Merlin Schäfer

Data - ML - Cloud - Agile

About

Myself

Hey! I'm Merlin.


A psychology graduate turned Data Scientist turned Data Generalist. I enjoy life, solving problems (preferably with data), as well as obtaining and sharing knowledge.


Find me here:

Current Interests

Some topics that sparked my interest recently

ML Engineering and MLOps

While working at my jobs for a variety of clients I realized that bringing models from an exploratory state to an actual productive system remains a large challenge for many teams. The data science process is often unstructured and under pressure by a mixture of expectations and deadlines, leaving the data scientists little room to make (or learn how to make) sure their work is reproducible, accessible and can be deployed with relative ease. I was often tasked with alleviating these issues within a MLOps/Data Engineer capability and found that I thoroughly enjoy helping teams make their work as useful and robust as possible.

Project Management

Although I enjoy coding and solving some "nitty gritty" problems, I also like to coordinate teams efforts and zooming out to look at the bigger picture. I started to acquire and use project management skills within my job at HMS but see this as an overarching topic I carry with me regardless of role or project. There is always room to better communicate, organize and stay on track with business goals, even if its just my own work.

Cloud and Backend

While working on a few projects on Azure and AWS I realized that I enjoy working with cloud services and setting up backends for data science applications. I am always trying to understand the whole system and how the different parts of a product fit together. This ties in with my interest in MLOps and project management, as I believe that understanding the whole system is crucial to making good decisions and delivering value.

The future of AI

I am trying to keep up with current events in AI (although this becomes increasingly difficult) and the road to AGI, consciousness in the context of AI and AI safety. I am fascinated by the breadth and depth of this seemingly narrow topic. Recent discussions and developments, especially those around the actual capabilities and possible advances and risks have made me think and question some of my (and many other people's) viewpoints.

Portfolio

My work is not featured here anymore. Most of it is outdated as my main work has happened within my jobs. I have left you some recent certificates, however, these cover only a small portion of my skills and experience. Feel free to reach out if you want to know more about my work experience.
AWS SAA-S03

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate

Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate

Milestones

Some of my steps within Data and ML

  • ML Engineer

    ML Engineer at Vattenfall


  • Data Scientist & Project Manager

    Data Scientist and PM at HMS Analytical Software


  • Jr. Data Scientist

    Junior Data Scientist at StackFuel


  • Master in Data Science

    Studied Data Science at Rome Business School and Universidad Internacional de Valencia.


  • B. Sc. Psychology

    Studied Psychology at Humboldt University Berlin.
    Thesis: ”Stability and Change in Personality and Interests: Investigating the relationship between stable traits and situational influences using Latent-State-Trait models”