Featured interview with Will Truscott

Today we’re delighted to feature Will Truscott, who talks about his path into Data Science work, interesting projects and the skills he rates going into 2025.

Welcome- please tell us a bit about yourself!
Hey everyone! Will here. I'm a software engineer and technical leader based in Melbourne. My career has been split between web and games technology, with a focus on the weird and wonderful. My history in R&D means I am highly adept at adopting new skills and tech. It's rare to find a piece of technology I haven't worked with, or an industry I haven't worked in! My work in data science has mostly been centered around the creation of AI solutions, starting around 7 years ago when CNNs and deep learning ruled and AI generated hallucinatory images filled with dog noses roamed the land.

What's something you think is underrated right now?

Simplicity and readability. I think solutions built around shorter iteration times are thoroughly underrated by many in the field when compared to accuracy and the pursuit of perfection, the pursuit of which often results in a complex and arcane solution that will obliterate a junior's confidence from 100 meters away. I think too many people in data science get stuck in the last 1% of a project and have seen a real habit of over-complicating solutions for very small gains. Make your systems simple and not over engineered until you absolutely have to. The perfect solution that never gets released might as well have never existed!

How did you get into Data Science?

I never really tried to get into data science specifically! I've always worked in the field because the toolsets were the best thing for the job. I originally started off working with a neuroscience client with Opaque Media where alongside a small team, we created a cloud based brain scan processing system to bring the chaos of raw scans into human readable and targeted data to be used in neuromarketing. I then continued into my first commercial use of AI when I had a simple problem of recognizing when a small icon overlayed over the top of video game footage was shown. Using this I made a system that was able to track a heap of gameplay events in an online game in order to gauge what mechanics a user was interacting with. The rapid development cycle of 2 weeks alone for the whole thing also meant that I couldn't afford to get stuck in any weeds, a small and simple product which set me up well for what I find to be a very effective problem solving methodology!

What skill do you think is going to be in demand going into 2025?

Soft-skills and the ability to explain your tools and methodology are always going to be exceptionally important, but I believe this is especially true in 2025. Currently data science is being ruled by the rise of LLMs and people trying to push AI into everything, even where different solutions would be better suited. We're already seeing a downturn in these trends with the decline of public fervor and starting to return to a market that treats AI as a tool rather than a product. With this, there will also be healthy skepticism over the implementation of AI as we face a bit of a rubber band effect from all the companies that pitched making a Chat GPT API call as a new startup! To assist with easing this skepticism I believe the most in demand skillset will be the soft-skill ability to know a breadth of technologies and be able to describe what to use and why to stakeholders, both technical and not. Data scientists and engineers with great soft skills are integral to any company, especially during times where your tools are treated with suspicion. If you can effectively communicate what tools and why, your internal team will trust you when they see you inexplicably staring at numbers in a spreadsheet for your third day in a row, and your clients will be much more comfortable handing over a decent budget when they feel they have a grasp over what they're actually buying.

Where can people follow you or learn more about your work?

Happy to connect over LinkedIn. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot them over! https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-truscott

Data science jobs

LinkedIn - Principal AI Engineer - Talent Marketplace
Sunnyvale, CA, United States
< Cpp, Python, AI >

Tencent Americas - Senior Researcher: Artificial General Intelligence (Natural Language Processing)
Seattle, WA, United States
< Cloud, AI >

LinkedIn - Principal AI Engineer - Talent Marketplace
Sunnyvale, CA, United States
< Cpp, Python, AI >

Tencent Americas - Senior Researcher: Artificial General Intelligence (Audio, Speech and Multimodal Processing)
Seattle, WA, United States
< Cloud, AI >

Capital One - Machine Learning Engineer
Multiple locations, Multiple states, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, AWS, ML, AI >

Yoh - Yoh | AI/ML Innovation Leader DC
Multiple locations, Multiple states, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, AWS, ML, AI >

Leidos - Data Scientist Intern
Arlington, VA, United States
< Cpp, Python, Azure, AWS, ML, AI, UI >

Grainger - Principal Applied Machine Learning Scientist
Lake Forest, IL, United States
< Cpp, Python, Cloud, Azure, GCP, AWS, ML, AI >

Lockheed Martin Corporation - A/AI Machine Learning Engineering Mgr
Moorestown, NJ, United States
< Cpp, Python, AI >

Walmart - (USA) Staff, Data Scientist
Silver Spring, MD, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, ML, AI >

Karkidi - Global Data Scientist Senior Manager
South Boston, MA, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, GCP, AWS, ML, AI >

Telkom University - DATA SCIENTIST
Los Angeles, CA, United States
< Python >

ZipRecruiter - Lead Data Scientist
Austin, TX, United States
< Cpp, Python, Cloud, Azure, GCP, AWS, ML, AI >

Capital One - Capital One | Machine Learning Engineer
Multiple locations, Multiple states, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, AWS, ML, AI >

Walmart - Senior, Data Scientist
Multiple locations, Multiple states, United States
< Python, UI >

Verizon - Software developer - Python Java
Basking Ridge, NJ, United States
< Python, Cloud, AWS, AI >

Walmart - Senior Data Scientist
Sunnyvale, CA, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, ML >

Collabera - Data Scientist
Plano, TX, United States
< Python, Cloud, Azure, AWS, ML >

Karkidi - Sr. Data Scientist - Marketplace, Ad Platforms
Cupertino, CA, United States
< Python >

Vertex Pharmaceuticals - Machine Learning Lead - Drug Discovery
San Diego, CA, United States
< Python, ML, AI >

NearTech Search - Data Architect
London Area, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
< Azure >

NearTech Search - Azure Data Architect
Greater London, England, United Kingdom
< Azure >

Wissen Technology - Python Data Engineer
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
< Python, Cloud, AWS, ML, AI >

Oeson™ - Data Engineering Training & Internship
Leeds, England, United Kingdom
< Python, UX, UI >

Humand Talent - AI and Data Engineering Specialist (Consultancy Contract)
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
< Python, ML, AI, UX >

FORT - Head of Data
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
< Cloud, Azure, ML, AI >

Methods Analytics - MLOps Engineer
England, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
< Python, Cloud, Azure, GCP, AWS, ML, AI >

NearTech Search - Senior Data Scientist
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
< Python, Cloud, AWS, AI >

Fruition IT - Machine Learning Engineering Manager
Leeds, England, United Kingdom
< Python, ML >

REACH INDUSTRIES - Senior AI Engineer
Greater Bristol Area, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
< Cpp, Python, Cloud, AWS, AI >