In this episode, I chat with Nick Tierney, a statistician, data scientist, and creator of the {naniar} R package for exploring missing data. Nick reflects on his journey from a psychology undergrad to a PhD in statistics, and how open-source tools—and a deeply curious mindset—shaped his path.

We discuss Nick’s early struggles with R, the importance of community, and his evolution into package development and consulting. He also walks through the why and how of testing R packages, making the case for better, more reliable code.

Resources mentioned:

• {naniar} package

• Books: (1) The R Book by Michael Crawley, and (2) R Packages by Hadley Wickham and Jenny Bryan

Connect with Garrick on Bluesky and GitHub