Happily Below Average

Chances are pretty good that I'm an average or below average data scientist. I'm probably also an average or below average driver, below average cook (maybe way below average on that one), below average guitar player, etc. This is not an attempt at false modesty or self-deprecation, but a fact of life. Assuming that data science skills, driving skills, cooking skills, guitar playing skills, etc. are normally distributed, half of us will be at or below average. (Obviously if we are talking about the entire population and not just those who claim to have some data science, driving, cooking, or guitar playing skills, things are a little better -- I would certainly like to think that my driving skills are much better than someone who has never driven before, for example.)

At the top of the distribution are the real geniuses -- folks who radically change the landscape of what is possible and create the tools or techniques that everyone else imitates. At the other end of the distribution are folks who are still exploring the tip of the iceberg of the domain. The rest of us are somewhere in-between. This isn't an indictment of work ethic, intelligence, drive, or anything else -- it is simply a numbers game.  As the saying goes, "If you are one in a million, there are 1,000 people in China just like you."

How you compare to others is less important than how you compare to yourself over time. I can be happily below average as long as I feel that I am improving rather than getting worse.