Going through the Data School Application process felt like they were breaking me apart and rebuilding me. To be frank, that feeling still holds true. Here are a couple of things that stood out to me as an applicant, along with some useful tips to keep in mind if you are applying.
1. As you may or may not have heard, receiving feedback is a critical part of the application process and an important skill as a consultant. Most of us may feel like they can handle feedback well since we experience it often at school and work. I thought so too. Spending countless hours working on your dashboard, submitting it, and then receiving more feedback in the span of ~48 hours was a humbling experience (not to say that I did not deserve the feedback). Now, repeat that process x2 more times. This is just a snapshot of what life is like at the Data School. You will be asked to push yourself, challenge your thinking, and reiterate your work. In other words, remember feedback is meant to be constructive. The Data School wants to see you succeed, and you can’t succeed without understanding what worked well and what didn’t.
2. Similar to many applicants, this was my first time building a dashboard, not just on Tableau. The biggest lessons I learned along the way was to keep a stakeholder in mind and to make sure your dashboard remains concise.
When building my dashboard, I’ll admit I did not prioritize a stakeholder. As a History graduate, I realized (a little too late) that I was building a dashboard as I would a research paper – I had a question, and I was using my graphs to answer that question. The issue with this approach comes down to the essence of what a dashboard is. A dashboard is a tool that stakeholders use to make a decision. Without a stakeholder in mind, what is the purpose of your dashboard?
Now what does it mean to have a concise dashboard? After the first round of feedback, you may think that being concise means having as few words as possible on your visualization. While making sure you're not bombarding your audience with text is something to keep in mind, there's more to it. Your mindset when building a dashboard should be: "How can I visualize this information as clearly and straightforwardly as possible?" Your graphs are key. They not only have to be visually appealing and readable, but most importantly, they need to make sense. If you give your dashboard to a friend and they are unable to understand it without your explanation, you may need to go back to the drawing board.
I learned a lot throughout my application process, and I will be spending the next few weeks expanding on that knowledge. Huge thanks to Coach Sid for teaching me most of these tips during my application. I am now passing it along to you guys.
Good luck to you all with your applications!