Confident Data Skills: Master the Fundamentals of Working with Data and Supercharge Your Career (Confident Series)

by Kirill Eremenko

Always remember that the essential job of a data scientist is to derive value for the company. This defining criterion for success will also serve as an aid for you when you tell people why you are not taking on their project. How do you say no? First, refrain from responding to a project idea immediately. Tell the person with whom you are speaking that you will think about it and that you will get back to them within a certain timeframe (I give myself two working days to mull a request over). If you want to take a more diplomatic pathway, one trick is to make sure that you are not considered ‘the data guy’ or ‘the data girl’ – a number cruncher. If you position yourself instead as an adviser, even if you cannot assist them on the project itself, you can give them help with how they can use data. I believe this to be far better than giving an outright ‘no’, and it also gives colleagues something to work with. Take just half an hour to research what they need – perhaps you will find a tool that will guide them in the right direction.