Hi, I'm Susan, data scientist and writer. I write about career development, data science/ML, productivity, and more.
For ML jobs content, I write on susanshu.substack.com and my book, Machine Learning Interviews published by O'Reilly.
No one loses: Career as an infinite game
Recently, I came across an article which uses the idea of finite vs. infinite games to analyze the startup and venture capital ecosystem in Canada. It got me thinking about the way I’ve grown my career thus far, framed by the finite vs. infinite game concept. In this post, I will not be commenting about the Canadian tech scene, but rather, career in terms of games.
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The Third Door: why higher education isn't the only way toward career development
The First Door is the most obvious way to enter a new field or career, which often means one's education and credentials. However, using the Third Door analogy, this obviously isn't the best thing to consider.
The first 90 days in my first data science role: Most important lessons retrospective
Following my posts about entering the data science field, here's what I think is useful to know for those starting in their very first data scientist role, based on lessons I learned.
Year end wind-down: Why disconnecting and recharging helps me in all my pursuits
At the end of 2020 approaches, I enter a wind down period to recharge for the upcoming year. In this post I'll quickly describe why this is important, in case I ever forget what makes me so effective at my multiple projects.
The danger of closed systems, and the benefits of challenging our own beliefs
You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with... but how this really works is if you already have a large, varied pool of people to draw from. Here I explain how this works for me, and how it's benefitted me.
3 levels of complexity: How I approach data science storytelling
I often speak about technical topics in machine learning or game development. The audience usually ranges from highly technical to non-technical. Here's how I tailor the talks for maximum communication.
Yearly retrospective - how did my prioritization hold up?
Every year I hold a little retrospective session to see how my projects and accomplishments turned out. Here is the process I go through to reflect on the good and the bad, and identify what to improve.
How I view building my career: a forward-looking decision framework
We work for a huge portion of our lives, and I don't want to spend that time in misery. With deliberate decision making, we can grow and gain satisfaction. Here's my thought process.
Time value of time: Create more time in the future by investing it now
Thought experiement on what it means to use time now to get ahead in the future.
Increase public speaking confidence: 3 ways I've trained myself to not get nervous
With years of public speaking experience, I share my favorite tips to reduce nervousness and increase confidence.