Florian Wilhelm - Bridging the Gap: from Data Science to Production
Channel: EuroPython Conference
Date: 2018-08-22

Bridging the Gap: from Data Science to Production
[EuroPython 2018 - Talk - 2018-07-25 - PyCharm [PyData]]
[Edinburgh, UK]

By Florian Wilhelm

A recent but quite common observation in industry is that although there is an overall high adoption of data science, many companies struggle to get it into production. Huge teams of well-payed data scientists often present one fancy model after the other to their managers but their proof of concepts never manifest into something business relevant. The frustration grows on both sides, managers and data scientists.

In my talk I elaborate on the many reasons why data science to production is such a hard nut to crack. I start with a taxonomy of data use cases in order to easier assess technical requirements. Based thereon, my focus lies on overcoming the two-language-problem which is Python/R loved by data scientists vs. the enterprise-established Java/Scala. From my project experiences I present three different solutions, namely 1) migrating to a single language, 2) reimplementation and 3) usage of a framework. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach is presented and general advices based on the introduced taxonomy is given. 

Additionally, my talk also addresses organisational as well as problems in quality assurance and deployment. Best practices and further references are presented on a high-level in order to cover all facets of data science to production.

With my talk I hope to convey the message that breakdowns on the road from data science to production are rather the rule than the exception, so you are not alone. At the end of my talk, you will have a better understanding of why your team and you are struggling and what to do about it.



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