Just so you’re clear on exactly who I am: I spent my birthday at the DataGotham conference and I was thrilled to do so.

There were many high points, but the most enjoyable part was Baratunde Thurston. That’s right, the author of How To Be Black and former Digital Director from The Onion did a little data-geek stand-up. Pure win.

What, exactly, was DataGotham? It was a gathering of people from the loosely defined “New York City data community”and included speakers from all over the spectrum. Almost all of them, from the CIA to foursquare to Artsy to Kickstarter mentioned that they were hiring data scientists; where else is that happening?

The conference seemed fairly representative of the current state of data science as a field: start-ups,  for-profits, academics, and journalists are into it and nonprofits are just starting to get there. Jake Porway from DataKind gave a great talk about harnessing the volunteer power of individual data geeks for social good.

Envious because you weren’t there? Don’t be sad, most of the speakers can be seen on YouTube.