Only A Model

Hi, I’m Ben Deaton. 👋

I’m a technical leader, machine learning engineer, and sometimes-writer. This site blends my professional work with the ideas and personal interests that shape how I think. It’s a living document–an evolving model of what I’m learning.

A quick profile across a few axes:

• Currently: I lead high-performing engineering teams that build distributed ML systems at scale.
• Interests: Software engineering, ML/AI systems, MLOps, distributed systems, leadership, people management, advising, consulting.
• Work: Startups, tech, consulting, national labs, academia. More here ↗
• Education: Georgia Tech Engineering PhD, MS, and BS
• Values: Empathy, rigor, ownership, openness, flexibility, aesthetics, vulnerability
• Location: Atlanta-based; formerly in Boston
• Personal: Married 23 years; we’re raising three kids (ages 8 to 17). I’m also an amateur classical violinist–my one pursuit that reliably shuts everything else off.
• Advocacy: My youngest has a rare de novo genetic disorder, which unexpectedly made me a rare-disease advocate. I try to support other families navigating these paths.

Evergreen / Working Documents

• Now - What I’m doing right now, current focus, etc.
• Things I Recommend - I care a lot about the design of everything things
• Useful Questions - To ask myself and (sometimes) others
• My personal tech stack - My daily drivers for work and personal computing

Recent posts

• My experience preventing and managing RSI (n=1) (27 Apr 2020)
• Case-sensitive multiselect in VS Code (14 Apr 2020)
• The Gene: Reflections on the PBS documentary (13 Apr 2020)
• My current remote work setup (22 Mar 2020)
• Notes on Spaced Repetition Memory Systems (21 Feb 2020)
• Review of the Coursera Machine Learning course by Andrew Ng (16 Feb 2020)
• On Deleting Facebook and Rare Disease (09 Jun 2019)
• Recap: Southern Data Science Conference 2019 (24 Apr 2019)
• Five-year update: BOS to ATL, Engineering to Data Science, PPP2R5D (19 Apr 2019)
• Review: Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor E. Frankl (14 Sep 2018)
• ... and more in the archives

Etymology

The great masters do not take any Model quite so seriously as the rest of us. They know that it is, after all, only a model, possibly replaceable.

–C.S. Lewis

But you know where the name actually came from.

Contact me

If you are interested in connecting with me, please get in touch using this contact form, which goes straight to my email. I’ll respond as soon as I can. Thanks!