Why I am excited about data analytics? First of all, who isn't? It has opened up such a promising era of opportunities that no one wants to miss. For some, it promises an exciting career where their work would hold power to make a real difference. For some, it's a train that they are afraid to miss because they don't want to be left behind. At some level, many people don't have a choice. Then why am I pondering on this? It's because, well, mine's a third reason and if you graduated from an Indian university with comp. sci. engineering degree around the time I did, it might resonate with you.
Back in my engineering days, around the 7th or 8th semester, I came across the term 'data mining'. I think it was in advanced databases. Anyway, there was a whole... paragraph... about it and it was very interesting but very less information. Unable to find anything about it in the library, I went to the newly opened internet facility at the college, applied my best google skills at the time but couldn't find much. Google was already the answer to everything by then, but you see, back in 2004, the internet speed and access in India were far behind the western world. Even today, it's worse than it's supposed to be for a country that prides itself as an IT hub but back then, public access to Internet was not so widespread. And the speed...oh my...was quite terrible. Anyway, so I tried this for a couple of days but then the realities of student life took over and eventually, it became one of the things we hoped to see more of in the 'near future'.
Now, I am not saying that the information was not there but I simply couldn't get my hands on it. And even if I had, I am not sure what I would have done with it at the time. But I was certainly intrigued by that one paragraph of information.
Fast forward to 2012. I had been working for almost a decade, grown, traveled and seriously started to contemplate about what I want to do more. I like coding but not as the end but a means to the end. At the same time, I don't want to distant myself from the technology field; I am still a computer science lover at core. So, I am interested in the application of technology really (yawwn...so cliched I know!) but with a slight bend towards computation (wait...what? :)).
Basically, for long, I have tried to find the middle ground in the extreme choices that I thought I faced. Finally, I have my answer, the field of Analytics is for me, as a career or as a hobby.
Back in my engineering days, around the 7th or 8th semester, I came across the term 'data mining'. I think it was in advanced databases. Anyway, there was a whole... paragraph... about it and it was very interesting but very less information. Unable to find anything about it in the library, I went to the newly opened internet facility at the college, applied my best google skills at the time but couldn't find much. Google was already the answer to everything by then, but you see, back in 2004, the internet speed and access in India were far behind the western world. Even today, it's worse than it's supposed to be for a country that prides itself as an IT hub but back then, public access to Internet was not so widespread. And the speed...oh my...was quite terrible. Anyway, so I tried this for a couple of days but then the realities of student life took over and eventually, it became one of the things we hoped to see more of in the 'near future'.
Now, I am not saying that the information was not there but I simply couldn't get my hands on it. And even if I had, I am not sure what I would have done with it at the time. But I was certainly intrigued by that one paragraph of information.
Fast forward to 2012. I had been working for almost a decade, grown, traveled and seriously started to contemplate about what I want to do more. I like coding but not as the end but a means to the end. At the same time, I don't want to distant myself from the technology field; I am still a computer science lover at core. So, I am interested in the application of technology really (yawwn...so cliched I know!) but with a slight bend towards computation (wait...what? :)).
Basically, for long, I have tried to find the middle ground in the extreme choices that I thought I faced. Finally, I have my answer, the field of Analytics is for me, as a career or as a hobby.
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