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For the longest time, I have wondered why some data scientists spend every waking moment of their day obsessively consuming knowledge, honing their skills, participating in competitions, creating hobby projects, and generally expanding their horizons. Meanwhile, others are more comfortable with the status quo and exploiting current skills to solve the problems that come their way.
Of course, any data scientist worth their salt will be expanding and improving their skills continuously; that is one of the prerequisites for becoming a good data scientist in the first place. This is not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the people that have to keep learning more. I’m talking about when it becomes almost a disease, and you are compelled to spend every ounce of free time you have, regardless of how tired or busy you are, reading more papers and writing more code.
In strength sports, there is a concept of the "Iron Bug" – if "bitten" by this bug, it is no longer a question of how to keep training year in and year out; it instead becomes a question of how one could not do it. Not working out suddenly costs more energy than actually doing the workout. We can find similar obsessions across other fields, but I find that "Data Science" holds a particular allure. During my journey, I have encountered several who, like myself, have been "bitten" by the data science bug.
I love data science. I love the vastness of the field and how, in many ways, it is "unbounded," extending from fundamental mathematical concepts and all the way to realizing business value. Most importantly, I love putting in the work to progress in the field: spending countless hours reading papers just within reach of my understanding or tearing out my own hair for days on end implementing and debugging some new piece of code. Mind you, these are not papers relevant for my day job or code that will ever see the light of day. Truly, I’m by no means the most accomplished data scientist out there, yet every half a year or so, I find immense satisfaction in looking back and seeing how much I have progressed from where I was.
Why do some catch this obsession while others do not? It is not due to differences in intellectual capacity or technical ability, as I have seen plenty of highly competent people that were not obsessed. Nor do I believe it is due to circumstance, environment, or upbringing. Rather, it likely boils down to the presence of certain personality traits, and ultimately, some people are simply genetically susceptible, while others are immune. At least, I believe such would be the conclusion from a behavioral genetics standpoint. It is what it is.
Regardless of my above-proclaimed love for data science, I do not wish for anyone to catch this bug. What do you do when you haven’t slept well, you’ve had a long and draining day at work, a tough afternoon with an over-tired toddler, and a rough evening trying to get the same toddler to sleep? Reading papers or coding up a new hobby project? My internal audience rewards me with self-esteem and confidence for this sometimes borderline self-destructive behavior. It comes at the cost of exhaustion and, paradoxically, a feeling of never being satisfied with my own progress or capability.
To those unaffected by this bug, I envy you.
To those who have it, I salute you.