AI Operations Without Fundamental Engineering Discipline // Nikhil Suresh // #250

Nik Suresh wrote an evisceration of the current AI hype boom called "I Will F**king Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again." AI Operations Without Fundamental Engineering Discipline // MLOps Podcast #250 with Nikhil Suresh, Director @ Hermit Tech. // Abstract Nik is on the podcast because of an anti-AI hype piece, so a reasonable thing to discuss is going to be what most companies are getting wrong when non-technical management wants to immediately roll out ML initiatives, but are unwilling to bring technical naysayers on board who will set them up for success. // Bio Nik is the author of ludic.mataroa.blog, who wrote "I Will [REDACTED] Piledriver You If You Mention AI Again", and mostly works in the data engineering and data science spaces. Nik's writing and company both focus on bringing more care to work, pushing back against the industry's worst excesses both technically and spiritually, and getting fundamentals right. Nik also has a reasonably strong background in psychology. His data science training was of the pre-LLM variety, circa. 2018, when there was a lot of hype but it wasn't this ridiculous. // MLOps Jobs board https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs // MLOps Swag/Merch https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/ // Related Links Website: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/ Nik's blog: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ Harnessing MLOps in Finance // Michelle Marie Conway // MLOps Podcast Coffee #174: https://youtu.be/nIEld_Q6L-0 Fundamentals of Data Engineering: Plan and Build Robust Data Systems AudiobookBy: Joe Reis, Matt Housley: https://audiobookstore.com/audiobooks/fundamentals-of-data-engineering.aspx Bullshit Jobs A Theory Hardcover by David Graeber: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/David-Graeber/dp/0241263883 Does a Frog have Scorpion Nature podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/57i8sYVqxG4i3NvBniLfhv --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/ Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/ Connect with Nik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nik-suresh/ Timestamps: [00:00] Nik's preferred coffee [00:30] Takeaways [01:40] Please like, share, leave a review, and subscribe to our MLOps channels! [01:56] AI hype and humor [07:21] Defining project success [08:57] Effective data utilization [12:18] AI Hype vs Data Engineering [14:44] AI implementation challenges [17:44 - 18:35] Data Engineering for AI and ML Virtual Conference Ad [18:35] Managing AI Expectations [22:08] AI expectations vs reality [26:00] Balancing Engineering and AI [31:54] Highlighting engineer success [35:25] The real challenges [36:30] Embracing work challenges [37:21] Dealing with podcast disappointments [40:50] Creating content for visibility [43:02] Exploring niche interests [44:14] Relationship building [47:15] Strategic approach to success [48:36] Wrap up