It has been almost two years since I started writing my first line of code to solve business problems. There are many definitions of data scientists here and there, but the one definition that I agreed with the most is that a data scientist is the intersection of business knowledge, math and computer science. I created this blog to take notes of some technical knowledge I have learned now and then and seems like it is really helpful so far.

However, sometimes I ask myself. Is this the best you can do? Will you be qualified for a higher level in what you are doing? Will you be able to manage a team of data science talents who is as good as you, much better than you or even much worse than you? Whenever I think about those questions, I think my smallest circle is this business circle, not because I don’t understand how to improve margin, how to optimize inventory, but I feel much less confident communicating with the business and communicate effectively with them to let them understand the output of my awesome code and convince them of my understanding and guide them to make better decisions.

It has been three years since I came to the US, and of course, English is not my first language, but still I speak English with very thick accent right now. Even if I can buy myself food and communicate with my coworkers to get my work done. I am still far away from communicating effectively. So it ended up in a situation where I prefer sitting in front of computer learning new technologies to talk to my colleagues. And I can see where this is heading to, a direction where doesn’t line up with what I want.

There is an old saying in China which is “学而优则仕“, the direct translation is “a good scholar can be a official”. And my understanding is that a smart person who has the area specific knowledge should also know the importance of leveraging people instead of doing it by him alone. You might study really hard and out performed all your peers and even despise the work they have done. However, the last thing that you ever want to happen is that you end up doing everything yourself and as days go by, you become cynical and totally lost the understanding of team work and collaboration.

From now on, I will post more content of English itself and possible work that will help me become a “perfect story teller”. I think it is important and I think I should do it.