
Data Driven
Data Driven: the podcast where we explore the emerging field of Data Science. We bring the best minds in Data, Software Engineering, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence right to you every Tuesday.
The field of data science mashes up the worlds of statistics, database architecture and software engineering. Data Scientist has been labelled by the Harvard Business Review, as "the sexiest job of the 21st century." A quick search of job search sites reveal that this field is in high demand.
In a world where Data is the new Oil, Data Science the new Refineries, consider this Car Talk for the Data Age. Every week we bring the best minds in this emerging field straight to you. Our goal is to educate and inspire our listeners so that they can be prepared to thrive in a Data Driven world.
Latest episodes

Sep 12, 2018 • 12min
*DataPoint* Preparing to Measure Hurricane #Florence
In this DataPoint, Andy shares plans to capture weather data from Hurricane Florence for a site he maintains – named AndyWeather – and a Twitter account named @AndyWeather.

Sep 11, 2018 • 55min
Stu Ainsworth on Reliability, Disaster Recovery, and Chaos Monkeys
In this episode, Frank and Andy chat with Stu Ainsworth about service reliability in a chaotic world.
Links
Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!
Notable Quotes
Postmortem: VSTS 4 September 2018 ([02:00])
Stuart Ainsworth on Twitter: @CodeGumbo ([05:30])
Reliability: Expectations vs. Solutions ([06:00])
“Canada is another country.” ([11:00])
“Serendipitous” ([11:55])
TV references: MacGyver and The A-Team ([13:40])
Chaos Monkey ([00:00])
Brent‘s book review of Database Reliability Engineering ([15:00])
Andy cannot count 9’s… ([19:15])
The shifting node for “big data.” ([23:30])
Service Level Objective ([25:00])
The Black Swan (Audible) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) ([28:00])
Frank’s 9/11 Experience ([30:00])
Culture is prime. ([35:00])
The hard part is figuring out, “What is the problem we’re trying to solve?” ([35:45])
DTU ([36:50])
Things are changing. Some folks are threatened ([40:30])
Stu works for Jack Henry. ([41:40])
Risk cannot be removed by technology. ([43:30])
“… it’s kinda like an old girlfriend…” – Stuart Ainsworth ([44:30])
Road trips! ([47:30])
“We are living in interesting times.” ([49:00])
Hoschton, Georgia ([50:25])
Stu likes the book Accelerate ([52:40])
Find out more about Stu at CodeGumbo.com! ([53:45])
Learn more about Azure DataFest by following @AzureDataFest on Twitter! ([54:00])

Sep 10, 2018 • 1h 2min
*Special* Azure AI Fest Keynote with Ashish Jaiman
On Friday, the first ever Azure AI Fest was held in Reston, VA. Data Driven streamed the keynote presentation live and was a sponsor.
So, enjoy the audio of the keynote address by Ashish Jaiman, a former colleague and manager, who now works in the Democracy and Cybersecurity team at Microsoft.
If you prefer to watch the event, including some of our special effects laden pre-roll, then click on the play icon below. Jump to the ten minute mark to see the event.

Sep 5, 2018 • 47min
Jake Mannix on Recommendation Systems, Physics, and the Best Answer to Our Questions Yet
In this episode, Frank and Andy talk to Jake Mannix, an accomplished data engineer who has had an amazing career.
Links
Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!
Notable Quotes
Frank heartily recommends Head Strong ([00:50])
It takes a lot of time to fly from Farmville to India… ([2:40])
Audible is a sponsor! ([04:00])
Jake is a Chief Data Engineer for LucidWorks ([06:15])
Jake describes a cool Systems Development Cycle… ([10:00])
… and compares and contrasts with Customer Service and Product Engineering. ([12:00])
Sometimes this cycle works “too good!” ([13:10])
Learn more about Lucene. ([15:00])
We now search by typing questions. Not terms. ([15:40])
More about Query-Intent Classification… ([17:10])
“How Do I Do Brain Surgery” – Google Search ([18:25])
Smart search is based on closed loop analysis of “who clicks on what.” ([19:30])
One example of public search datasets: Google Trends. ([21:30])
What is a garage-door opener? ([22:00])
“We expect a lot from search these days.” ([26:10])
Searching Amazon for garage door. ([26:40])
“Data is their foundation.” ([28:00])
“I’m a data engineer.” ([31:00])
“Math is fun but it’s 5% of the work.” What is most of the work? Data cleansing. ([31:20])
On tensors… ([31:40])
Jake likes to run long distances over mountains! ([33:10])
Jake thinks self-driving cars will be cool. ([37:30])
Jake shares his encounter with the Moonies, which wins the Something Different About Yourself segment (to date). ([39:35])
Jake and his daughter like to listen to audio books. ([43:20])
Learn more about Jake on LinkedIn! ([44:00])
Jak helped build LinkedIn‘s search engine! ([44:44])
Check out the LucidWorks blog. ([45:00])

Sep 4, 2018 • 2min
*DataPoint* Data Driven Events in the DC Metro Area
If you’ve not heard the news, the first ever Azure AI Fest is happening Reston this Friday and we are super excited to announce that Data Driven will be the official media sponsor. As such, we’ll be live streaming the keynote on our Faceook page.

Aug 21, 2018 • 4min
*DataPoint* Just Jump In
While on the drive back from the inaugural Azure Data Fest Atlanta, Andy pauses and reflects on what it takes to get into Data Science, AI, and Data Engineering in 2018.

Aug 18, 2018 • 12min
*DataPoint* Andy Talks to Stu and Crew at the Atlanta Azure Datafest
Andy is at the inaugural Atlanta Azure Data Fest and, while talking to organizer Stu Ainsworth, a who’s who of Atlanta SQL community folks, including former guest Julie Smith, drop by and say hello.

Aug 17, 2018 • 3min
*DataPoint* Joel Cochran at the Inaugural Atlanta Data Fest
Andy is presenting at the Atlanta Azure Data Fest and he bumped into former guest, Joel Cochran.

Aug 14, 2018 • 50min
Micheleen Harris on R, Bioinformatics, and Mountaineering
In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy talk with Micheleen Harris, an R developer who loves Python. Yes, it is possible.
Show notes coming soon!

Aug 7, 2018 • 1h 1min
Listener Mail: EdX or MCP? and How Is AI Tested?
In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy answer two questions sent in by listeners.