How was my 100 Days of Learning? And what is next...

I have put together a summary of my #100daysoflearning journey for those that are interested.

I wanted to provide links to all my posts as I know how difficult it can be to scroll through a large list of posts to find that one awesome post that you saw last week, or even this morning.

Why I Started

Kate Strachnyi made a post about 5 months ago, asking input on if others were consumers or contributor on LinkedIn. I was mostly an infrequent consumer but I really wanted to become a contributor.

I decided that a good way to start would be by participating in this 100 day challenge that I saw on other profiles. This made me a bit nervous, what if I look silly or what if others do not like what I post.

WHO CARES. Just Do It!

I made it a goal, and boy was it hard for me to summon the courage to hit the “Post” button, but I did.

First Post ????

Challenge Details

I got asked a lot about how I started this challenge and what was needed to participate. I gladly responded to all those that I could to share my details, because I had the same questions at the beginning of my journey.

My first thoughts were "Who do I contact to start this challenge" and also "How exactly will I accomplish this?" I did what I do every time I have a question > TO THE GOOGLE

I found this website

The challenge was very simple: 1) Choose a habit you want to work on and commit to working on it for the next 100 days 2) Hold yourself publicly accountable by sharing your progress

What was my habit? Learning

How I Chose my Learning Topics

This was a bit harder to accomplish, because I am typically the girl with the spreadsheet / to do list of everything that needs to happen and on what day. I thought about a schedule or curriculum I should use for my challenge. However, with this I decided to wing it.

I like to think that much like Liam Neeson, I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Well.. maybe not 'very' long.

My formal education is in Accounting and Management Information Systems. This allowed me to enter the world in the field of Information Technology Auditing. During this time, I made sure to participate in all the varieties of projects available to me. Information Security, Logical/Physical Security, Cyber Security, Application Controls, Change Management, Social Engineering, Vulnerability scans and Pen testing, Data Privacy, Financial Analysis.

Once I was introduced to Data and Analytics, I was hooked and on the move. I moved to areas where I was able to be more involved with data, specifically data governance, data management, data literacy, and data visualizations. I moved into enterprise analytics where I was exposed to programming and data science. I even briefly served as a system administrator, which was probably my most unique experience. Well, besides my first job in Food Management.

Rather than focusing only on coding or data science, like many others, I decided to focus on learning in general and tried to incorporate my diverse background.  

What I Learned

A lot of everything can be related to data, data is everywhere.

LinkedIn is awesome, People are awesome, Learning is awesome, Sharing is awesome

… EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!

Yes, people can be critical. But, I found that this can actually be helpful sometimes. If you step back for a sec and think about the reasons why anyone would make any comment, the options are unlimited. If you respond in the right way, you will be able to get some pretty good critical feedback. For others that are outright trolls, you can totally ignore, move on with your life, and all is well :)

It is OK to Unplug

I started my 100 day challenge in mid-September. This means that I had to work through quite a few holidays. Some I chose to take the opportunity to make some fun themed posts (Halloween is my fav). Some I decided to unplug and spend time with family. I did feel a bit guilty doing this at first. But after some research, I found that taking breaks is actually good for your body, mind, and soul. 

You should never feel guilty about you doing you.

Friday Fun Facts

Every Friday, I post a Friday Fun Fact. This is usually about some random topic pulled from the interwebs and I try to incorporate some relevance to learning. I actually started Friday Fun Fact about 5 years ago in the office where I would walk around and verbally share my fun facts to those that would listen. I am excited to use this platform so that I can continue the tradition and reach a much wider audience.

What I Have Been Doing Since

I created my own hashtag! Well, I don’t know if you can ‘create’ a hashtag, but I thought of the perfect combination of words and threw a # symbol in front of it.

How and Why?

I completed an exercise in a leadership course I was taking, which was intended to help you find your mission/vision/purpose statement. There were several questions to think about, one of which asked -> What passions do you have that have followed you throughout your life?

It is not a surprise, I have a huge fascination with continuous learning (Any type of learning, any topic, any platform, any day of the week). I have a wondrous mind, I ask TONS of questions, and I am crazy curious. I have always had a passion for teaching others, whether that be through my silly Fun Facts or more educational means.

I reflected on what I had accomplished over the last 100+ days and thought, if I combine my nerd (IT, Cyber, Data, etc.) with my passions (fitness, health, food, games), I can continue to share these nerd related factoids.  

What better way to feed the brain than with knowledge.

THUS: #nerdnourishment

Thank you to those that have followed me throughout my progress and the newbies that have joined along the way. I am excited to continue my journey through #nerdnourishment and encourage others to follow and participate, if you wish.

And, as always

Happy Learning!!

Links To My Posts By Topic:

Friday Fun Facts

Day 8: Not everyone likes pie… ??, ??

Day 14: Aliens are here ??

Day 21: It’s Google’s 21st Birthday today! ??

Day 27: there is such a thing as “helper’s high” ??

Day 34: Our mind wanders 50% of our waking hours ????

Day 39: Showers Spark Creativity ?????

Day 46: Owls are considered wise, but only according to ancient folklore in the West. ??

Day 52: Dogs cannot eat your homework if it is online ??????

Day 59: Today is #NationalSTEMDay

Day 64: Some people talk to rubber ducks to solve problems

Day 71: the Multiverse is more than just a comic book theory ???♀?

Day 77: Not all cakes are made for eating ?? some are for target practice ??

Day 84: People are scared of more than just spiders ??

Day 88: Pandora's box, was not a box. It was a clay jar ????

Day 94: The world’s tallest dog, Zeus, stood 7 ft 5 in

Day 100: There are 2,249 versions of the game Monopoly, as of January 25, 2019

Day 106: it takes 7-21 days to make a jelly bean

2020 Data Science Trends

Day 90: 50 percent of all searches will be voice searches by 2020

Day 91: To think, the first computer was about the size of an average single-family home...

Day 93: Love when movies predict the future… like Demolition Man ??

Day 95: Computers can tell if you have a bad attitude ??????

Day 98: Do your New Year goals include learning new skills?

Day 99: It is not always a bad thing to be under the influence...

Data Science

Day 6: Matt Dancho and David Curry, topic: Anomaly Detection

Day 13: Relational databases hold the keys to unlocking knowledge. ???????

Day 13.2: I just finished #datacamp course Introduction to Relational Databases in SQL.

Day 19: Matt Dancho and David Curry, topic: Network Analysis

Day 28: I learned nothing and I am proud of it! ??

Day 32: Matt Dancho and David Curry, topic: Explaining Machine Learning

Day 48: Looks like we have a few things to learn from ants ??????

Day 50: Halfway there!!! ?????

Day 51: Transform ??... ??

Day 69: Matt Dancho and David Curry, topic: Google Analytics + Big Query, #SQL and #R

Day 70: Testing things to see what works ???

Day 72: How do you really validate your test results ????

Day 75: Don’t be a dummy, know your data types ?????♀?

Day 76: ?? Garbage in, garbage out. Building a model and selecting the right variables ????

Day 78: The quest for knowledge is strong with this one ?

Day 79: Do not be confused by the matrix ???????

Day 81: To supervise or not to supervise ??

Day 82: The show must go on ??????

Day 86: Data is EVERYWHERE ??

Day 96: Life does not have to be so serious all the time ?? Ever heard of Gamification?

Day 97: The wheels on the bus ?? move towards a normal distribution

Day 108: I thought time travel was complex ? But what about > Temporal Data

Day 110: Watch your shopping patterns ??

Extract, Transform, Load (ETL)

Day 45: Adding tools the the toolbox ? Uploading data with SSIS

Day 47: It is not Halloween without terror and nightmares ??

Day 49: More terror with errors ??

Day 53/54: ??? Finished ETL Phase 1&2 Homework

Fundamentals

Day 2: Data Science Statistics

Day 9: Data science is a tree with many branches… another day of rabbit holes

Day 10: One more week of summer, let’s enjoy the waves ?

Day 22: Getting your ducks in a row can be hard, but not impossible ????????

Day 26: Trends everywhere ??

Day 92: What Data Scientists have in common w/ PC Gamers...

General Knowledge

Day 1: First thing I learned was how to summon the courage to click Post

Day 4: Time travel does not exist (maybe).

Day 7: One week down!! ?? Stay hydrated my friends... ??

Day 17: Is coding supposed to make you thirsty ??

Day 20: Conferences: learn new things, meet new people, and get free food! ??

Day 31: Looking for new learning resources ??

Day 43: It always helps to have a full toolbox ??

Day 57: Learning for the mind and the body ?? ????

Day 61: ?? Finished: Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil.

Day 62: Learning on the go ?? with my favorite podcast!

Day 73: Self-Improvement Sundays: Intelligence goes beyond book smarts ????

Day 74: Today is giving Tuesday. I will GIVE you an update ????

Day 80: Learning on the go ????

Day 83: Holiday parties are full of food, refreshments, and friends ????

Day 85: ?? Finished Data Science A-Z with Kirill Eremenko ??

Day 87: Stripping the Dread from the Data ??

Day 102: Learning on the go just got more advanced! ?????♀???

Day 105: Persistent curiosity + determination can lead to great finds ??

Day 107: Today I met one of my LinkedIn connections, David Tello, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Day 109: I often use Google as a spell checker, do you?

Day 111: ??This officially concludes my #100daysoflearning + 21/90 Rule ??

R

Day 15: Old school with a new twist ??

Day 16: ?Lights are in the Sky ?

Day 24: ??????? + ?? = ????

Day 25: All work and no play makes Pac a dull boy

Day 25.2: More sqldf in #R with MovieNow ??

Day 60: ?? Team Tidyverse ??

Day 65: Running off the trail ?????♀???

Day 66: Sharing your journey is most of the fun ????

Day 67: ?? Finished the #ETL homework for Data Science A-Z #udemy course ??

SQL

Day 3: Data Camp

Day 5: You wouldn’t eat a meal without knowing every ingredient

Day 11: There are so many courses available on #datacamp!!

Day 12: Today decided to learn more about CRUD! (no really, read on)

Day 18: Are there irregular expressions?? ??

Day 23: The Rubik’s Cube is more than just a toy

Day 33: This post is brought to you by LinkedIn: learning from LinkedIn, while LinkedIn…

Day 35: More with Movies!! ??

Day 36: ? Finished Section 2 of The Complete SQL Bootcamp from #udemy.

Day 37: ? Finished Section 3 and 4 of The Complete SQL Bootcamp from #udemy.

Day 38: ? Finished Section 5 of The Complete SQL Bootcamp from #udemy.

Day 40: ?? It is important to know and memorize the order of execution for SQL clauses.??

Day 41: Impressive article on Constraints + Creativity

Day 42: ?? Finished The Complete SQL Bootcamp from #udemy!! ??

Day 44: Wise owl says, “Hoot. Hoot.” ??

Day 55: Do not blindly ORDER your food without checking the TYPE of ingredients ?????♀???

Day 56: ?? Storage can be used to keep things safe, hidden, and even saved for future use

Day 58: Keyboard shortcuts and data transformations make me feel like a magician ????

Day 63: Almost Clean ????

Day 101: Working with dates, in any language, is a pain in my behind ??

Day 103: Only way to make things stick is to cook them al dente and throw them at a wall

Day 104: More with #DataCamp

Visualizations

Day 29: There's more than one way to cook an egg ????

Day 30: Still cooking eggs ??

Day 68: ?? A picture is worth 1,000 words ??

FIN