Katie Bauer!

It feels weird not to remark on the anniversary since that thread since it had such an outsized impact on my life. It indirectly lead to me getting my current job, and it got me writing more regularly, which has done a lot to refine and clarify my thinking

I’m a better manager now than I was back when I wrote that thread, but it still rings true for me. Data work is very stakeholder-centric, which makes it harder to standardize and scale than eng. One of the many jobs of managers is to absorb chaos and good god is data work chaotic

These days I feel like I see a lot fewer unicorn-style job postings for data scientist ICs, and I partly wonder if it's because those supercharged expectations have shifted to DS leaders, from the most senior levels all the way down to line managers

In the same week, a DS manager might be expected to be a people coach, a tech lead, a PM, and even an IC. Most eng teams have AT LEAST one person for each of those responsibilities. Having one DS manager do them all at once is a recipe for bad outcomes and burnout

One of the reasons I originally wanted to try my hand at management was because of my resentment for leaders who I felt had failed me. They were so awful that I figured even if I wasn't very good, I'd still be able to do a much better job than them

Let's just say, I have been sufficiently humbled :)

While I still think some of the managers I've had were bad at their jobs, I have far more empathy for all of them, especially because they had the unenviable task of keeping my surly ass on task. Their paths were even more poorly paved than mine