The Test Set Pod - Column selectors, data quality, and learning in public (Season 1, Episode 14)

python
rstats
sql
data
A Posit podcast hosted by Michael Chow, Hadley Wickham, and Wes McKiney. We discuss a wide range of topics spanning polyglot workflows, syntactic sugar and the origins of column selectors, and much more.
Published

January 26, 2026

Episode Notes

Emily’s had a wild ride through modeling, data engineering, machine learning, and back again, and she knows a thing or three about the evolution of SQL tooling (from nightmare multi-page scripts to the dbt renaissance). She reveals how building internal packages became her gateway to making work enjoyable. Plus: the surprising Stata origins of column selectors, the eternal struggle of naming packages across R and Python, and why watching people code teaches you more than any tutorial ever could. The conversation gets real about imposter syndrome and the magic of tacit knowledge.