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As a corollary, "Data Scientists" who can't program their way out of a paper bag (e.g.: write simple SQL, or a scraper in Python) is near useless, and a stress on their peer who can.

I'd much rather hire a good programmer with some statistical knowledge than the other way around.

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I've seen so much bad math and misunderstood statistics hard coded into widely-implemented software that that's not ideal either.

Ultimately, you need a team with a combination of strengths if your product requires multidisciplinary work. Otherwise you end up with hilariously wrong equations/assumptions in your code base. But, full disclosure, my background is math/science.

Either way, you are gonna be paying someone to fill in gaps in their knowledge. Anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can learn to "program their way out of a paper bag" in a weekend.

I kinda disagree, though I suppose it depends on the paper bag.

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