What Actually Matters
Results over toys
The Illusion of brand new shiny toys
I usually keep quiet when I hear a colleague or a friend (in the same industry) excitedly talk about a new technology that's going to revolutionize the data and analytics world. I don't want to be the one who spoils the mood, so I just listen and try to ignore the skeptical voice inside my head.
The truth is, it often doesn't matter whether you're using Databricks instead of Azure Synapse, or C# instead of Python. We've been focusing on the wrong priorities for too long now—asking the wrong questions in interviews, and adopting the wrong mindset towards analytics and engineering. I've had colleagues in analytics teams who had limited technical knowledge, yet they contribute immensely and bring significant value to the business.
What Really Matters
Sometimes people ask me which programming language I use, I respond with “whatever gets the job done”, whether it's Python, SQL, or PySpark you just need to pick one and start building. These are just tools. You don't judge a craftsman or a builder by how advanced his tools are; you care about the end result.
When I was starting my career, I struggled with building some dashboards. The sales team had launched a new campaign and wanted to understand its effectiveness. It seemed like a straightforward task, but I was struggling. What should I measure? I asked a senior analyst, who advised me to spend more time talking to the campaign manager to better understand their needs. He mentioned that his previous experience as a business developer helped him grasp what really matters and thereby made him a better analyst.
The domain knowledge you possess and your understanding of the business are more valuable than any tech stack. Yet, in interviews, we rarely inquire about the candidates' industry knowledge or what they think could be crucial for the business. Instead, we ask if they've created a Tableau dashboard or when they last built something in PySpark.
You shouldn't worry about Python being slow; you should focus on what brings value to business.