
Data Science Challenges at Instacart - apoorvamehta
https://tech.instacart.com/data-science-at-instacart/
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minimaxir
I'm all for data science, but I think this article romanticizes the field a
bit too much (the random pictures of employees being thoughtful do not help).

Listing the problems Instacart has which can be solved through applied
statistics is one thing. The other, more important thing, is _how exactly data
science works_ to solve problems, with technical detail, as opposed to data
science being some mystical unexplained power. (Especially since the intended
audience for this post is data scientists Instacart wants to hire and
presumably are already knowledgable in data science)

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jeremystan
I find that great data scientists care a tremendous amount about the problems
they tackle and the impact they have, and less so the specific methods used.
But we will definitely write more in the future on details. Here I wanted to
share the range of problems, how we organize (not commonly discussed) and what
we look for in candidates. That can be useful to other startups looking to
build data science teams.

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randycupertino
My friend works at Instacart, she says it totally sucks. Mainly because
there's no guaranteed hourly pay and what she gets paid depends entirely on
what the customers decide to give out as a tip. So for example sometimes she
spends an hour grocery shopping for someone, then 30 minutes to drive to their
house, and then the person can just arbitrarily decide to tip her $10. So she
makes $10 for 90 minutes of work? That's below minimum wage. She says MOST
people will tip $20 or $25 however not all. So all it takes is one cheapskate
to not understand how long it takes for you to go and pick out and deliver all
their groceries and you get totally screwed.

Apparently when she works in SF proper is the only place with a guaranteed
wage, all surrounding areas you are at the mercy of what people decide to tip.
Sounds outrageous, all it takes is one cheap idiot to completely ruin your
shift and make it not worth it to work there.

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ffumarola
I definitely understand your frustration, but calling the people cheap idiots
seems a bit harsh. Does Instacart give tipping guidance? As a user, I would
just assume they pay reasonable wages and a tip should be just that... a tip,
not a living wage.

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bunderbunder
As Instacart users, we've experienced some confusion on this front. They don't
make it at all clear to their customers how the pickers are paid or how much
they might or might not depend on tips.

I want to believe this is something Instacart employees could easily clear up
by disseminating some information on the subject rather than hoping that
Instacart will handle it.

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Pyxl101
This isn't something that a user should have to know. We're going down the
wrong track by implying that they should. Instacart shouldn't be expected to
share their compensation model for their employees or contractors publicly or
with their customers, and users shouldn't be expected to know or care about it
in order to make fair decisions. This is a business relationship of customer
to service provider. Paying the price you're charged with an optional tip for
good service is entirely appropriate.

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JasonCEC
On this note: My team and I at Analytical Flavor Systems[1] wrote a blog post
on how we go about hiring data science interns[2]. It's heavier on the
technical details, and suffers from less... romanticism....

[1] www.gastrograph.com

[2] [https://gastrograph.com/blogs/gastronexus/interviewing-
data-...](https://gastrograph.com/blogs/gastronexus/interviewing-data-science-
interns.html)

~~~
minimaxir
There is definitely more technical detail and statistical process in that
post, although I strongly question the use of a hiring test that intricate and
time consuming for an _internship_.

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disgruntledphd2
That is very true. However, I'm all for these kinds of tests in general. I
read the assignment (and after lol'ing at the specification of methods), found
it reasonably interesting. I reckon it would take me an hour or two to
complete (as long as I didn't get sucked in to exploring the data) :).

Then again, I'm not looking for an internship.

~~~
JasonCEC
You should consider applying for a full time position ;)

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hathym
we are hiring would have been enough.

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grayclhn
> _Many of our best data science ideas have come from Instacart employees in
> the field – working directly with our shoppers in our stores, or interacting
> directly with our customers._

I have no idea what this could mean. Either you're getting algorithm
suggestions from your shoppers and customers, or (more likely) "data science"
means "user interface."

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jeremystan
Agreed, that wasn't worded well - i'll try to explain. By 'employees in the
field' we mean people who work in operations and management roles in the
cities we operate in. They work with shoppers in stores and respond to shopper
and customer feedback. They have ideas about how to improve our logistics and
our apps - and while many ideas will be about user interfaces, many others
will relate to how the algorithms operate behind the UIs.

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CPLX
So we no longer use the word scientist to describe people who do science? What
a shame, I think science is really neat and scientists deserve unique respect.

As far as I can tell what these people do every day is called "business" or
maybe "logistics"

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yummyfajitas
What do you believe distinguishes "science" from "data science"? I.e., why
can't "logistics" be a subset of "science"?

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CPLX
Because science is an academic pursuit designed to create and test
generalizable hypotheses and add to our collective knowledge, while the people
in the article are trying to figure out how to optimize the act of underpaying
someone to go grab some cans off a supermarket shelf and bring them to me.

They're not scientists, they're engineers perhaps, or business analysts.

~~~
yummyfajitas
So a person doing basic biology research for Monsanto isn't a scientist? And
whether or not Kantorovich qualifies as a scientist depends on whether he was
working for the military or a university at the time he came up with linear
programming?

That's an interesting definition.

~~~
CPLX
No, basic biology research is science of course.

It doesn't depend on where the person works (though sure that's a relevant
sign) it matters what they're doing.

Analyzing business related data and optimizing KPI's isn't science. At best
it's applied science, which we have names for, such as engineering or
statistics or financial analysis.

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SixSigma
People like shopping

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jeremystan
Behind the scenes, Instacart is a revolutionary new e-commerce marketplace, an
incredibly sophisticated last-mile logistics engine, and a dynamic source of
work for thousands of personal shoppers. Each of these aspects of Instacart
could be a whole company elsewhere, and data science plays a key role in our
success in each endeavor.

In this article, I (our VP Data Science) highlight some challenges the data
science team is tackling at Instacart ranging from logistics to
personalization. I also go into detail on how we have organized data science
to have maximal impact and what we look for when recruiting data scientists.

~~~
x0x0
fyi I interviewed for this team and 2 notes:

1 - I've been doing ad optimization / user classification / propensity scoring
/ product recommendations, warned them that I took a couple stochastic
processes classes but haven't used them for a decade, and that I was entirely
unsuited for OR type problems. They said that was ok and they where hiring for
things I was suited for. Great. My in-person interview was primarily an OR
problem best solved with stochastic processes.

2 - they were very responsive at first but after the interview, went radio
silent for a week. After promising a response in a day. This was particularly
annoying since I told them I had a written offer that I was pushing off for
them. My guess is they were waiting to see if another candidate would accept.
Which is fine, but the recruiter should have been honest with me. They ignored
me for 5 business days after the interview -- 4 after their promised response
-- before finally telling me no thanks. I'm not grumpy about being told no --
that's definitely happened before -- but their crappy behavior. Fortunately
I'd already accepted the other offer after reading between the lines, but
still, the experience left me grumpy.

I debated posting this for a while, but bluntly, I kind of felt like they
wasted my time and was really not happy their internal recruiter blew me off
after repeated promises otherwise. I'm sure they'll be along to say your
experience will be different (and it may well be!) but here's a data point for
your consideration. I'm just sharing my experience.

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jeremystan
We work hard to get back to candidates quickly - in some cases the same day as
they interview, but at least the day after if not. We know the market is very
competitive and want candidates to make the best decisions they can - so it's
in our best interest to act quickly! We are always working to improve how we
screen, interview and respond to candidates in hiring, so will take this
feedback to heart. Thank you for providing it.

Regarding the focus on OR, that was definitely the case for our first few
years, and while it's still important, we have definitely expanded our focus
beyond it.

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gk1
Not sure if you realize but all your responses here seem terribly canned.
That's probably also why your first comment in this thread is being downvoted.

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jeremystan
re-reading what I wrote I can see how it comes off as canned - thanks for the
feedback

