After hearing about the transition from Finance into Tech for years, from friends to co-workers to family, I have finally decided that it is now my turn. At first, I was unsure between studying Data Science vs. Software Engineering but after further exploration Data Science made more sense for my personal pivot.
I am a Graduate of New York University with a degree in Economics with a Minor in Mathematics . For the past 5 years, I have been working in Finance in various roles at a bank. Throughout my time, I have witnessed our company adapt to new technologies and the shift that is currently happening within the Financial Industry. Two years ago, the firm switched to a new credit approval software called nCino and I was a part of the first group of employees to learn about the new technology. Learning something new is always challenging, but it became apparent how important learning new technology would be for the financial industry as many employees were unable to pick up on the nuisances of this new tool due to their lack of knowledge. Luckily, I was able to adapt to the learning curve and was able to pick up the material much faster. At that moment I felt for those co-workers that were unable to adapt and I told myself that I never want to be in that position. I believe that in this day and age, understanding technology and having the ability to use computer languages will only become more valuable as the world becomes more digitalized.
From then on, I started to understand the power behind computer programming and what doors it could open for me. Already having an analytical background, all that was missing for me in my opinion was knowledge on how to gather, clean and model the data. After thorough research, I believe that data science could help me achieve those goals.
Data Science incorporates statistics and code to provide insight on Data. I always found this kind of analysis to be engaging and interesting. I believe that data science will not only help me pivot into another industry but also provide me with tools for my personal hobbies. For instance, two of my hobbies are fantasy basketball and trading equities. Hopefully with the knowledge from my bootcamp supplemented with additional practice and interests in the field, I will one day be able to model my most optimal fantasy basketball roster or analyze and formulate swing trading strategies.
After completing phase 1 of my bootcamp, my interests in Data Science intensified. Our phase 1 project, where we attempted to analyze and pitch an “optimal” movie, confirmed that data science would be applicable across a broad range of domains. We learned to use pandas and graph and select only the data that we wanted to tell a story. I loved the project because data science allows you to tell “your” story. Everyone has the same data, however, everyone sees the data differently.
The beauty of having different interpretations of the same data is that it allows me to work in a team and understand how each member thinks. At every step of the way, someone may see a different trend from the data but through data exploration, there is always an explanation.
So far, I have been grateful of my experience at Flatiron. After hearing about the program through various friends, I cannot believe that I am already done with Phase 1 out of 5.
Going forward, I hope that I can continue my momentum and interest in data science. I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that the class will only get more intense from here on. However, I embrace the challenge and will not back down. For the first time in my life, I took a big chance and gave up a very stable job to pursue something I had no prior knowledge nor experience in. If you ask me where I am headed after the completion of the bootcamp right now, my answer would be “I HAVE NO IDEA”. However that is the beauty in starting in a completely new space… Sometimes its not so bad to have a start fresh, because now your entire direction is within your control. Data Science is just a tool and where you take yourself with this knowledge is completely up to you. Like I said, as of now, I have no idea what I would want to do after graduation, but maybe that answer lies in the data…