DataGiriWithDJ — Beyond Data Science

Shweta Doshi
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

When we reached out to DJ Patil 2 weeks back to come and talk at DataGiri Meetup, we thought we are reaching out to a Former US Chief Data Scientist at White House.When he came over and spent half a day with us and our community , I realised that I have had the great fortune to meet a legendary enigma.I have often wondered what separates a legend from others? That day I got my answer -

Success is not their ultimate goal. They build causes; not businesses. They are crusaders, propelled by a vision to make the world a much better place, with conviction and perseverance to make it happen.

True greatness is less about the destination, and more about the journey. DJ opened up about how he had a $41 million failure at his start up, wasn’t getting his first break but still he never gave up!

On that eventful day of DataGiri Meetup, DJ din’t teach us just Data Science , he gave us remarkable life lessons. He inspired 272 people present that day to take The Road Less Travelled.

Here are the life lessons I learnt from DJ that day :

  • People are always greater than Data -People >> Data
  • Prototype products for 1 x, Build for 10x, Engineer for 100x.
  • When building products always ask your self — What’s required to cut the timeline in 1/2? What’s needed to double the impacts?
  • Dream in years, Plan in months , Evaluate in weeks, Ship Daily!
  • Sometimes all you need in life is someone who can take a chance on you, and then the rest of it you have to own! Constantly find people whom you can take a chance on too!
  • In life you have to start being a “T”. Know a bunch of things really well and have rock solid, deep foundations in a few.
  • Clever beats smart 9 times out of 10! When you build a product, cheat a little to make it clever.
  • Look for someone’s pain point. Remove that pain point. When you takeaway that pain you suddenly have a different bond with people. When times get tougher that’s what you get to count on!
  • Don’t fear to fail, but make sure you have an incredible tribe that you can truly depend on when you are working on hardest of hard problems.
  • Always keep yourself grounded by connecting to people in unique ways.
  • Find people that inspire you. If you aren’t in a job where people are ridiculously amazing, go find your job!
  • You need to be in shape Mentally, Physically and Spiritually to tackle really hard problems. It is a full package that’s needed. If you aren’t fit, when times are tough , you aren’t going to find anything extra that you can depend on.

Thank you DJ for sharing your life with us! The memories of DataGiri July Meetup will be etched in our minds forever!

You can watch the full event video here DataGiriWithDJ

GreyAtom

GreyAtom is committed to building an educational ecosystem for learners to upskill & help them make a career in data science.

Shweta Doshi

Written by

I am an unapologetic idealist who believes that to gain quality education,we need to transform the way we teach & learn.I am the Co-Founder at www.greyatom.com

GreyAtom

GreyAtom

GreyAtom is committed to building an educational ecosystem for learners to upskill & help them make a career in data science.

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