Comet Office Hours: Recap for August 1, 2021

Welcome to another recap of the Comet ML Office Hours, powered by The Artists of Data Science!

I have to say, among all the great sessions and interesting conversations that have taken place in this weekly event series, this past week might have been my favorite.

Maybe folks were feeling rejuvenated after summer vacation, or maybe it was just serendipity (see below for more on that), but there was some truly compelling back and forth exchanges this past week.

I could of extracted any number of them for this week’s recap, but I chose two that especially stood out in my mind—as usual, one was related to data science and ML, and the other was philosophical in nature.

As a reminder, we’d love to see any and all of you at these hourlong sessions—so feel free to register for upcoming Office Hours sessions here!

As always, there’s a lot more in the full session (which you can find on Harpreet’s YouTube channel), so be sure to check it out, alongside all of Harpeet’s other excellent content.

Ben Taylor, Chief AI Evangelist at DataRobot, on his approach to projects

If you’ve been attending our Office Hours or even keeping tabs, then you probably know one maxim that stands above the rest…

Do projects.

This past week, the group got a really unique perspective when Ben Taylor, Chief AI Evangelist at DataRobot, popped into the chat to drop some knowledge and insight about his approach to doing AI projects. The whole clip below is worth a watch, but here are a couple takeaways:

• Do selfish projects
• The best AI projects come at the convergence of what you want more of (adding value to an experience) and what you want less of (automation
• If you’re obsessed about a particular project idea, it’s likely that others are as well.

A meditation on the nature of luck

In classic Comet Office Hours form, the conversation at some point turned in a more philosophical direction (told you it would).

Specifically, the group discussed the nature of luck, serendipity, and what—if any—control we can exert in making luck happen.

I’ve always felt incredibly fortunate in general, but this deeper dive into the different kinds of luck, as well as what differentiates luck from something I’d call observant serendipity, was quite fascinating and eye-opening.

Resources Mentioned

In addition to the wonderful back-and-forths throughout the session, there were a whole lot of interesting resources mentioned, both by Harpreet and many of the attendees. Here’s a quick list, in case you’d like to check out what is capturing the community’s attention.

• The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck, by Christian Busch
• The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life Master Any Skill or Challenge by Learning to Love the Process, by Thomas Sterner
• The Creative Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI, by Marcus Du Sautoy

Enjoy the Conversations Above? Join Us!

We run these virtual Office Hours every Sunday at 12pm ET (New York, NY). Completely free to attend and participate, and we’d love to see any and all of you there, help address any questions you might have, and just hang out and talk all things data science and machine learning!

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One last thing…

We recently launched The Comet Newsletter, which offers a weekly inside look at all things data science and ML, featuring expert takes and perspective from our team. We have big things planned for both Office Hours and the newsletter, so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!

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