Episode 9

James Blair: Part 1 Portfolios, practice, and staying curious

In Part 1 of our conversation with James Blair, we trace his delightfully non-linear path from childhood robotics dreams to journalism to R, with a few stops in between. We hear about the Shiny app that changed his career, plus a candid roundtable with Michael, Hadley, and Wes about whether a data-science master’s still pays off in the age of AI.

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EPISODE NOTES

This is a story about staying hands-on and fiercely inquisitive — whether analyzing bike telemetry or teaching data science. James shares how early experimentation with Shiny helped shape his career, and how curiosity (not credentials) still powers meaningful work in data science.

    What's Inside:
  • A winding path from robotics to journalism to psychology to data science
  • Discovering the power of applied stats
  • The value (and limits) of a data-science master’s in a shifting AI landscape
  • Fighting confirmation bias: good analysis resists the answer you want

HOSTS & GUESTS

Michael Chow

Principal Software Engineer, Posit

Michael Chow

Hadley Wickman

Chief Scientist, Posit

Hadley Wickham

Wes McKinney

Principal Architect, Posit

Wes McKinney

James Blair

Sr. Product Manager, Posit

James Blair