Hello 👋

Welcome to the book - How to build a data product for people who own a keyboard

Before we begin, let me set some expectations.

Think of this book as a rough map. Even calling it a map would be too much. Think of this book as notes, which it really is. My notes. Which I’m sharing with you.

The book will give you a brief insight into a few valuable concepts and technologies that can be used to build a data product. I have also added a few example code snippets along the way for reference.

Without code snippets this book would probably go into self-help or fiction. The code snippets keep it grounded and I can claim that this is a technical book, although if you tilt your head after reading a few chapters, this book may look like a work of fiction too.

As you work your way through the book and continue down the path of learning, doing, and tinkering with these technologies, you will build your “doing” muscle.

The real pleasure I derive is when I can learn and implement my ideas. And as I keep doing this my ideas evolve along with my skills.

Obviously it makes sense to learn a technical skill like programming in Python to allow yourself the freedom to tinker and implement your wild and crazy ideas.

And that has really been the goal for me all these years in tech.

These notes are written after many years of spending time with my side projects.

These side projects were for weekends when I just wanted a break and tinker with new stuff.

And at other times these side projects helped me learn a new skill or see what the fuss was about a new technology making the rounds of the Internet, like React. Or Docker. Language Models. Embeddings. Or headless browser engines, to name just a few.

Have fun.

Harsh