During my first week at The Data School, I've already learnt some valuable lessons and I'm going to share my top 3 most important points I think you should remember when starting The Data School.
- DON'T BE SCARED TO BUILD THAT ONLINE PRESENCE/PORTFORLIO
I literally hear this from EVERYONE I talk to. LITERALLY EVERYONE!! So you can imagine how important this point is. The whole point of building this presence is to boost your employability once you graduate. You become visible to clients and they can get to know you. This can be done either by writing these blogs or uploading on Tableau Public. Also Convo is great place to be active on/post.
If like me, however; you find it difficult to have an online presence because you might find it "cringe" or just worried about making a fool of yourself online for the whole world to see.. but you know what.. Who even cares? Yeah you may make mistakes but you learn and grow along the way and that’s what really matters. Embarrassment stays for a short while whilst regret stays for longer...much longer.
BITE THE BULLET AND JUST DO IT! As the quote goes " A task started is half the task complete" (or something like that, I don't remember the exact quote). And this is true! The anxiety and worry is only for the first blog or Convo post, and once you do post it, you’ll realise there was nothing to be worried about at all. Wishing you started earlier.
2. HELP OTHERS AND ASK FOR HELP
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you don’t understand anything, the best time to ask for help is now! None is judging you if you might understand things slower than others.
The harshest critic is yourself! So don’t be too hard on yourself if you feel like your not understanding a topic as quickly as everyone else in your cohort. Just ask for help. Its better than suffering in silence and letting that stress build up inside.
But if you’re the opposite and you get the content quickly and you see others next to you struggling. HELP THEM! DS is not a competition. You don’t lose anything by helping others. In fact you actually gain a lot from it. If you are able to explain something in your own words, it solidifies your understanding and sticks with you.
Also its not cute thinking you're better than others. So if you finish a task and you see someone stuck, don’t just sit there. Go help them, it benefits you too!
3. CALM DOWNN!!!
I know since it’s your first week you want to understand and absorb everything your taught by doing so many extra hours at home working through everything you just learnt but honestly, calm down. You will cover the topic again at a later date, there is plenty time to go understand topics.
You might also want to blog everyday, start some Alteryx challenges towards the end of your first week but please don’t feel like you're obligated to. Burn out is real and if you keep at that speed, you will most likely crash after a month in. Just take it easy and enjoy the process, you'll get there in the end.
