Paths of Life by Robin Hornak Robin Hornak

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“Would you want to find out the true extent to how far you can push yourself? If you want to find that
out then I would say absolutely absolutely do it.” - Sam Lloyd
Introduction:
In this episode, I talk to Sam Lloyd. Sam's academic background is in electrical and electronics engineering from the university of Cambridge. Sam has over 6 years of work experience across various engineering and data science roles. Currently, Sam is working at Infogrid as a Data Scientist. Infogrid is a fast growing IoT startup focused on optimising and automating facilities and building management using IoT sensors with software, machine learning and data science.

Outline:
(00:17) - Guest introduction.
(01:43) - What do you do?
(03:34) - What is Data Science to Sam.
(06:53) - On being a Development Engineer working on jet engines.
(16:25) - How are jet engines tested.
(20:07) - Reflecting on Sam's first job after university at Rolls-Royce and on working in the field of jet engines.
(29:32) - Working on jet engines these days compared to 50 years ago.
(31:23) - Would Sam do any different if he could go back in time?
(34:42) - Career paths of electrical engineers and the beauty of automation in manufacturing.
(45:50) - The purpose of a coffee barista in the world of automation.
(58:26) - Do businesses always have to scale-up? (see Reference 1)
(01:02:32) - Talking Data Science. (see Reference 2)
(01:16:24) - Sam's career choices in Data Science.
(01:26:21) - Does one keep getting better at their job?
(01:30:13) - What is Data Science and what makes a good Data Scientist.
(01:36:33) - How did Sam decide to become a rower at the university of Cambridge and what was it like?
(01:41:04) - On socialising and the role of rowing.
(01:44:40) - A typical day of a rower.
(01:46:53) - What makes a good rower.
(01:49:03) - How to become a better rower.
(01:52:03) - Preparing for races and the importance of willpower.
(01:58:04) - Should you row?

Guest Info:
Sam's Linkedin

Podcast Info:
Podcast website

Art By Asami Iida

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References:
Reference 1:
Restart was the wrong book title I tried to reference. 

Instead, I meant to reference these two books:


Rework by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

Reference 2:
Book mentioned:


Analytical Skills for AI and Data Science: Building Skills for an AI-driven Enterprise by Daniel Vaughan

“I got to the point where I felt I had the capacity to work on harder problems. I had the feeling that I would benefit from being re-potted, from sort of being put into new soil.” - Ethan Alter
Introduction:
In this episode, I talk to Ethan Alter who currently works as a Product Marketing Manager at Mode a B2B analytics company in San Francisco. Ethan holds an MBA degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management and has 5 years of work experience in Marketing from Salesforce.

Outline:
(00:17) - Guest introduction.
(01:38) - What do you do?
(02:23) - What is the purpose of a Product Marketing Manager?
(04:19) - Examples of problem statements Ethan might be working on.
(09:30) - Are go-to-market teams involved in roadmap discussions?
(12:58) - What are the difficult and enjoyable aspects of Ethan's job?
(20:14) - Discussing the importance of being proud of your job and workplace and what makes one proud.
(29:23) - Elaborating on having a direct customer feedback in a job.
(35:04) - What makes a good manager?
(37:23) - Can anyone be a manager?
(55:13) - Incentives schemes, tech debt and the role of management.
(01:10:43) - How Ethan and Robin met.
(01:12:56) - Why did Ethan decide to pursue an MBA?
(01:24:49) - Evaluating the value of an MBA.
(01:34:12) - Ethan's favourite MBA classes.
(01:40:53) - Discussing incentives and quality of teaching at higher-education institutions.
(01:47:21) - How did Ethan decide what to do after the MBA?
(01:54:01) - Talking Happiness.
(01:58:19) - Is Ethan where he wanted to be in life? 

Guest Info:
Ethan's Linkedin

Podcast Info:
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Robin's Linkedin

Introduction:
In this episode, I talk to Jonas Ivinskis who currently works as an Account Executive focused on Startups at a digital payments company Stripe.

"My view, and it's not necessarily the correct view, is that the risk is lower to study something that you definitely do find interesting if you don't know what you are going to do afterwards and figure it out as time goes along." - Jonas Ivinskis

Outline:
(00:17) - Guest introduction.
(1:13) - What do you do?
(2:11) - What is an Account Executive?
(6:42) - Ambiguity behind job titles in the Sales field.
(11:35) - Ambiguity behind job titles in Data Science.
(17:25) - How does one get to understand the product they are selling and representing?
(23:20) - Keeping up-to-date with a company's product offering. Exciting or a burden?
(29:11) - Can Account Executive propose new products or product improvements?
(33:48) - Discussing incentive schemes in the private sector.
(52:28) - On being trusted to do the right thing and feeling free.
(58:05) - Comparing working at a large vs a small company.
(01:14:18) - On forcing yourself to do new things.
(01:17:09) - Why did Jonas choose to go into the Sales field and how he has been making his career choices.
(01:25:06) - Was Jonas' first job all well planned?
(01:27:55) - Skill set required for Sales types of jobs?
(01:32:53) - Examples of work scenarios in Sales and the importance of communication skills.
(01:44:31) - On whether Jonas knew what he wanted to do in life when choosing university.
(01:49:34) - On the coolest university degree to study in the UK if you are uncertain of what you want to do called Arts and Sciences.
(01:52:20) - Optimizing for career vs studying what you enjoy.

Guest Info:
Jonas' Linkedin

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Robin's Linkedin

Introduction:
In this episode, I talk to Dominik Presl who currently works in the field of misinformation and disinformation as an analyst, researcher and advisor.

Outline:
(01:25) - What do you do
(04:40) - What is misinformation and disinformation and what isn't
(09:39) - Sources of disinformation and misinformation
(18:15) - Finland’s resilience to misinformation and disinformation
(20:19) - Tackling mis/disinformation
(27:12) - Change of attitude towards the lab leak theory
(31:53) - For-profit organizations and their role in mis/disinformation
(38:50) - Power of a large number of weak predictors (please see Reference 1)
(41:02) - Open source software
(41:57) - Thought experiment to make algorithms more public to fight mis/disinformation
(43:43) - Examples of innovative solutions to tackle misinformation and disinformation
(45:50) - On biases and opinion confirmations
(50:47) - Incentives in the private sector being misaligned with what is the best for the society
(55:18) - Regulation to align incentives of private companies and the society
(58:38) - How to measure level of mis/disinformation
(60:32) - Why measuring level mis/disinformation is so hard
(01:10:05) - Dominik’s path to the field of misinformation
(01:18:00) - Dominik’s path to studying Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford
(01:23:56) - How I discovered data science
(01:32:20) - Why I liked statistics so much
(01:37:20) - Data manipulation used for misleading
(01:39:14) - Why taking statistics classes at university
(01:41:47) - What's needed to work in mis/disinformation research/analysis and general advice
(01:49:37) - Dominik’s decision making mindset
(01:54:19) - Dominik’s future plans
(02:00:56) - Contacting Dominik

Guest Info:
Dominik's Linkedin
Dominik's Twitter

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References:
Reference 1:
In this episode, I used the term "group think", which is completely confusing and wrong. I was not aware of the meaning. Nevertheless, what I was saying is correct, I believe. Please see this document I made to explain further the phenomena I was referring to using a hypothetical example and the Central Limit Theorem- Google Docs Link

Introduction:
In this episode, I talk to Kuba Cervenka who currently works as a financial risk analyst focused on sustainability.

Outline:
(00:17) - Guest introduction
(1:04) - What do you do
(02:19) - What is think tank and sustainability in finance
(18:00) - Short term vs long term thinking in private sector
(28:47) - Short term workflow cycles (agile)
(41:40) - Accumulation of risk due to short term sacrifices
(43:24) - Working in financial risk
(56:39) - Sustainability in risk management
(1:02:43) - Examples of sustainable finance
(1:05:20) - Importance to get banks thinking sustainably
(01:12:00) - Is free market enough to drive the change to sustainable finance
(01:17:45) - About working in finance
(01:26:20) - Skillset for the job market
(01:38:06) - Studying PPE and joint programmes
(01:43:33) - Kuba’s career path up to now
(01:50:20) - Advice for young people

Guest Info:
Kuba's Linkedin

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Robin's Linkedin