We See Dimensions that others don’t

At Locus’ Data Science team, we sift through complex problems every single day. And to see through deep complexity, it takes cleverness, technical acumen, creativity and boldness. Locus has gathered a stellar team for working on theoretically unsolvable and tough problems. This article is an introduction to the Data Science team here and how we get things done as a team.

“Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds.”- SEAL Team.

Pushkar : Data scientist, neuro-geek and hardware hacker in love with meta-heuristic algorithms for optimization, he specialises in building Python-based data analysis tools. Pushkar loves everything around the Internet-of-Things and Sci-Fi.

Niraj : Chews on optimization algorithms, doodles schemata, and stares at plots. Frequently likened to the Cheshire Cat, this creature is often seen grinning and/or snoozing for inadequate reasons. Inordinately attracted to curiosities like neutrinos, the Weierstrass function, and fireflies. Delights in watching Ron Swanson, Eddie Izzard, and Louis CK.

Shantanu : Truly believes that there is no such thing as random data, only patterns not yet discovered. Loves playing chess, bridge and poker . As far as the big debates of life go: vim beats emacs, Ganguly beats Dhoni and nothing beats spicy chicken biriyani.

Kamal : Theoretical computer scientist at heart. When not visualizing geometrical or data structures will be found listening to Nusrat Saheb or reading novels.

Sudhir : Sud is a physics-guy-turned-neurocientist-turned-teacher-turned-IoT-guy-turned-CV-guy-turned-hardware-guy. He loves to build things and break things apart too. He maintains a garage hackerspace where folks join in on the building/breaking fun.

I am the muggle among these magicians.

Abhijeet : I love designing human centric systems that leverage data. I find the combination of machine, language and intelligence very intriguing. Absurdly attracted to the field of philosophical logic, watching plays and reading Urdu poems. Keywords: Godel, Intelligence and modern literature.

“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.” — Bertrand Russell

We understand that there exist no right answers for the wrong questions. Hence we are in the habit of re-asking questions even before we start contemplating answers. In the problem space we operate in, presumptions can hurt.

My time at Data science team at Locus Logistics Solutions has been about learning engineering design techniques to build systems that leverage huge amounts of data and algorithms of various kinds. We work heavily on different kinds of optimization and learning algorithms solving NP hard problem and geospatial problems.

Being part of this team has taught me to believe that every complex problem has a fundamental truth or a ground level axiom that gives us a way in, and the team has abundance of experience, knowledge, audacity and resources to guide it towards a working solution.

“It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.” Sherlock Holmes, “A Study in Scarlett” (Arthur Conan Doyle).

Our group lays huge emphasis on metrics. All algorithmic design decisions are driven by intellect and intuition but they must be verified with data that represents the ground truth where the algorithm has to deliver.

Everyone has ownership of the problem they are solving which means both accountability and autonomy. But that doesn’t mean they are in this alone. Every alternate day the team huddles for a brainstorming session. Here, usually a single undertaking of the team is discussed in a detailed fashion with the owner pitching in his ideas and checking if he is taking the right direction. This meet has a healthy combination of geeky debates, quirky jokes and an appreciation of the fact of how privileged a group we are to work on problems those have a lasting impact on the society we live in.

Last but not the least, we have loads of fun. When we are not scratching our heads, we are perfecting our top spin while playing table tennis, or gambling away at the poker table (Imagine data scientists playing poker). Yeah, that good. Apart from this we enjoy conversations on theoretical computer science to neuroscience, food, and funniest meme of the day. More often than not you will find us laughing hard for no good reason.

In the next blog we will see some specific projects and tasks that the team is working on. Till then, Adios from Abhijeet!

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This post was authored by: Abhijeet Katte