The Definition of Insanity

Part of the pre-work curriculum for the UT Data Analytics and Visualization Boot Camp is a journal entry describing "why". Really answering that question required an honest, critical, and hard look at the first 25 years of my career and it's admittedly not a pretty sight.

Every job I've ever had has been in response to something I "thought I could do". Over the course of 25 years, this approach has enabled me to experience just about every facet of the technology industry, including management, software development, marketing, and sales. This breadth of experience comes at the expense of a meandering career path that isn't really based in any sort of deep expertise. My career has been checkered, and part of the reason for this transience is knowing "just enough" to get by but not possessing the depth of expertise required to really dig in.

Losing my last job was a gut punch, but it did lead me to take a real pause in my career and cease doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. This is more than a pivot, it's a total reset. I'm starting over, with the goal of developing and nurturing true expertise that I can turn into a meaningful career. I've always loved data - statistics was my favorite course in college. I've had my eye on this UT Data Analytics program for the last five years because of this innate interest. Couple that with the biggest lesson I've learned over the course of a multi-dimensional career: no matter the marketplace or the company, success at scale over the long run always comes down to the same fundamentals. Data reveals those fundamentals. Data is concrete, measurable yet malleable at the same time. Data is the lifeblood of every business, and clearly understanding what data reveals is a universal key to business success.

I'll graduate from this Boot Camp in June of 2021. I have two specific goals. First, hone true data expertise. I consider this Square One of my journey and come in with an open mind and lots of battle scars. Expertise also means tooling, and my tooling is currently severely outdated (Python FTW!!!). This course is deliverable-based, meaning I'll have a portfolio of projects upon completion. Second goal is to find meaningful employment in this field. I have no idea what that looks like, but that provides the advantage of a completely open mind and a willingness to explore, even if it's a junior position or internship. Regardless of the exact title, my next job will be grounded in the fundamentals of a durable skill that I can demonstrate, rather than one I think I can do.