Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Sebastian Gutierrez:
Why was the LinkedIn offer so compelling?
DanielTunkelang:
Working at LinkedIn is awesome. We work on challenging
problems that create massive value—not just online, but offline too. We help
people get jobs, companies find talent, and more generally help professionals
be more successful every day. To do so, we analyze big data—rich, semistruc-
tured, social data. In the process of which we develop and contribute open
source tools, cool research results, etc.
Gutierrez:
What teams have you worked in at LinkedIn?
Tunkelang:
When I joined LinkedIn in late 2010, I led the product data
science team, a group of data scientists focused on creating innovative
solutions to improve LinkedIn's products and create new ones. It was a
great chance to lead and hire people with a rare combination of com-
puter science background, technical skill, creative problem-solving ability,
and product sense.
In the spring of 2013, I transferred to engineering to create a team around
query understanding. I've been passionate about search—and LinkedIn search
in particular—for much of my professional career, and this was an opportu-
nity to focus my passion into product. Working in engineering is great—we
have to be a bit more heads down and focused on operations, but it's great to
always be working on the live site. And, of course, the people I work with are
amazing—brilliant, creative problem solvers who get things done.
Gutierrez
: What does being Head of Search Quality entail?
Tunkelang:
In the fall of 2014, I took on an expanded role as the head of
search quality. I now lead the team that enables LinkedIn's 300M+ members
to effectively and efficiently leverage LinkedIn's professional content to satisfy
their information needs. The includes query understanding, but also scoring
and ranking of results, and everything else we need to do to deliver the right
results to the right searchers at the right time.
Gutierrez:
How would you compare and contrast leading a team of data
scientists to leading a team of engineers?
Tunkelang:
The people I hired as data scientists had strong software
engineering skills, so the difference wasn't as drastic as it would have been
if I were leading a team of data analysts or statisticians. The main change is
that I now lead a team that wholly owns a product that serves billions of
searches a year. We have to think about everything from coming up with
new algorithms to making sure we don't take the site down.
