Hayley’s journey into Data Analytics

I was having a rough time with my mental health and employment, and got put onto the idea of Data Analytics through the National Careers service. I did a few employment/proficiency tests and it suggested Data Analysis as a potential avenue. I’d never thought of it until that!

After mentioning data analytics to my employment coach, we discussed courses, and she recommended I check out the Curious Academy. I visited them and Louize told me they were planning to start a Data Analytics bootcamp that May.

I wanted to improve my data analysis skills (obviously) but I also really wanted to work on my confidence and data communication skills too.

There was a pretty even balance between lecture time and hands on work, with more focus on in-class learning in the first half of the course. We would typically start in the morning with an interactive instructor-led session, followed by hands-on practice with the skills we were focusing on that week. We also had some really fun problem-solving sessions, so it wasn’t all spreadsheets all the time.

I learned some really useful data cleansing and data exploration concepts that have really helped in my current role. I also learned how to combine data from different sources to create a cohesive narrative, and how to communicate that data visually.

I picked this project because I wanted to do something new and challenging (and also prove a point about the underlying data). It required me to push myself to learn how to use a number of new tools, and things didn’t always go the way I had planned for them to. I had to get pretty creative in Tableau to get it looking the way I wanted it to. It was a good reminder that whatever you want to create, it’s possible.

The elements from the bootcamp that I am most proud to showcase to potential employers is my data cleansing and manipulation skills. It probably doesn’t sound glamorous, but employers need employees who can turn messy, raw data into data they can actually use, and surprisingly few people have the skills to do that effectively.

Finding high quality data sources to answer specific questions. It pushed me to improve my research skills, but also taught me to pick my battles and reframe my analysis when I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

I really enjoyed the exercises we did on data joining and creating more complex analyses from different related data sources using lookups and array formulas - it taught me that answering big, complex questions with data was not as daunting and time consuming as it seems at first glance, with the right tools.

I was very under-confident when I started on the bootcamp, but I found that over the course of the 16 weeks I found my voice through engaging with the interactive sessions and sharing ideas with fellow course members. Presenting my work was daunting but really rewarding.

I use the data manipulation skills on a daily basis in my current role, as well as data acquisition skills I learned via DataCamp which the Curious Academy provided me access to.

The venue is bright and spacious, with a number of conference rooms that allowed us to take the sessions in private without worrying about interrupting other lounge members. 

I started an internship with terralayr in January and will be continuing with them as a Junior Software Engineer!

I have made a lot of progress with my database skills, as well as software development skills. I hope to go on to learn about data modelling and machine learning.

I think I have a strong imagination from my time learning about evolutionary biology, that helps me to visualise complex relationships and dynamics in systems over time. It also taught me the value of starting your analysis with clean data - garbage in, garbage out, as they say.

The skills that I’ve developed have laid the foundation for further learning - as a junior software engineer, I know that the learning is never done. There’s always more to discover.

If I were to give advice to someone considering attending a similar bootcamp I would tell them don’t be afraid to branch out if something captures your attention. Follow your passion, be curious, be relentless. It’s OK if you’re uncertain or doubt yourself at first - just keep on going.

I’m in a great place now thanks to the opportunities this bootcamp has opened up for me. Perhaps a skills bootcamp in German since I’m travelling so much now?