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Episode 209:

Storytime with Cynical Data Guy: Data Projects, $50K Web Scraping Fails, and the Role of CDOs

October 2, 2024

This week on The Data Stack Show, it’s another edition of the Cynical Data Guy as Eric and John welcome back Matthew Kelliher-Gibson. The group shares personal anecdotes about their experiences with data projects in corporate settings. They discuss the challenges and successes of working with pricing data and web scraping, emphasizing the importance of understanding manual processes before implementing automation. Eric recounts a project where his team improved data accuracy using a neural network, while John highlights the benefits of manual data review. The episode balances cynical and optimistic perspectives, offering valuable insights into the technical, business, and human aspects of data work. Don’t miss this edition of the Cynical Data Guy.

Notes:

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

  • Previewing the Next Cynical Data Guy Episode (0:13)
  • Story Time: Coolest Data Project You’ve Worked On (1:13)
  • Failed Web Scraping Project (3:40)
  • Building a Neural Net for Matching (5:22)
  • Rebuilding the Project Strategy (7:04)
  • Project Completion and Politics (9:35)
  • Agreeable Data Guy’s Pricing Story (11:00)
  • Balancing Advanced and Simple Solutions (14:15)
  • Insights from Pricing Team Meetings (16:19)
  • Building for Scale vs. Immediate Needs (18:29)
  • Open Source Data Formats (19:46)
  • Disaster Recovery Experiences (22:34)
  • Reflections on Chief Data Officers (25:01)
  • Cynicism in Data Projects (28:19)
  • Final Thoughts and Takeaways (30:20)

 

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.

About the Podcast

Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

To keep up to date with our future episodes, subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or the player of your choice.

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