After graduating from college with my Business Analytics degree, I found myself in a minimum-wage job as a clubhouse assistant with little direction regarding my career in analytics. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in analytics, but I didn't know where to start. That's when I discovered the Data School. As a recent college graduate who felt that I didn't know as much as I should, the prospect of four months of training was highly appealing to me. So, I decided to apply.
My first application was for DSNY 4, and I had some knowledge of Tableau but not much. I managed to complete my dashboard within a week to meet the deadline, but I made a critical mistake. I created a dashboard filled with charts that looked good but didn't convey a clear message. Regardless of your skill level, every decision you make when designing a dashboard must have a purpose. A dashboard is a unified display of data, and every element must come together to help explore or explain the data.
Taking this advice to heart, I applied for DSNY 5 with a new mindset that every graph must be connected and serve a purpose. This change in approach got me past the initial round and to the final round of interviews for the Data School. The topic for the dashboard I was tasked with creating was "cafeteria violations in New York City." I didn't have a deep knowledge of this subject, so I dedicated time to research it. I spent the first day researching and the remaining six days creating the dashboard. However, this research wasn't sufficient for someone with no prior knowledge of the subject. I ended up with a dashboard that was cohesive and meaningful, but at times it felt either uninteresting or disjointed. My dashboard exposed how little I knew about the subject, and I was rejected for the second time. This rejection came with another valuable lesson: ensuring that I have a deep understanding of the subject matter.
By this point, I had already applied twice and was determined to secure a job I was passionate about. I received an offer as a financial advisor, but I wasn't satisfied with it. I didn't want to spend eight hours a day in misery at a desk. So, I applied for a third time, hoping that the third time would be the charm. For the final interview, the topic was "Connecticut home sales," a subject I had more prior knowledge of. However, I didn't let my prior knowledge deter me from conducting thorough research. As I worked with the data, I delved into articles about how the housing market is measured and the demographics of various Connecticut towns, I continued to research the topic until I felt confident enough to deliver a speech on the subject. I then created my dashboard and received feedback on it. When I gave my presentation, I did so with the confidence of having delivered this speech a million times before. I told the story of how the dashboard was created and explained the significance of the details within it. Two days later, I received an offer to join DSNY6, where my Tableau skills continue to be honed.
Where I realize, with every dashboard I create, there are always new lessons to be learned and opportunities for improvement.