Seven months ago I had just arrived here at Dataiku and, at the time, I shared my enthusiasm about being a part of the team. Since then a lot has happened: we’ve grown from 35 Dataikers to 55! Like fine French wine, the experience is getting better with age.
This story is about how we decided to leave the confines of our workspace to spend our first Dataiku Weekend together!
On a bright and cold Thursday afternoon, nine of us decided to head towards the French mountains to do some skiing. With anoraks and ski boots on, we braved the intense traffic to experience our own brand of escapism. By “intense traffic” I mean a seven hour drive (not counting the breaks) and a long 45 minutes just to cross two streets… but I can’t complain: after all, it comes with the territory! It’s all part of the adventure.
Sometimes people ask, “I see my colleagues every day… why on Earth would I want to spend a weekend with them?” Or maybe those same people provide a flood of excuses: a party on Saturday, a band playing on Friday night, or maybe they’re just tired. But when it comes to being a dedicated Dataiker, there are no excuses. After all, it’s not in our spirit… especially when a weekend of Dataiski beckons!
Winter Wonderland
Before long we found ourselves in a Sound of Music winter wonderland, with the Alps around us and snow everywhere in sight. To complete the picture, just add a sauna, jacuzzi, sunny ski slopes and blue skies, cheese fondue, hot chocolate, and wine. Nine happy people, eighty-one pounds of food, and smiling faces all around.
Logical Analysis
Of course, being data scientists, we need to sensibly examine this situation in its entirety. The snowy environment was our model: perfectly created, available for testing, and no overfitting. A masterpiece… and there wasn’t even any false positives! Test it as long as you want, there are no flaws.
We trained the model using 1/6th of the total set of Dataikers, and we can’t wait to process the entire 55-member set! Be forewarned: it will take hours to get out of Paris, the ride will be long, and you will likely be exhausted from the journey. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.
If becoming a part of the Dataiku community sounds like something you’d enjoy, please take a look at our careers page and, if anything seems fitting, send us a short cover letter and your resume.