Nirmal Budhathoki
Hosted by Nirmal Budhathoki
A podcast for aspiring data professionals, featuring career stories and practical advice from experts working in AI, MLOps, and product management.
This show, also called the 'Only One Outlier Podcast', provides a practitioner's view of the data science and AI industry. Host Nirmal Budhathoki interviews fellow data scientists, AI leaders, and product managers about their career paths, on-the-job challenges, and the frameworks they use. The conversations are less about abstract trends and more focused on concrete topics like productionizing models, navigating interviews, and the skills needed for specific roles like MLOps.
“Unlike purely inspirational or high-level tech podcasts, this show is grounded in the host's own experience as a senior data scientist. This peer-to-peer dynamic leads to practical discussions about specific career hurdles, interview tactics, and technical challenges that practitioners face daily.”
Who hosts this show
Nirmal Budhathoki is a Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft, where he focuses on cloud security. He has over 12 years of experience in the IT industry, with previous roles at Wells Fargo and VMware, and served in the U.S. Army. Budhathoki is passionate about mentoring early-career data scientists, having conducted over 700 free mentoring sessions, and he co-authored the book "Decoding Machine Learning Interviews".
Credentials & credits
- Senior Data Scientist, Microsoft
- Co-author, "Decoding Machine Learning Interviews"
- Master's degree in Data Science, University of California San Diego
- Master's degree in Information Systems
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Formerly: Senior Data Scientist, VMware; Data Scientist, Wells Fargo
Other ventures
- "Decoding Machine Learning Interviews" (book)
- Data science mentoring (Topmate)
- Medium blog on data science careers
What kind of podcast
When new episodes drop
- 01OOO PodCast Show Episode 11 with Maria VechtomovaMay 21, 2026 · 37 min
- 02OOO PodCast Show Episode 10 with Riya GayasenMar 11, 2026 · 51 min
- 03AMA: Data Science Interviews with Industry ExpertsMar 5, 2026 · 1h 11m
- 04Data Science & ExperimentationAug 29, 2025 · 1h 07m
- 05OOO PodCast Show Episode 9 with Rosha PokharelAug 11, 2025 · 44 min
- 06Decoding ML interviewsJun 30, 2025 · 49 min
- 075 Tips For Your Data Science ResumeJun 6, 2025 · 5 min
- 08OOO PodCast Show Episode 8 with Michelle ConwayMay 20, 2025 · 47 min
Notable episodes
- 01AMA: Data Science Interviews with Industry Experts
Features a panel of four industry experts from Google, Walmart, and BCBS answering audience questions, providing a wide range of perspectives on the data science job market.
- 02OOO PodCast Show Episode 11 with Maria Vechtomova
A deep dive into MLOps and AI Engineering, where the guest breaks down the components of a modern MLOps stack and the challenges of productionizing AI models.
- 03OOO PodCast Show Episode 10 with Riya Gayasen
This episode provides a clear framework for integrating AI into product management, highlighting the importance of the 'human story' in tech.
What you'll be asked on this show
Nirmal Budhathoki's interview style is supportive and inquisitive, aimed at extracting actionable career narratives. He typically opens by asking guests to trace their career origins, often with a question like, "How did everything start for you?" He probes for challenges and resilience by asking about major hurdles guests have faced. A key technique is asking guests to define complex concepts (like MLOps) in their own words, making them accessible to the audience. He frequently asks for the specific frameworks guests use in their work and uses clarifying questions (e.g., "When you say 'features,' do you mean product features or data attributes?") to bridge jargon gaps between different roles. His interviews feel like a mentorship session, designed to demystify the path to a successful data career.
The show is primarily a one-on-one interview format, though some episodes are panel discussions or AMAs. The host, Nirmal Budhathoki, begins each interview with a detailed introduction of his guest's background. He actively connects the guest's experiences with his own career and broader industry knowledge.
Questions Nirmal Budhathoki keeps coming back to
8 cataloguedIf you're going on this show as a guest, expect some version of each of these. Each note explains when Nirmal Budhathoki reaches for it.
origin
1- Q.01
“Could you share your background and how you were pulled into the world of data and ML?”
This is his standard opening question to establish the guest's career origin story.
personal
1- Q.01
“What were the major challenges in your journey, and how did you tackle them?”
He asks this to explore stories of resilience and problem-solving.
advice
1- Q.01
“What are your suggestions for people who are learning data science today?”
This question is used to generate direct, actionable advice for the audience.
craft
1- Q.01
“In your own words, what is [MLOps, GenAI, etc.] and what are its core principles?”
He uses this to get a foundational, expert definition of a key technical concept.
process
2- Q.01
“Can you tell us about the framework you use for [integrating AI, product roadmapping, etc.]?”
This question elicits a structured, repeatable process from the guest's experience.
- Q.02
“Does your framework also apply to [adjacent use case, e.g., new customers]?”
This type of question probes the scope and limitations of a guest's proposed methods.
industry
1- Q.01
“What are your thoughts on why teams struggle with [taking models to production, etc.]?”
He asks this to diagnose common industry failure points and pain points.
technique
1- Q.01
“When you say 'X,' do you mean A or B?”
He frequently interjects with these questions to clarify terminology for the audience.
Signature segments
- · Only One Outlier Podcast Show
Topics covered repeatedly
Who gets booked here
Guests are typically senior-level data and AI professionals working at major tech companies like Google and Walmart or founders of specialized consultancies. They are practitioners who can speak in detail about their work, from building MLOps stacks to developing AI product frameworks.
- Maria Vechtomovaon OOO PodCast Show Episode 11 with Maria Vechtomova
- Riya Gayasenon OOO PodCast Show Episode 10 with Riya Gayasen
- Shivam Bindalon AMA: Data Science Interviews with Industry Experts
- Sai Kumar Byanion AMA: Data Science Interviews with Industry Experts
- Karun Thankachanon AMA: Data Science Interviews with Industry Experts
- Rosha Pokharelon OOO PodCast Show Episode 9 with Rosha Pokharel
Where to find this show
Audience & reach
The host promotes his own book, "Decoding Machine Learning Interviews," which he co-authored with a past guest. This is the primary commercial angle observed.
Subscriber and view counts are pulled live from YouTube and re-verified on a 30-day cycle. Listener estimates for the RSS feed aren't published here unless they're host-verified.
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People also ask
- What is the host's real name and profession?
- The host is Nirmal Budhathoki, a Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft specializing in cloud security.
- What is the format of the podcast?
- It's primarily an interview show with data science and AI professionals. Some episodes are panel discussions or 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) sessions with multiple experts.
- Is the podcast still active?
- Yes, based on the episode release dates, the podcast publishes new episodes on a monthly to quarterly basis.
- Who is the target audience for this podcast?
- The show is aimed at aspiring and early-to-mid-career data scientists, analysts, and ML engineers seeking practical career advice and industry insights.
- Where can I listen to the podcast?
- The podcast episodes are published as videos on the Nirmal Budhathoki YouTube channel, under the name 'onlyoneoutlier' or 'OOO PodCast Show'.
Built from the show's public RSS feed, YouTube, the host's own websites, and the cited sources below. Computed and AI-extracted fields are labelled. Facts only — no private info, no fabrication, no transcripts republished.
Sources & how this page was built
This page is AI-assisted, grounded in the public sources cited below, and host-verifiable. We publish facts only; we do not republish transcripts. If anything here is wrong, the host can claim and correct the page above.Model: gemini-2.5-pro · high confidence
- [01]Nirmal Budhathoki's LinkedIn Profilelinkedin.com
- [02]Nirmal Budhathoki's GitHub Profilegithub.com
- [03]Podcast Interview: Guarding the Future: Data Science-Powered Security at Microsoft with Nirmal B.youtube.com
- [04]Book: Decoding Machine Learning Interviewsonlyoneoutlier.gumroad.com
- [05]Nirmal Budhathoki YouTube Channelyoutube.com
- [06]Nirmal Budhathoki on Topmate (Mentoring)topmate.io
- [07]Podcast Interview: DSS Break with Nirmal Budhathoki: AI for Cyber Securityyoutube.com
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