Stepping Up

The Fear of More

The time has come, or really it might be overdue, but the time has come for me to actually take full ownership of the MLOps work for a project and I am TERRIFIED.

What if I don't know enough? What if I get it wrong? What if I'm just not cut out to be an ML Engineer and I just made a HUGE mistake.

I'm terrified but I'm also grateful (and a bit excited). I'm grateful to be in an environment where I'm encouraged to step up, but I'm not left to flounder. I have amazing support from my line manager and the ML team at large. I have seniors who are putting in the time to help me make sure I'm making the right decisions and honestly, I also believe that if I make a mistake they'll be right with me helping me fix them.

So, what am I learning as I go through the processes of setting up this project?

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid

Not every project needs every bit of theory that you've learned. It sounds obvious, sure, but nerves can do interesting things. When I realised I'd have to start thinking about this project's MLOps strategy (maybe even that is too bold for what I'm doing, but it my mind this is what it is) I tried to pull together all the bits of knowledge from the depths of my mind. What did I learn when I was studying for the Azure exam that could help me? How many tools are there out there which we could use for a Data Science project?

Well, hold up. Actually, let's focus on the task at hand. What are the requirements of *this* project? It doesn't matter how much is out there, it can't be useful if it's not used at the right time or in the right place. The goal is not to use every tool in the box, but use the right tools for the job at hand. Which, spoiler alert, might not actually be the most complex or exciting tools.

Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help

As juniors, we get stronger by being supported by our team. We grow by being supported by our team. We aren't expected to know everything, that's why we're juniors. But, I would say it's a reasonable expectation on us to be honest with ourselves about what we know and where we might be struggling and ask for help so we don't mess up.

Now, I'm not saying go to your line manager or the rest of your team with no clue at all, asking them to solve your problems. That won't help anyone. But, once you've done the research for what you think you might need, scaled back the big ideas of throwing everything at the project and have what you think is a reasonable plan, there's nothing wrong with running that by someone. Ask a willing senior to give you a demo of how they've set up their project. Have a quick run through of your plan with someone more experienced. That way you've gone through your learning journey, you've learned by refining your thoughts but your double checking. Yes, it's great if your seniors tell you that's exactly how they'd set up the project, but also it's good if they suggest alternatives/improvements to your plan. It is just more opportunity to learn. It means next time, you have more strings to your bow. More to choose from with better reasoning.

You CAN Do This

This is the goal, right? To be largely self-sufficient in your role. We don't want to be juniors forever, asking for help for every project or only ever shadowing. In a good environment, if you weren't ready, you wouldn't be given the opportunity to step up. You might not have the confidence in yourself right now, but the question is - how much do you trust your line manager/team lead?

It is is no-one's interest to watch you fail at the task of taking on more responsibility. It won't look good for your line manager, it won't be good for the business and it won't be good for your development and long term goals. These things should give you some confidence that you wouldn't be put in a position that you're not ready for.

Being ready for it doesn't mean you have to know everything, being ready is about having a good level of foundation knowledge and knowing which questions to ask and when.