Episode 281 | Rick Pack - Cool Scholar

Guest:

Rick Pack

@rick_pack2

Rick Pack talks with Dave Rael about using data to inform decisions, learning from mistakes, broad interests, and applying lessons

Rick Pack is a data scientist who enjoys running in master's track meets and volunteering through chess mentorship. He programs primarily in R and SQL although he has dabbled in F# and Excel VBA, and primarily used SAS for 7 years, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry as a statistical programmer. His energetic home includes an energetic wife and dog (goldendoodle). His data science work is currently focused on a value-based healthcare initiative. He also continues to work on an R package called fbadstats to assist with analyzing one's Facebook advertising efforts.

Chapters: 2:38 - Dave introduces the show and Rick Pack6:24 - How Rick became a data scientist8:08 - Rick's interest in health and healthcare11:03 - Rick on being a programmer rather than a developer13:14 - The nature of data science16:21 - The things that "light Rick up"18:04 - Limitation of the conclusions you can draw from data and the virtue of statistical analysis21:38 - Rick's interest in being both cool and scholarly26:23 - Rick's story of failure - overworking and letting go of taking care of himself31:21 - The lessons from Rick's background in political science applicable to data science and programming34:56 - Rick's success story - Navigating the competing interests of different stakeholders to deliver something useful with a nice user interface while learning new tools39:04 - How Rick stays current with what he needs to know42:09 - Rick's book recommendation47:14 - The things that have Rick most excited49:29 - Rick's top 3 tips for delivering more value51:14 - Keeping up with Rick

Resources: Rick's Blog Masters Track Meets SAS Melinda Thielbar Jamie Dixon on Developer On Fire Kevin Feasel Thomas Henson on Developer On Fire Aslak Hellesøy on Developer On Fire Terence McGhee on Developer On Fire Scott Nimrod on Developer On Fire The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists - Neil Strauss Neil Strauss on the Tim Ferriss Show John Sonmez on Developer On Fire

Rick's book recommendation: R Packages: Organize, Test, Document, and Share Your Code - Hadley Wickham R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data - Hadley Wickham The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships - NEIL STRAUSS Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America - Nathan McCall

Rick's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Understand requirements Have the courage to offer ideas, even if they differ from the given requirements - also know that unrealistic timelines are not final Take care of your mental health