Interesting Links - Week 01/2024

What I’ve read last week (Week 01/2024)

• The Case for Late Bloomers - Rich Karlgaard: In an era where early success is rampant in technology (e.g. folks with less than 5 years in the industry being in positions where experience is a must), it is quite refreshing to see something related to late success and how each person has its pace.

• The Levers That Money Can’t Pull - Lawrence Yeo: One of the most touching stories I’ve read on the internet in a long time. I would like to not depend on a job to say some truths about how money is important or health, freedom, purpose, and love as the article suggests; and how a pseudo-nihilistic movement regarding money from people of privilege that sells that fantasy to young non-privileged backgrounds.

• Why Do Data Teams Fail at Delivering Tangible ROI? - Ella Pham: The hype around Data Science has already died down, and businesses are aware of it. However, they are still cutting jobs, which is expected to have a negative impact. This article highlights some challenges that data teams are facing in terms of delivering results.

• The 3 budgets - swizec - The author mentions that all companies have three budgets, namely - sales/marketing, research and development, and maintenance. For me, the most intriguing aspect is related to career vision and positioning statement. Although I have not written about it yet, the reason behind my shift from Data Science to Engineering and now to Engineering and Ops is due to the high demand for materializing things in production and keeping them reliable. It is a million-euro career prospect in a sea of unrealized projects due to a lack of understanding of the process of placing things in production and maintaining them.

• Thoughts on Testing - Brandon Smith: I came across a post about testing, which I found refreshing. It discusses how we need to approach testing in a reasonable manner. I wish I had more time and contractual clearance to talk about this in detail. However, I do not like the purist or dogmatic approach that testing is taking in modern development workplaces.

Quote of the Week

I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” ― John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife