GIANT STRIDES; A CONSCIOUS DECISION FOR GROWTH

I am an environmental biologist, or I could even say a parasitologist. I am no statistician, mathematician, or computer scientist, this is not a course for me.
These were the initial doubts that crossed my mind when I first conceived the notion of becoming a data scientist and research showed me the requirements to be a good one. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I was contemplating such a massive career change, well that is a discussion for another day. I had to partly resolve all of these first before I could summon the courage to ask for places where I could learn the course. Fortunately, I came in contact with coven labs through a friend of mine and that changed it all (trust me you don’t want to know my initial reaction when I first heard the name of the organization). As I got enrolled in their February batch class (cohort 7) spanning for three weeks.
Those last three weeks have been some of the most rewarding sessions I’ve ever had. I’ve been exposed to so many concepts. First, we were introduced to python programming language for data science (unlike my first programming experience, this was a really practical class), day after day our instructors took painstaking efforts to ensure we were all carried along and understood perfectly. We delved deeper and soon started on the process of analyzing raw data; exploration, cleaning, as well as visualization. All these aimed at being able to deduce insights from available datasets. Now we understand how data analysts are able to go through data and influence companies’ decisions concerning moving forward, we also understand how data was generated overtime from consumer behavior. We can easily predict future trends just by analyzing available data and that is what data science is all about.
Looking back, I’m glad I took the bold step and went all out to make a move, I wouldn’t know what I know today if I hadn’t, my sphere of influence would have still been where it was. Aside from the knowledge, I wouldn’t have met the brave persons I met; people who were willing to try out something new like me and can proudly say today that they are data analysts. There is room for much more as this is just the beginning of our journey towards being fully certified data scientists.
As our coordinator, Mr. Asemota Izoduwa once said “Monday is the beginning of forgetting, you have to be conscious about your growth, otherwise, trust me you’ll forget as fast as you’ve learned”. And so, we’ll keep on moving forward, taking great strides that would eventually take us to where we ought to be career-wise.