They warn you on your first day of the data school that it goes by very quickly. I now understand what they mean as the first month of training has flown by. From barely knowing anything about dashboards apart from what I learnt throughout my application, I have now cleaned and prepped data and created full dashboards within the space of a day. Coming up to a month in the data school, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my time at the data school so far.
Week 1
The first week was mainly about getting situated with the data school and what it has to offer. Understanding where data comes from as well as what can be achieved was interesting to discuss. I remember feeling quite out of my depth in my first week, especially not coming from a science or data background. Hearing about everyone's masters degrees didn't help!
However, I learnt to trust the training process and just focus on my own journey as opposed to comparing with others. I got to know my cohort and others in the data school and learnt how friendly the place really is. I felt very welcomed and comfortable and therefore had an excellent first week in the data school.
Week 2
Throughout the second week, I was still getting used to coming into the office everyday and the intense schedule for training. However, getting stuck into some tableau and dashboard training helped the days go fast. This was the week I realised how much we could learn in just a couple hours of a session. Starting from the beginning even though we created our application viz in Tableau, really helped to gain a true understanding of the software.
I also became more used to Friday projects and began to enjoy the chance to practice some of the skills I had learned during the week.
Week 3
This was the week, we started learning more theory such as calculations and data models which definitely left my brain feeling tired. This was where I started learning things that perhaps I didn't understand and therefore had to go over and explain things in different ways.
Despite the challenging content, it felt good to be learning about new things. The amount of knowledge I had gained in a couple weeks was unparalleled and by the time of the Friday project, I felt confident with my approach especially after having a session on running projects throughout the week.
Week 4
This week was the start of software training specifically Power BI. This was probably the heaviest week we have had so far regarding content however, the week flew as every day we learnt vital information. From knowing nothing about Power BI to then creating a dashboard on the Friday felt really enjoyable. I was surprised by how much I had learnt in a short amount of time and feel more excited now to delve deeper into the software and practice creating more dashboards.
Overall reflections
The first month has been a bit crazy and definitely an adjustment however I have learnt so much in such a short amount of time. My confidence is already growing and I feel I am starting to get an idea of how I want to get the best out of the data school. I'm thoroughly excited for the next months of training and can't wait to see what more I learn.