Thank you for this write up. Indeed, data related work is very attractive, especially when one comes across it on YouTube.
Real life is tough though. Ones analytical mind should always be 'on', fingers should be nimble and type out SQL queries fast, domain knowledge should be at the finger tips and dashboards should never crash.
These are the hidden struggles we don't discuss often enough. The high expectations, steep learning curve, the burnout and imposter syndrome are just the tip of the ice berg for some.
I only know R but after taking a course on databases, I decided to build a database using football performance data scraped from sites. I knew no word in Python, hadn't even taken a tutorial on it, or written 'hello world'.
But I'd already decided to learn it in the future and to learn it from a project-based approach.
I'm currently collecting the data and would soon start modelling the database and creating relationships between the various tables that'd be in the database. But each step has come with problems, and each problem has led to me learning something new.
So yeah, the problems have actually been my best teachers.
This was one of the best pieces I have read/seen from you Nash, so thank you so much. The illusion of progress is in my opinion the secret ingredient in many online courses. I don't want to rip into the online learning platforms, but I strongly believe they keep their learners loyal by giving them a false sense of progress and achievement. I fell into this trap last year. Spent several months learning various Python libraries, thinking I've mastered them. Then came my university assignment and that was when I realised that I know s**t. The only part that I might not agree with you is with regards to ChatGPT. I've actually had an incredibly positive experience with it. I've found it to be an incredible tool for those moments of despair and hopelessness. It can actually accelerate you through those difficult moments (that is, of course, if you ask for a little guidance and not the whole solution).
Thank you for this write up. Indeed, data related work is very attractive, especially when one comes across it on YouTube.
Real life is tough though. Ones analytical mind should always be 'on', fingers should be nimble and type out SQL queries fast, domain knowledge should be at the finger tips and dashboards should never crash.
These are the hidden struggles we don't discuss often enough. The high expectations, steep learning curve, the burnout and imposter syndrome are just the tip of the ice berg for some.
I only know R but after taking a course on databases, I decided to build a database using football performance data scraped from sites. I knew no word in Python, hadn't even taken a tutorial on it, or written 'hello world'.
But I'd already decided to learn it in the future and to learn it from a project-based approach.
I'm currently collecting the data and would soon start modelling the database and creating relationships between the various tables that'd be in the database. But each step has come with problems, and each problem has led to me learning something new.
So yeah, the problems have actually been my best teachers.
This was one of the best pieces I have read/seen from you Nash, so thank you so much. The illusion of progress is in my opinion the secret ingredient in many online courses. I don't want to rip into the online learning platforms, but I strongly believe they keep their learners loyal by giving them a false sense of progress and achievement. I fell into this trap last year. Spent several months learning various Python libraries, thinking I've mastered them. Then came my university assignment and that was when I realised that I know s**t. The only part that I might not agree with you is with regards to ChatGPT. I've actually had an incredibly positive experience with it. I've found it to be an incredible tool for those moments of despair and hopelessness. It can actually accelerate you through those difficult moments (that is, of course, if you ask for a little guidance and not the whole solution).