u/DrSus-

I know this is a hard question to answer because nobody fully knows how AI will change the workplace but I wanted to ask it anyways.

For context, I just started a data analyst job a month ago after finishing my MS in statistics (undergrad was in math). My end goal is data science (predictive modeling, forecasting, etc.). This current role is mostly SQL and PowerBI which is giving me good experience but ultimately I do want to use more of my statistics knowledge as my career progresses.

I’m grateful to even have gotten this job as a new grad with no experience but I still want to set myself up for senior roles in data science. Which brings me to my question…

How should new grads/juniors best develop critical thinking and technical knowledge while AI usage grows? I try to minimize my use of it, but I have to admit it makes things like debugging and syntax questions much easier.

For example, I was handed a SQL query that a previous team member had wrote. The end users thought it was missing a large number of rows and my task was to debug and fix it. I first tried to understand the logic of the query by adding my own comments to it. After checking that the logic was sound (it was) I thought it was some quirk of the data model. But being new, I don’t know all of these quirks and I felt stumped. So I asked copilot for some suggestions on things to try. It gave me 10 or so troubleshooting steps to test. After trying them, I figured out what the problem was (legacy data issues).

Is this is a reasonable use of AI for someone trying to learn the industry and build their experience? I don’t want to offload my critical thinking, but getting ideas for things to check did make it much easier and faster.

I will admit I also did misuse it as well. I had to change some pretty complex DAX measures and not knowing the syntax very well, I leaned heavily on copilot. After I was done with that task I realized I had basically vibecoded the entire thing (only testing and verifying results). I felt guilty after this, but management was happy with the results and how quickly they came.

I’m rambling now, but I’m curious how everyone else is balancing both learning and producing results in this new era. I’m interested in hearing from both fellow juniors and managers who are in charge of training.

We (me and my partner) are in a dilemma and looking to see what other people think of this situation.

We live in a MCOL city in the midwest currently paying $1450 for rent. It's 2bed/1bath with small square footage, but very nice build quality. Our landlord is responsive to maintenance requests and seems to take a lot of pride in his handiwork, ensuring that everything is high quality and done correctly (i.e., no landlord specials). We truly have no complaints about renting from him.

I recently finished grad school and got a job paying $70,500. My girlfriend makes $35,000-40,000 (flexible due to the nature of clients cancelling appointments sometimes, but let's assume the low end for worst case scenario). This will increase to around my salary after she finishes grad school herself in 1.5 years. Rent costs are split proportionally by the two of us.

We have been wanting to upsize for more room and an extra bathroom for a while, and now we can afford to do so with my new job.

Our landlord has a 2 bed/2 bath unit for $2500 that is very spacious in the same neighborhood that we currently live in (and enjoy very much). I have lots of outdoor hobbies so I want storage room for my bikes, skis, etc. which this unit has. It is the same build quality that we currently enjoy.

We have looked at other 2b/2b units in the area that are in the $2000 range with slightly less square footage and worse finishes. Maybe they have cheaper appliances, have poor insulation, shitty vinyl flooring, paint peeling, etc. And almost all of the landlords have bad reviews from tenants.

We are torn because an extra $500 a month would be nice to have, but don't want to live in a shittier apartment if we don't have to.

For our gross annual income of $105,500 we can afford about $2600 in housing expenses to be at the 30% rule of thumb. So the nicer unit is pushing the limit, and maybe slightly over with utilities (it is worth noting that the nicer unit has all high efficiency appliances).

In terms of other expenses, we both have fully paid off reliable cars. I also will take transit to work most days so my car use is minimal. I have no student loans, and my girlfriend has about $30k in student loans. We are not big spenders in general. I buy myself a nice piece of outdoor gear once a year, but otherwise I'm not spending too much on my hobbies. Same for my girlfriend and her hobbies.

It feels dumb to spend more on rent than we need to, because I can finally start saving more after years of paycheck to paycheck while in undergrad and grad school. But it's also not like I can't save with the higher rent. I'm just sick of living in slumlord apartments like I did before our current one.

What do you guys think about this? Okay to splurge on a nicer place?

How bad is the delay with a portable transistor radio tuned to WTAM 1100? I’m thinking of bringing one (and earbuds) to listen while in the stadium but I saw some posts from a few years ago saying there is a bad delay.

Is this still the case? Anyone had success this year?