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Comment by cactusfrog | Hacker News Reader

“There is an immense diversity, but also disparities in skill, expertise, and knowledge among Data Scientists. The difference in skills between a data scientist with - say - a Bachelor in Physics and a data scientist with a PhD in Computer Science is comparable to the difference in competence between a certified nursing assistant and a surgeon”

My experience, is that the longer someone works in academia, the worse of a coder they are. I’d rather have someone with 5 years of industry experience over someone fresh out of a PhD program.

The author has a PhD and is trying to impose the flawed hierarchy of academia onto tech. This push should be resisted.

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Anecdote, but I have to agree with your call-out the author's paragraph about this is detached from the reality I've experienced. I have hired ~45 data roles: ds, de, and analysts. Not once has a PhD been able to outshine any other, less educated, peers. If anything, those that spent excess time in academia enter the roles with a handicap against them, not in favor, for performance. I will admit I've only hired about 3 with PhDs, but each had major soft skill deficiencies. The analogy is honestly quite offensive with hubris and I would encourage the author to not look down on others.It's my opinion you can only make this evaluation on merit of demonstrated skills and academia is an accomplished program. It's supposed to detail skills or assumed expertise, but that's more than ever with the current state of academia : still very assumptive.

Data science is the practice of producing knowledge rather than building/coding. You can make systems that leverage that knowledge in an automated matter, but when you are deciding what to build, it is not a matter of coding. It is a matter for management. In my experience the sort of arguments a PhD can make fall on deaf ears when management lacks the requisite skills. An organization where the PhD in stats, ML, etc. produces the same outcomes as the code camp hero should look at its management structure before doubting the value of experience at depth.

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