When I Grow Up

People really seem to enjoy the posts about personal and professional development, which wasn’t ever really part of the plan for hangrymarn per se, but I did create this blog to share information that could be implemented into our lives to better ourselves and make us grow. I’ve said this many times before but I’ll say it again – wellness is not just about diet and exercise. There are so many facets that make up wellness and since we spend so much of our lives working, I think that it is key to talk about it. This week (and always) I’m going to share posts featuring people that I really admire and share their stories so that you can learn and explore different thoughts with me.

I remember always being asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” This question has been around for decades and I think it’s silly. If you asked me when I was 5-7 I probably would have said I wanted to be a doctor, like my dad (and uncle and god father and everyone else on that side of the family). That was never going to happen considering I hated going to school and the thought of blood made/makes me squeamish. If you asked me from 8-14 I probably would have said I wanted to be a professional tennis player. In retrospect, that was never going to happen because I absolutely hate losing and never really put in enough hours and frankly was never that good. From 14-18, I would have probably said I had no fucking clue. I remember being accepted into Chicago State University as an undecided major and googling highest paying degrees. I’m dead serious! Computer Science (CS) was at the top of the list at that time so there you have it!

I’ve always loved technology and video games. When I was little, I always had those little electronic games, like those battery-operated ones that had Tetris on there and that’s it. I had a Nintendo DS, Play Station 1, a PSP and everything in between. Then I started having PCs and laptops. The games on there were fun too and I was always really into anything that was on the computer. You could do so many things on there like type papers for school or chat with your friends on AIM with ridiculous screen names. I really did spend a lot of hours on computers and handheld devices without really even realizing it. The best part of it was that I was kind of good at it. When I wasn’t, I just learned how. I was curious.

When I went to school, I really fell into CS by chance, but once I was there, I really did love it. Getting to learn how computers actually make things happen is mesmerizing and impressive. We have come a long way since the first PC but each model and advancement has been critical in its own way. The scary thing, though, was learning all these things and not really knowing what I was going to do with this information coming out of college.

I was really, really lucky to have THE best academic advisor, Dr. Eric Shen. He was my academic advisor, mentor, and friend. Being a student-athlete, and a D1 athlete (even if we weren’t the best D1 program lol), was hard! We practiced literally all the time. Our school didn’t have an indoor facility and the closest one was ~35-40 mins away, depending on how fast me or coach were driving. My classes were literally at the worst times, early 8 AM-ers and late 6-9 PM-ers with random hours open throughout the day. If I missed the van to the courts because of class timing, I would drive myself to practice & miss out on those 35 minutes of nap time. If you know me, you know I love naps, like a lot. But also, at that time they were so necessary. Anyway, back to Dr. Shen. He understood that my schedule was crazy and that I would inevitably be late for class, if I even managed to make it at all. That I would sleep in class and that I would miss classes due to our travel schedule. Some professors freaking hate athletes because they think that we take advantage of our schedule to skip out on assignments, I guess. Or maybe because they have to give us extra time or it inconveniences them a bit… I’m not really sure. Other professors are super understanding and know that we are just trying to do our best to a) pay for our education, b) represent the school in a positive way and c) to graduate! Dr. Shen was a huge advocate for me and always helped me navigate my crazy schedule with both types of professors. This is a skill that I just realized was imperative for my success in the workplace and it’s called R E S P E C T.

Last week in Kristina John’s feature on my blog, we talked about how office politics kind of suck. In her situation, she was sick of it and she didn’t care to have this skill and now she’s a boss, both literally and figuratively. She runs her own social media management business and she’s crushing life, to say the least. But what about the people that can’t say “screw it” and start their own business? People like me. If you know me, you know that I am a sassy little shit and that I always speak my mind. At work, you have to be careful with what you say and how you say it. To be honest, that really sucks sometimes because instead of saying “wow what a dumb idea”, you have to say “that’s a good point but it might be more efficient if we try it this way”. This is super important because you need to acknowledge that everyone’s ideas matter and that they were hired at your company for a reason and we often forget that at the end of the day, we are on the same team and have the same goal. Respecting people’s opinions is important because you would want the same level of respect. You don’t want to be scared to bring ideas forward in the future in a forum full of people and particularly when officers of the firm/company are present. Imagine if you have an idea and you pitch it and you get shot down in front of everyone disrespectfully? It happens, and it totally sucks. Especially when you don’t know why it’s not good enough. I try to be as respectful as possible at work but it is very hard for me still. I’m thankful that I had those professors that were pro student-athletes as well as those that were against because they taught me how to deal with people who thought differently. You’ll definitely encounter people in the work place (and in life) that think differently than you and they just want to be heard. Like I said, this is tough and it’s not really a skill that’s acquired overnight. If you struggle with this, like me, I recommend that you try to listen to understand vs listening to respond. This will help a ton and you can build up from there.

So what does someone with a computer science degree even do? I found that whatever I thought I was going to be/do was always changing and evolving with each different role and experience until I found what I truly loved and made me happy. If you would have asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up while I was in college, I would have said I wanted to become an application developer. I was and still am fascinated by the idea of creating shortcuts for tasks to make daily life and operations more efficient and accessible. That’s really what most apps are… shortcuts to perform different tasks. Need to make a deposit? Open the Chase app and snap a picture of a check (who even uses checks anymore? This is a horrible example but you get what I’m trying to say, maybe?) and deposit it into your bank account. Done. Need to get to Manhattan from Queens? Open the Uber app and request a ride. Done. Whereas in the past you would have to go to the bank or look up a taxi company’s number to call a cab or hail it from the street.

I’ve actually never made an app like that that was available at the Apple store but I’m still in love with that idea of automating monotonous tasks. My first job out of school was a Project Manager for tech projects. This is where I got introduced to Tableau and it was basically love at first sight. When I learned how to do the things that the people in the project teams that I was managing could do, I knew that I did not want to be managing projects but rather doing the work. I knew that that was still on brand with my goal. My next job was a Technology Analyst and in this role I really learned a lot of things that I liked but more importantly I learned which functions I did not like. I feel like finding your way is like playing tug-o-war. The things you want to do and like doing will always outweigh the things you don’t and that’s the side that’s going to win. This is great because as the things you like doing pull you, you start to get better at them naturally, because you like doing them in the first place. If there’s something I don’t like to do, I don’t necessarily want to get better at it because then I’m going to have to do it more lol. The things that I’m good at, I become obsessed with. I start thinking things like How can I do this better? How can I do this faster? How can I make this more efficient? How can I elevate this skill? This, my friends, is how went down the rabbit hole of data analytics and data visualization. I had a great mentor in this role that really pushed me to learn more than what I ever thought I was capable of and I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for him. His name is Jim.

Data analytics & data visualization? Honestly, they sound like buzz phrases that people throw in their LinkedIn profiles to get more views. If you live under a rock and don’t know, knowledge is power and data is the currency. Finding insights in large sets of data is an extremely valuable skill but one step beyond that is being able to communicate these insights and evoke action. This is my favorite part of my job and it took a long time for me to find it through the push and pull of my career tug-o-war. First of all, to find insights, you need to understand two things: the data and the business. Without this, your analysis will be incomplete or not as valuable. The data is going to tell you what is going on but the business knowledge is going to tell you why. No one really cares about the what and the why separately because you can’t really do anything with/about one and not the other. This is something my boss and his boss have drilled into my head. When you marry the two together, you’ll be able to define actionable next steps and this is how you solve business problems.

Ok so you have the what and the why, but how do you share your findings? Send an excel spreadsheet with a pivot table? What if the data is changing every day or minute or second? You’re gonna refresh your excel sheet with new data every time? Nooooooo! How time consuming and what an inefficient way to spend your valuable time. I know I’m obsessed with Tableau but there are all kinds of data visualization software available depending on your needs. Power BI, Domo, Qlikview, etc. Tableau is just the best hehe. Build a kickass visualization that explains your findings and uses the data to tell the story. Show the problem, show the solution and include a CTA. This is a term I learned from Betty Liao (also previously featured for her work with Kitchen Rodeo), which means call to action. You have a problem, you have a solution, now what’s the call to action. What do you want the users to do about it? Send an email? Call a client? Fix a problem? Whatever it is, make it clear. Your users will love this.

Automating or simplifying monotonous tasks. That is “brand” or life motto. Time is precious and we need to use the tools that we have available to us to automate what we can. No, not to get rid of peoples jobs but to give people time back to do something with the results that reports are giving them. The best career advice I can give anyone would be to find what you like and become good at that and be efficient AF. The better and faster you are at something, the more valuable you become.