A data scientist for $2000?

Permission to spend a couple of cents

Here is how Ritz Carlton's $2000 rule comes in. What if your manager told you: "I don't care if you spend $20 - I need you to solve the problem". The solution is worth $20 to your manager, otherwise you (a wellpaid knowledge worker) would not work on it. Not that you're likely to spend it - $20 buys a lot of computing power these days. Permanently solving big problems for your team is probably worth far more than $2000. And who around here does not like to solve important problems?

Organizations should start thinking of how to give their employees means to access these tools on their own. That means training and educating users, it means setting up a painless process to get started and an environment that encourages experimentation but prevents users from racking up ruinous costs or creating security problems. Ideally, if you have G Suite, you would also have access to GCP data analytics tools and light coding.

This also means users stepping up! Are you interested? Are you responsible? Why don't you let your boss know - and, you know, you could actually start learning GCP technologies. You can start by learning what tools there are, and where you can get training. You can ask how the process for actually getting access works. In the worst case, you can teach yourself at home on your own budget. It won't ruin you and give you transferable, career-relevant skills.

I'll descend back into the Next frenzy, hope you join me there - all the while dreaming of a future where we'll be able to easily use these shiny tools. No Sheets user should be limited to Sheets. $2000 is a steal. Thanks for reading!