client projects will become an integral part of your life. Personally, projects are fun. There’s freedom in exploring different models and realms of coding. However, client projects can also be done with a team, which can limit that freedom when it comes time to consolidate everyone’s findings. Essentially, it’s similar to how people say it’s many authors trying to write one book. Of course, there are pros and cons to group projects so here are some tips to working on a team.
#1: Discuss Each Other’s Strengths and Weaknesses
It’s rare to find any data scientist that excels in everything. Even some of the most experienced and trained data scientists still Google something that they don’t know or get stuck on. So talk to each other and determine what everyone’s strengths are. This will limit obstacles and allow for a smoother transition during consolidation where code blocks can be explained by the individual as opposed to asking hundreds of questions. After determining everyone’s strengths and hopefully covering every aspect that is needed for the client project, it’s time to split and explore your individual strength.
#2: Update and Check-In with Each Other
During independent project work time, it’s still important to talk to each other. Send a short message to just let the other members now what is going on with the unknown. You’ll definitely appreciate it because you’ll have an idea of what’s going on overall and, most importantly, see what the pace is like. This is a great way of keeping everyone in check to ensure that no one is falling behind whether on time or on code.
#3: Keep It Consistent
It’s ONE final project. So to make everyone’s lives easier discuss on certain variables to be used across all sets of code. Therefore, when it’s time to consolidate, everything runs smoothly and only minor touches will be needed. Trust me, we’ve ran into this problem where because of the time crunch our resolution was to just reread in the dataset every time the variables didn’t match up. Many errors can be avoided and chunks of time can be saved.
#4: You Have a Voice So Speak Up When Needed
Personally, this is the most important. SPEAK UP. Coding styles are different. Thinking processes are different. Resolutions are different. Everyone is different. It’s so important to speak up. With time and resources being strained, you can’t afford to be the sole hero that decides to stand up and fix everything at the last second. Client projects are meaty and if you notice something “funny” in the slightest way: TALK ABOUT IT. DON’T WAIT. Communication is vital.
#5: Breathe and Take a Break
You can only know so much about the client project. Since you’re on a team, you can’t constantly be aware of all the coding that’s going on in other parts of the project. It can be stressful to not know, but remember to just breathe. Time is being crunched, but there’s always room to just step away from the computer and think about something other than the project. We’re human and we need breaks to keep us sane.
Overall, these tips are based on personal experience. Things may vary, but these are some general benefits to having a smooth and successful group project. Remember, communication is key! Working separately, but together can result in redundancy. For example, two people can end up modeling and yield different outputs. Then time has to be spent on discussing whose code to use or how to merge the two. Time is money and it’s better to spend any extra time breathing and doing non-coding things.
