R You Ready?

I

got derailed again. Currently, I'm recovering in Gardena and will be transferring soon to Santa Monica for about a month. The good thing is I managed to work through another course toward completing my Data Analytics certificate from Google; data visualization. Now I'm on the final course, which is all about the R programming language (I don't count the Capstone project as a course). I'm taking my time drilling down on the essentials and understanding the concepts. While doing this, I'm also learning how to learn and what methods to apply so that I can finish successfully and efficiently. This really just means I reinforce what I'm getting through Coursera through YouTube videos and the e-book, R for Data Science. I'm almost at that point where I'm writing/recalling basic code in my sleep - a peculiar thing that used to happen when I took my first intro to R before starting the program.

Another thing, not so peculiar, happened. I got selected to be a part of a career and professional development program that targets black people emerging in tech called TEC (Tech Equity Collective): Tech Prep. One of the beginning exercises forces you to get to your "Why" - "why do you want to work in tech?". In that exercise, I assumed I would stop at money and purpose. Then, I dug deeper and found other motivations that surprised me. One of which is that I never felt like I was given the opportunity to develop curiosity in technology as a child because the programs that exist today weren't available back then. It wasn't that I wasn't interested. I definitely was interested. But, had gone to a tech camp where I could interact with mentors, counselors, and other kids that looked. like me, perhaps I would've chosen a different path.

Another thing I realized is that I need community. Specifically, I need a community of people that are on a similar journey because having that shared experience is empowering. Operating in silence is hard. I don't like to admit it, but it's true. Hopefully, by being a part of Tech Prep I'll find some "partners in crime" that I can vent to, bounce ideas off of, and just check in with throughout this career pivot.