<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-us">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="robots" content="all,follow">
<meta name="googlebot" content="index,follow,snippet,archive">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Interview with Alan Dipert</title>
<meta name="author" content="" />
<meta name="keywords" content="devows, hugo, go">
<meta name="description" content="Site template made by devcows using hugo">
<meta name="generator" content="Hugo 0.42" />
<link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:400,100,100italic,300,300italic,500,700,800' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-BVYiiSIFeK1dGmJRAkycuHAHRg32OmUcww7on3RYdg4Va+PmSTsz/K68vbdEjh4u" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link href="https://ocrug.org/css/animate.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="https://ocrug.org/css/style.violet.css" rel="stylesheet" id="theme-stylesheet">
<link href="https://ocrug.org/css/custom.css" rel="stylesheet">
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/html5shiv/3.7.2/html5shiv.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://oss.maxcdn.com/respond/1.4.2/respond.min.js"></script>
<![endif]-->
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://ocrug.org/img/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://ocrug.org/img/apple-touch-icon.png" />
<link href="https://ocrug.org/css/owl.carousel.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="https://ocrug.org/css/owl.theme.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://ocrug.org/index.xml" type="application/rss+xml" title="Orange County R Users Group">
<meta property="og:title" content="Interview with Alan Dipert" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:url" content="/blog/2019/11/19/2019-11-19-interview-alan-dipert//" />
<meta property="og:image" content="img/OCRUG_logo_small3.png" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="all">
<header>
<div class="navbar-affixed-top" data-spy="affix" data-offset-top="200">
<div class="navbar navbar-default yamm" role="navigation" id="navbar">
<div class="container">
<div class="navbar-header">
<a class="navbar-brand home" href="https://ocrug.org/">
<img src="https://ocrug.org/img/OCRUG_logo_small3.png" alt="Interview with Alan Dipert logo" class="hidden-xs hidden-sm">
<img src="https://ocrug.org/img/OCRUG_logo_small3.png" alt="Interview with Alan Dipert logo" class="visible-xs visible-sm">
<span class="sr-only">Interview with Alan Dipert - go to homepage</span>
</a>
<div class="navbar-buttons">
<button type="button" class="navbar-toggle btn-template-main" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navigation">
<span class="sr-only">Toggle Navigation</span>
<i class="fa fa-align-justify"></i>
</button>
</div>
</div>
<div class="navbar-collapse collapse" id="navigation">
<ul class="nav navbar-nav navbar-right">
<li class="dropdown">
<a href="/">Home</a>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a href="/blog/">Blog</a>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a href="/contact/">Contact</a>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a href="https://github.com/ocrug/hackathon-2019/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md">Code of Conduct</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="collapse clearfix" id="search">
<form class="navbar-form" role="search">
<div class="input-group">
<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Search">
<span class="input-group-btn">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-template-main"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button>
</span>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<div id="heading-breadcrumbs">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-12">
<h1>Interview with Alan Dipert</h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="content">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-9" id="blog-post">
<p class="text-muted text-uppercase mb-small text-right">November 19, 2019</p>
<div id="post-content">
<p>Alan is a software engineer on the Shiny team at RStudio. In his 10+ years of experience in software development, he has helped build web applications, reporting pipelines, and many things between, including stints as a Staff Sergeant in the US Army and presidents of non-profit hacker and maker organizations. When his is not working, he likes to spend his time reading or being with his family. He holds a B.S. in Information Technology from Rochester Institutes of Technology.</p>
<p><img src="/img/DiperAlan_Interview_headshot.jpg" alt="My picture" /></p>
<p>1) What does data science mean to you?</p>
<p>I understand data science as the practice of trying to understand the world by looking for patterns in data. This is the central activity of science and has always been important to business, but in recent years I think there has been wider recognition of the fact that data science practices and tools useful in one discipline are likely useful in others. “Data science” seems like the term that best captures this growing cross-disciplinary recognition.</p>
<p>2) What do you think is the biggest challenge facing data science today?</p>
<p>Despite the fact that data science is an inherently highly technical activity, most of the tools from the computer science world for exploring data and managing complexity are not accessible to most data scientists. When they are accessible, it’s often through monolithic platforms that can’t be meaningfully modified or extended by end users.</p>
<p>I’m hopeful that as data science practice continues to mature technically, and as free software ideals permeate, specialized knowledge will continue to transfer to our wider community where it can grow and improve organically within this community of users.</p>
<p>3) How did you get started in the data world?</p>
<p>In 2015 I helped redesign the next-generation reporting data pipeline and API at Adzerk, an online ad company. Through that effort I interacted with the data scientists who would use the API and worked to develop a deep understanding of what features would be important to them. Along the way, I was exposed to various “big data” technologies myself, such as AWS Kinesis (for distributed event processing) and Redshift (a managed column store).</p>
<p>4) What is your work day like at work?</p>
<p>Like most at RStudio, I work from home, which rules. My day starts at 8AM, when I triage emails, GitHub, and Slack. At 9, I meet with others on the Shiny team. We summarize what we worked on in the previous day and what we plan to work on next.</p>
<p>After that I’ll work on a task, such as adding a new feature to a package like Shiny, reactR, or the forthcoming shinyloadtest. I might also review code or help a teammate.</p>
<p>When 4PM rolls around I put my computer in sleep mode and hang out with my family.</p>
<p>5) What is your favorite childhood toy? And why?</p>
<p>I really enjoyed Legos. I have a great memory of my mom helping me build a Lego pirate ship, and many more of building my own designs. Other than a computer, I think I might have been interested in Legos the longest of any toy during my childhood.</p>
</div>
<div id="comments">
<div id="disqus_thread"></div>
<script>
var disqus_config = function () {
};
(function() {
if (["localhost", "127.0.0.1"].indexOf(window.location.hostname) != -1) {
document.getElementById('disqus_thread').innerHTML = 'Disqus comments not available by default when the website is previewed locally.';
return;
}
var d = document, s = d.createElement('script'); s.async = true;
s.src = '//' + "devcows" + '.disqus.com/embed.js';
s.setAttribute('data-timestamp', +new Date());
(d.head || d.body).appendChild(s);
})();
</script>
<noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href="https://disqus.com/?ref_noscript">comments powered by Disqus.</a></noscript>
<a href="https://disqus.com" class="dsq-brlink">comments powered by <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span></a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-3">
<div class="panel panel-default sidebar-menu">
<div class="panel-heading">
<h3 class="panel-title">Search</h3>
</div>
<div class="panel-body">
<form action="//google.com/search" method="get" accept-charset="UTF-8" role="search">
<div class="input-group">
<input type="search" name="q" class="form-control" placeholder="Search">
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="https://ocrug.org/">
<span class="input-group-btn">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-template-main"><i class="fa fa-search"></i></button>
</span>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<footer id="footer">
<div class="container">
<div class="col-md-4 col-sm-6">
<h4>Recent posts</h4>
<div class="blog-entries">
<div class="item same-height-row clearfix">
<div class="image same-height-always">
<a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/20/2019-11-20-interview-with-carey-huh/">
<img src="https://ocrug.org/img/banners/CHbanner.jpg" class="img-responsive" alt="Interview with Carey Huh">
</a>
</div>
<div class="name same-height-always">
<h5><a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/20/2019-11-20-interview-with-carey-huh/">Interview with Carey Huh</a></h5>
</div>
</div>
<div class="item same-height-row clearfix">
<div class="image same-height-always">
<a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/20/2019-11-20-interview-with-greg-falleto/">
<img src="https://ocrug.org/img/banners/GFbanner.jpg" class="img-responsive" alt="Interview with Greg Falleto">
</a>
</div>
<div class="name same-height-always">
<h5><a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/20/2019-11-20-interview-with-greg-falleto/">Interview with Greg Falleto</a></h5>
</div>
</div>
<div class="item same-height-row clearfix">
<div class="image same-height-always">
<a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/19/2019-11-19-interview-alan-dipert/">
<img src="https://ocrug.org/img/banners/ADbanner.jpg" class="img-responsive" alt="Interview with Alan Dipert">
</a>
</div>
<div class="name same-height-always">
<h5><a href="https://ocrug.org/blog/2019/11/19/2019-11-19-interview-alan-dipert/">Interview with Alan Dipert</a></h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr class="hidden-md hidden-lg">
</div>
<div class="col-md-4 col-sm-6">
<h4>Contact</h4>
<strong>PeopleSpace</strong>
<br>1691 Kettering Street
<br>Irvine, CA
<br>
<strong>USA</strong>
</p>
<a href="/contact" class="btn btn-small btn-template-main">Go to contact page</a>
<hr class="hidden-md hidden-lg hidden-sm">
</div>
</div>
</footer>
<div id="copyright">
<div class="container">
<div class="col-md-12">
<p class="pull-right">
Template by <a href="http://bootstrapious.com/free-templates">Bootstrapious</a>.
Ported to Hugo by <a href="https://github.com/devcows/hugo-universal-theme">DevCows</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.min.js" integrity="sha256-hVVnYaiADRTO2PzUGmuLJr8BLUSjGIZsDYGmIJLv2b8=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="//maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-Tc5IQib027qvyjSMfHjOMaLkfuWVxZxUPnCJA7l2mCWNIpG9mGCD8wGNIcPD7Txa" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-cookie/1.4.1/jquery.cookie.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/waypoints/4.0.1/jquery.waypoints.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/Counter-Up/1.0/jquery.counterup.min.js"></script>
<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-parallax/1.1.3/jquery-parallax.js"></script>
<script src="//maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?v=3.exp"></script>
<script src="https://ocrug.org/js/hpneo.gmaps.js"></script>
<script src="https://ocrug.org/js/gmaps.init.js"></script>
<script src="https://ocrug.org/js/front.js"></script>
<script src="https://ocrug.org/js/owl.carousel.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>