As my final post on this site, I have a few pointers I hope future dataschool cohorts can learn from ours:

1. Take advantage of all the socials, but know your limit
There are plenty of opportunities to socialise as a company but also with other Tableau and Alteryx users. This is a great way to better get to know people in the information lab and beyond. However, as was particularly true for DS6 at the start, there are sometimes way too many socials, almost every night after work, and it can burn you out if you try and attend them all. Don’t feel bad to be selective on which socials you attend and saying no when you are tired or need to cover material after work.

2. Take advantage of the time and opportunities
Seek out work that you are interested in. Get involved in competitions, charity cases, etc that are of interest to you. It’s highly rewarding and can re-enforce how much you have actually learned.

3. Find what works for you
You will work and learn in ways particular to you, don’t be ashamed of that. If you learn more slowly in your personal time rather than in the classroom environment then own that. Also, you will find members of TIL who you vibe with and are inspired by to do great work. Seek these people out.

4. Stay Motivated
At the dataschool you are in the public eye a fair bit, in front of different people, teachers and otherwise and experts of the field. Sometimes these people will be critical of you because they are somewhere that you are not (or they are simply having a bad day, hey people are human, wouldn’t have thought it). When you are trying your hardest and people are being critical all the time it can be hard to see the bigger picture, to not feel like you are a failure. Understand that whilst you are learning you are going to mess up, expect it, and because you expect it, do not let it get you down, no matter what anybody else says. You work best when you are motivated, calm, and have goals. Make sure to nurture that environment on days when you are stressed and anxious.
Remind yourself that you are awesome, you are trying and achieving a heck of a lot and that your success is down to you.

5. Take your time
If you don’t know something, take time to truly try and learn something before giving up, asking for help or saying you can’t do it. If you are truly unable to move past it then see my next pointer.

6. Be honest with your fellow data schoolers and teachers
If you are struggling with something it is your responsibility to let others know and ask for help or to re-cover a topic. If you don’t, when it comes time to delivering work you will have less of a luxury to learn.

Good luck to DS7 and beyond (and anyone else who may find these tips useful or motivating 🙂 ).

As a final wrap-up I will be continuing my blog series/posts on my personal blog site, follow my twitter for updates.