software engineering

Radar visualizations for technological choices have been pioneered by ThoughtWorks. In the meantime, many organizations have created their own tech radars to map out which technologies should be considered for use by members of the organization. The German online fashion retailer Zalando has even made the source code of their tech radar publicly available. Since technological decisions for data science and AI projects are distinct from conventional applications, I decided to adapt Zalando’s tech radar.

During my time as a PhD student I have developed software in the academic setting. At that time I was already under the impression that my work would probably not meet industry standards. Having recently transitioned to an industry job, I quickly realized how coding in academia is different from coding in industry. This post summarizes the main differences between the two fields and extrapolates what coders in academia can learn from industry.