Half Stack Data Science

S05E02 - Magical Glue Person May 4, 2026 00:57:50 In this episode, we discuss:- Will people really just write all their own software instead of buying it?- Is the change management around GenAI projects any different from other technologies?- What is the right approach when giving people freedom to vibe code internal tools?- Is there room for a new role to emerge as a bridge between vibe coding and useful internal tools, a technical connector of

S05E01 - Will GenAI kill software? Mar 16, 2026 00:50:48 In the first episode of the new season, we discuss:whether it's a good thing that we can produce more with GenAI,how GenAI will force us to consider the purpose of education,how we are supposed to develop wisdom if GenAI can just build everything for us,how AI-written code introduces "cognitive debt",and in a roundabout way we discuss whether GenAI will kill software companies---Davi

S04E05 - 2025 in review Jan 24, 2026 00:47:48 In this episode, we wrapped up 2025 by reflecting on what we talked about on the podcast, where AI is and where it's heading, and looked ahead to 2026. We also discussed some of our favourite sci-fi books we read last year!Links from the show:- that YouTube video Shaun mentioned, "Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fZTOjd_bOQ- our interv

S04E04 - Better survey design with AI - with Kirsten Hill Jun 22, 2025 00:54:36 In this episode, we spoke to Kirsten Hill.Dr Kirsten Hill is a researcher, writer, and the founder of bisque — a survey platform that actually cares if you get good data. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, has led research for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and has worked with over 100 mission-driven teams on measurement & evaluation. This past year, she authored he

S04E03 - AI-assisted journaling with reconfigured - with Richard Makara and Niko Korvenlaita May 14, 2025 00:54:38 In this episode, we spoke to Richard Makara and Niko Korvenlaita who are CEO and CTO of reconfigured.reconfigured is a journal app that makes it incredibly easy to capture and retrieve on-going notes, thoughts & insights. Richard is the CEO and he has led growth and built go-to-market data systems in high-growth scale-ups. Niko is a second time founder and the CTO. He has been building end-to-

S04E02 - Programming with AI - with Simon Willison Mar 31, 2025 00:50:01 In this episode we talked to Simon Willison. Simon is the creator of Datasette, an open source tool for exploring and publishing data. He currently works full-time building open source tools for data journalism, built around Datasette and SQLite.Prior to becoming an independent open source developer, Simon was an engineering director at Eventbrite. Simon joined Eventbrite through their acquisition

S04E01 - Meaningful uses of AI - with Scott Hanselman Mar 3, 2025 00:42:55 Season 4, all about AI, has launched! In the first episode of the new season we talked to Scott Hanselman.Scott is a programmer, teacher, and speaker. He works out of his home office in Portland, Oregon for Microsoft as the Vice President of Developer Community. He works on .NET, Open Source, and the Azure Cloud Developer Experience, but he also blogs about technology, culture, gadgets, inclusion,

Season 3 finale - The Well-Grounded Data Analyst - with David Asboth Feb 17, 2025 00:49:40 In this episode, Shaun interviews David about his new book, The Well-Grounded Data Analyst.We talk about the data skill gap between the classroom and the real world that made David want to write this book, the importance of tackling real-world projects for further learning, and the underlying methodology of the book that helps you learn to solve any data problem.If you listen to the end, we also t

S03E10 - Data science needs you! - with Andrea Jones-Rooy May 22, 2024 00:59:53 If you're an aspiring analyst and want to test your existing data skills on real-world problems while learning both new skills and a framework you can apply to any problem, David's book Solve Any Data Analysis Problem is available on the Manning website through the Early Access Program and it's out in print later this year. Find it at https://www.manning.com/books/solve-any-data-analy

S03E09 - Statistical rethinking - with Richard McElreath Apr 21, 2024 01:05:22 A reminder that David's book, Solve Any Data Analysis Problem, is out later this year and you can already buy it and read it in its draft form as part of Manning's Early Access Program. If you want to practise your data skills on real world problems and learn a reusable framework to use on any project in the future, this book is for you. Find out more here: ⁠https://www.manning.com/books/s

S03E08 - The market view of data education - with Richie Cotton Mar 11, 2024 00:46:30 A reminder that David's book, Solve Any Data Analysis Problem, is out later this year and you can already buy it and read it in its draft form as part of Manning's Early Access Program. If you want to practise your data skills on real world problems and learn a reusable framework to use on any project in the future, this book is for you. Find out more here: https://www.manning.com/books/so

S03E07 - The power of data storytelling - with Kat Greenbrook Dec 19, 2023 00:47:40 A reminder that David's book Solve Any Data Analysis Problem is available in Manning's Early Access Program! You can read more about it here: ⁠https://www.manning.com/books/solve-any-data-analysis-problem⁠ (if it's not on offer when you're there, you can get 35% off with the code au35asb). ----------------------------------------------- In today's episode, we talked to Kat Gree

S03E06 - Reimagining data analytics training - with James Cotton Dec 6, 2023 00:54:47 First of all, David's book Solve Any Data Analysis Problem is available in Manning's Early Access Program! You can read more about it here: https://www.manning.com/books/solve-any-data-analysis-problem (if it's not on offer when you're there, you can get 35% off with the code au35asb). ----------------------------------------------- In this episode, we talked to James Cotton, co-fo

S03E05 - Code quality for data science - with Laszlo Sragner Oct 11, 2023 00:45:11 In this episode, we continued our season of talking to data educators and spoke to Laszlo Sragner. Laszlo runs Hypergolic, a boutique consultancy in London specialising in Machine Learning Product Management. Formerly, he was Head of Data Science at Arkera, a fintech startup in London, where he built market intelligence products with Natural Language Processing for Tier 1 investment banks and hedg

S03E04 - The language of data literacy - with Valerie Logan Sep 17, 2023 00:50:04 Continuing our series of conversations with data educators, in this episode we spoke to Valerie Logan. Founding The Data Lodge in 2019, Valerie is as committed to data literacy as it gets. She believes that in today's digital society, data literacy is not just a work skill- it's a life skill. With advisory services, train-the-trainer bootcamps, an extensive resource library and community

S03E03 - Effective Python teaching - with Matt Harrison Aug 31, 2023 00:36:30 In this episode of Half Stack Data Science we continue our season 3 all about data science education, with a conversation with Matt Harrison. Matt stands as a prominent figure in the Python and data science community. A Stanford Computer Science alumnus, he's made significant contributions through his best-selling books, which include titles like "Effective Pandas", "Effective X

S03E02 - The joy of teaching Python - with Reuven Lerner Aug 9, 2023 00:40:47 In this episode of Half Stack Data Science we continue our season 3, all about data science education, with a conversation with Reuven Lerner. Reuven is a full-time Python trainer with a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from MIT, and a PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University. In 2020, Reuven published "Python Workout" a collection of Python exercis

S03E01 - Preparing analysts for the real world - with Lisa Carpenter Jul 27, 2023 00:36:24 In this episode, David & Shaun talk to Lisa Carpenter. Lisa is the lead data science instructor at Digital Futures, with responsibility for the design and delivery of the Data Science programme. Prior to transitioning to teaching, Lisa gained over 10 years of experience in the data industry. Lisa is passionate about empowering people through digital skills and thoroughly enjoys seeing students

Season 3 Teaser Jun 4, 2023 00:04:20 The Half Stack Data Science podcast is back (again)! Season 3 is coming very soon. In the meantime, listen to our teaser episode where we briefly recap our first 2 seasons and introduce the concept behind season 3; a series of interviews with educators who are bringing data science to the people!

Data Science Festival Special: Bridging the Supply-Demand Gap in Data Science Dec 22, 2021 00:40:55 In this episode we bring you our talk from the recent Data Science Festival in London. Our talk was titled "Bridging the data science supply-demand gap" and it was all about topics that will be familiar to listeners. We tackled the question "how is it that there is an abundance of junior data scientists and open data science positions yet the job market is unsatisfactory for both sides"? A huge th

AI Today special with Ron Schmelzer and Kathleen Walch Aug 18, 2021 00:43:15 In this special episode we did a podcast host swap with the hosts of the AI Today podcast. Cognilytica's AI Today podcast focuses on relevant information about what's going on today in the world of artificial intelligence. Hosts Kathleen Walch and Ron Schmelzer discuss pressing topics around artificial intelligence with easy to digest content, interview guests and experts on the subject, and cut t

S2E4 - Chris Moffitt Mar 2, 2021 00:47:37 In this episode of Half Stack Data Science we continue our series "The Orthogonals" with a conversation with Chris Moffitt. Chris is a Senior Manager Strategic Pricing & Analytics in the medical device industry. He is an active Python user with over 15 years of experience using Python for everything from web development to system administration and most recently data science. He is the author

S2E3 - Joana Wang Dec 19, 2020 00:42:29 In this episode of "the orthogonals" we spoke to Joana Wang. Joana is a data aficionado with a passion for education. Her ambition is to help people demystify the world of data and make analytics second nature while having fun. Having worked both in strategy consulting and industry, she's had projects across retail & wholesale, supply chain and financial services. In her last 8 years of experi

S2E2 - Peter Ellis Aug 16, 2020 00:55:49 In episode 2 of "The Orthogonals" Shaun and David spoke to Peter Ellis. Peter is a Director and Chief Data Scientist at Nous Group, an international management consultancy operating in 10 locations across the UK, Australia and Canada. He also writes the Free Range Statistics blog, a great place to see cutting-edge techniques applied to real-world problems, all with reproducible code. But you'll ne

S2E1 - Andrea Jones-Rooy Jul 24, 2020 01:04:37 In the first episode of season 2, "The Orthogonals", Shaun and David speak to Andrea Jones-Rooy. Andrea is a social scientist specializing in complexity.  She has written a book and several research papers on complex systems, and regularly contributes articles to media outlets on (you guessed it!) complexity — plus data science, international relations, diversity, and uncertainty. She is also

Season 2 Teaser Jul 20, 2020 00:08:46 In this teaser episode of the Half Stack Data Science podcast, the hosts David Asboth and dr Shaun McGirr recap the first six episodes of the podcast and introduce the upcoming season 2: The Orthogonals

006: Interview with Allison Nau Dec 17, 2018 00:47:43 In episode 6, we bring you our interview with Allison Nau, an experienced data leader previously MD of Cox Automotive Data Solutions, and prior to that Product Director at LexisNexis. We would love your feedback on the show so far! Get in touch with us via Twitter (@davidasboth and @shaunmcgirr) or email hello@halfstackdatascience.com

005: Estimating Time Sep 23, 2018 00:23:16 In this episode, David and Shaun answer the question on every stakeholder's lips: how long will this Data Science project take? Their answer may surprise you! We would love your feedback on the show so far! Get in touch with us via Twitter (@davidasboth and @shaunmcgirr) or email hello@halfstackdatascience.com

004: Getting Data Sep 2, 2018 00:34:24 In this episode, Shaun and David talk some more about the rationale behind this podcast, and about how hard it is to get your hands on data in the first place.

003: Identifying Value in Data Science Aug 20, 2018 00:34:42 In episode 3 of the Half Stack Data Science podcast, Shaun and David talk about how to identify the value of a Data Science project. Assuming you are free from some constraints that historically hold back the progress of Data Science teams, how do you decide what to work on?

002: The Insight Journey Aug 11, 2018 00:36:26 In the second episode of the Half Stack Data Science podcast, David and Shaun talk about the strategy companies can employ to become more data-driven, using what they call "the Insight Journey".

001: What is Half Stack Data Science? Aug 11, 2018 00:37:37 In the first episode of the Half Stack Data Science, David Asboth and Dr. Shaun McGirr answer the question "what is Half Stack Data Science"?

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