Meet the Team: Notger Heinz

Earlier this month, Dr.-Ing. Notger Heinz was appointed Bayes Esports’ new CTO. This is an exciting next step for Bayes Esports, as Notger has been a part of the team for many years. He has been a friendly face around our Berlin offices and a leader to our data science team.

His journey with esports and data started in 2018 as he was one of the original minds behind DOJO Madness, the company that became Bayes Esports. In June 2022, he became the Principal Data Scientist at Bayes Esports, overseeing the development of industry-leading machine learning match predictions and adjacent data products and services.

We spoke with Notger about his vision for Bayes Esports’ technology, the transformation he’s witnessing in the esports industry, and the leadership principles that guide him. Around the office, you might spot him delivering insightful presentations to his colleagues, or hosting the in-house Bayes Esports betting competition. Read on to learn more!

How did you first get involved in esports and data?

“My career in esports began as a player in the early Counter-Strike seasons (unsuccessfully). I later joined a squad for Team Fortress 2, a team-based shooter game where we even made it to the third league — a true highlight from that time was being recognized by a German national player. And of course, the frag video we created. Eventually, however, life and kids took over.

Around the same time, I had finished my PhD in control theory and discovered a sub-field which was machine learning (nowadays AI). Since I always wanted to understand how things worked and liked statistics for their descriptive value, I was naturally attracted to the field. 

When I started this career path, esports and data felt like two entirely separate paths. It wasn't until I joined DOJO Madness, where I took the lead on all things data-related, that my two interests finally merged. This is where we discovered the huge amount of untapped potential esports data offered. From there we began building up our reputation for esports data science, which grew into what Bayes Esports has become today.”

Esports and data are evolving rapidly. How do you see these fields transforming in the next few years, and what role will Bayes Esports play?

“Niels Bohr famously said “Prediction is always difficult, especially when it is about the future,” and I stick to that. Transformative changes can never be foreseen. Having said that, one trend that holds for all industries is that things become cheaper to produce and easier to access. As tools and technologies become commodities, game publishers will put more effort into providing access to their data, which in turn will help the ecosystem grow.

In the past couple of years, we have seen the esports data situation dramatically improve in many ways. When I started at DOJO Madness, I adjusted our very own parsers to be able to parse Dota games. At the time, there was no CS live data and no usable LOL live data. These days, there are a dozen titles that offer at least some sort of live data, and this number continues to grow.

I also expect generative algorithms to become a larger part of the esports experience. Although I imagine this to be more directed to the player experience on the game publisher side. Imagine, for example, highlights being created automatically with a commentator describing what is going on. Unsurprisingly, we might have an idea or two around that topic in our drawers.

Bayes Esports is uniquely positioned to make use of the data as it becomes more readily available. We have built all our systems with scalability in mind, so when a new title pops up with a great data offering, it will not be long before we are ready to fly.”

Could you share some pivotal experiences in your career that have shaped your approach to data science and leadership?

“I think the moment Fourier transformations clicked for me, it changed my view of the world. This, and understanding double book-keeping. Both should be taught in school.

Leadership-wise, some years ago I realized that the self-serving bias is a dangerous one: I learned that whenever someone speculates about the motivation of someone else, they are usually wrong. This is why I tried to stop speculating about other people’s motives, and instead just ask them.”

How would you describe your leadership style? Are there any guiding principles you follow when leading tech teams?

“My main thing is: Respect the other person. I am no one’s boss, I am just someone with a given set of responsibilities. When I talk to a colleague, I want the discussion to be about the “what”, not the “who said it” or “who’s right”. Otherwise, I would stop learning and that would be sad.”

You returned to Bayes Esports as Principal Data Scientist in June 2022. Could you share some of your favorite memories since then?

“Honestly, I have plenty of them.

Most recently, we launched our internal betting game where we would pit our algorithms against the wits of employees. I had organized a betting league around it to test the algorithm. The amount of participation and engagement as well as seeing the performance of our algorithms and the systems we had built were awesome.”

As the newly appointed CTO, what are your plans for the technical development at Bayes Esports? Can you share any details on plans for product development?

“I feel that Bayes Esports is very well set up, with a strong team supporting a core of established products alongside some newly developed ones. We do not have a large gap in our offering, so our main direction for the time being is fine-tuning our current products.

We might also have an announcement coming soon, but I will obviously not spoil that ahead of time. ;)”

What excites you most about your future at Bayes Esports?

“Bayes Esports is currently positioned at a very interesting point in the esports landscape and there is an immense opportunity for growth. I am very grateful to have been granted the trust and autonomy to help shape the tech organization and our path into that future. I am very much looking forward to it.”