Hello World

This is my first blog post on the data school blog as a recent addition to the company as part of DSNY6. What more fitting theme for a blog topic then a short introduction to who I am and how I got here. I especially hope that this reaches those who are feeling a bit lost in life as that's definitely a feeling I understand well.

The University Student

I guess the story starts with university where I graduated with a major in Linguistics and a double minor in Computer Science and Japanese. I switched majors from Computer Science to Linguistics relatively late so I did enough coursework to earn myself a minor. The fields seem unrelated to most, but you'd be surprised to learn that there's more overlap between Computer Science and Linguistics than most people know.

The Teacher

From there, unsure of what to do next with my expensive pieces of papers, I applied and got into the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program where I got sent to teach English in the rural countryside of Hyogo, Japan.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time abroad exploring a new environment and a new culture, so I stayed for 5 full years. Due to a variety of factors though, instead of continuing to build my life abroad, I came back to the States in 2021.

The transition back was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Not just because of reverse culture shock, but also because of a reality check that I would be starting my professional career from zero again as I didn't want to pursue a career in education anymore. Of course, this is not exactly correct as with any career change a lot of your skills are transferrable. This is especially true when it comes to education as learning how to teach improves one's ability to learn also. And, what field doesn't require learning? Despite this logic, the pressure of feeling like I have to start over was overwhelming. Especially when comparing myself to my friends who didn't have the same experience as I did abroad and spent their time building their lives here.

The Programmer

That being said, I spent close to 9 months getting reoriented and figuring out what I want to do with life. The first few months was planned as I wanted to ease back. But, drifting about without aim doubled the amount of time needed to make any actual progress in a career direction. Realizing the gravity of the situation, I decided to fall back on my Computer Science minor and did an advanced software engineering program. Programming has definitely been a popular career choice as evident by the amount of people who transitioned into the industry during covid. I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Everything was going great; I graduated after 3 months and got selected to stay on as an engineering fellow where I taught other residents for about 6 months (go figure I'd go back to teaching).

However, what happened after was not according to plan. The job hunt was a lot rougher than I thought. It just so happened that my job hunt coincided with a lot of tech layoffs so the market was definitely not as strong as it was in 2021 and early 2022. Timing is always a key aspect in a lot of things in life. I struggled for close to a year considering the fact that I was job hunting as I was teaching as well. It was quite a depressing time period as job hunting really takes it's toll on you. That compounded with the constant urge to attempt to "catch up" to my friends in terms of where they are in life really affected my mental health.

The Data Analyst

That's when a friend told me about the Data School. I've heard about it from her before but it never crossed my mind as a path. Without much luck on the programming side, I decided to apply on the side just to see where it takes me. The process is relatively intense, but it really tests your commitment to self learning to reach a certain level before you get in. (I'm sure some of you are curious about the application process. I'll have a separate post up on the application process and my own personal tips and tricks and link that here so keep an eye out for that.)

I devoted quite a bit of time to learning the ins and outs of Tableau and general data analytics. And with a bit of hard work and possibly with a little bit of luck, I managed to get an offer to join on as a member of DSNY6.

The Future

I definitely didn't envision this path and I can't say I have all the answers to what the future holds, but I'm learning a lot through this opportunity. And, despite how early it still is, I've been enjoying the journey thus far as the Data School has been a great work environment (huge shoutout to paid training also; something that should be more common)!

We're all led to believe we need to have all the answers when we become adults: what we want to do, what our dreams are, and where we're headed. But honestly, the past couple of years have taught me that there's still a lot of experiences to be had and it's hard to tell if you would like something unless you actually give it an honest try. Writing this post has also made me realize how important all of my experiences were in contributing to who I am and were pivotal in helping me reach where I am today.

All of that being said, If data analytics is something you think you'd be interested in or would like to give it a try, definitely give the Data School a chance! We're having a meet and greet event at our new office, Zero Irving on November 8th, 2023. Come by and say hi!

Author:
Stanley Chen
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