Changes
2017 has been a milestone of a year. At the end of January, I decided to make two drastic changes in my life. I quit my cozy finance job in New York of two and a half years (shortly after receiving a promotion), and I moved to Melbourne with a one-year working-holiday visa.
I am very happy with both decisions. Australia has been a constant source of positive thinking and new experiences. Australia has also been a great outlet for traveling, especially since I have never visited this part of the world. The experiences have been eye-opening and completely worth it. For example, I spent the month of June in Vietnam. I went alone, rented a scooter, and rode from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. I have never ridden a scooter before, but I can now say that I have scootered an entire country. I could have never imagined a trip like that that a year ago.
Now, it’s nearly August. Half of my one year is up, and my intention is to remain in Australia full time. Luckily, everything is seemingly falling into place. In quitting my job and moving to Australia, I also set one long-term goal for 2017: obtain work-sponsorship on my visa, working a job with Python.
This goal is ambitious, and the risk is high. I have never had a coding job before, and I wager my future in Melbourne. That said, I am convinced the risk is worth the reward. While delivering fruits and veggies to bars and cafes in Melbourne in a van was different (for a time), that was never permanent. And while I probably could have secured another job in financial services (and visa sponsorship) by now, I want to do something different.
Last year, I self-taught myself Python with the intention of using it to automate processes at work. While initially difficult, the experience turned out to be an amazing breakthrough. Creating something tangible with Python was rewarding. I loved the creative problem solving aspect, and I was hooked. This experience caused me to focus on continuing to learn, and use the knowledge to try and shift careers.
My interests led me to the Data Science discipline — working with Pandas, Data Visualisation, and Machine Learning. Truly amazing stuff. I worked through some online courses and obtained what I would realistically consider a beginner understanding of the area. However, after speaking with some people who work programming jobs, I realised that I would need accreditation in the field if I was serious about going through with this particular career change. I would also need more time in order to fully devote myself to to learning the necessary skills.
Which brings me to now. Shortly after landing in Melbourne I signed up for a twelve week Data Science full time bootcamp with General Assembly in an attempt to give myself everything I need to see my goal through. Week two just started today. The course has been challenging and informative and interesting and exciting. Everyone in the cohort is all the way in and keen to learn. After months of looking forward to the course, everything is finally coming together, and I am confident that the path I planned out for myself will allow me to realise my goal before time’s up.
