Career on Nyghtowl

Stop Accepting Less Than Equal

Sat, 12 Jan 2019 05:40:52 +0000

Stop Accepting Less Than Equal

Stop saying 20%, 30%, 40% is better than…

When it comes to diversity, stop settling for its better than X% unless it is an actual equal representation.

More than a 100 women were elected to the US Congress this past year. Yes, amazing. Not good enough. Talk to me when it’s at least 50% or better yet, 100%. Give us 100% for a couple hundred years. How about 100% Native American women for a couple hundred years.

2014 Summer == Full Time Data Science Work

Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:30:00 +0000

For the last three months I have been working at Change.org as a data scientist and engineer. Its been a great experience so far and I’m blown away that this is where I landed after starting this journey a year plus ago.

Impostor Syndrome
I’ve coached others going through moving into engineering about how to believe in themselves and they are smarter than they think. I totally get that you want to fake the confidence till you get there. Don’t be cocky just be resolved to figure stuff out.

Interviewing Sucks

Sun, 08 Jun 2014 09:37:03 +0000

Yeah I know this is not a revelation and some of you out there enjoy the process. I say you are probably a little sadistic or masochistic or both if you do.

It’s a mental and emotional roller-coaster and as mentioned in a previous post, its like taking finals non-stop for as long as you are going through the interview process. It drained my energy and kept me from feeling creative or feeling motivated to just code for fun. Its been so long since I posted code consistently on Github which makes me a little sad.

Delayed Zipfian Week 12 Wrap-up

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 17:10:44 +0000

A little delayed for good reason but here we go. Zipfian’s 12th week focused on interview practice, a conference and the graduation celebration.

Interview Practice

Most of the 12th week was spent going back through previous materials and drilling/simulating interviews. Data science has a different interview flavor from software engineering. Companies vary in what they are looking for and what they will ask and the content for data science covers a broader range of topics.

Zipfian Hiring / Demo Day – How it Works

Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:14:46 +0000

This past week was the big hiring/demo day for Zipfian Academy where we presented our projects to a number of companies seeking data scientists. Zipfian’s hiring day is a lot like Hackbright’s career day. So the nice thing about going through it was that I knew what to expect.

Companies:

Sixteen companies attended hiring day which was a great turnout, and I was thankful there wasn’t another 9 because talking to 16 was still exhausting. Some companies were hiring their first data scientist who would build the strategic direction as well as put it into action. While other companies have teams that they want to grow. So there was a mix of start-ups to large organizations.

Zipfian Project Week 1 & Closing the Loop

Sun, 23 Mar 2014 21:15:18 +0000

One week down for our final projects and one week left to go. This has definitely been the most fun and rewarding weeks so far because I’ve been connecting the dots in more ways than one.

Everyone talks about getting your minimum viable product done (mvp) when we do final projects like this. Thankfully I had enough experience with Hackbright to know what that meant as well as how to approach it. I got my full product pipeline built between last Sat and yesterday. I’ve tested that it works (well pseudo works) and feel really good to see the emails get pulled in, analyzed and if the condition is true then I get a text on my phone. Now I really need to fix my actual classifier because it is just not that accurate.

Begin with the End

Sun, 16 Mar 2014 22:18:20 +0000

So we are officially kicking-off personal projects for the next 2 weeks. It’s been a bit of a process for all the students figuring out what each of us wanted to do and finalizing it but we got there.

Last WeekIt was a review week. We went back over some concepts that will be valuable for projects as well as when we go through interviews like classifiers and distributions. We also worked to determine and finalize our projects and then we spent two full days on final assessments. We had 2 different data science case studies that required working through the full process from getting the data to providing some type of recommendation/report. We also worked in teams on sample interview questions to review over additional class content. The last day there was a little bit of mutiny and we really didn’t get much done on the assessment. Most people were starting to think projects at that point.

Quick Update on Zipfian and Week 7

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 19:32:11 +0000

Another short one on what was covered this week at Zipfian. Also, for anyone interested, below is a photo of the classroom to give context on where we are working from.

Its a good space. Far in the front is the work and lecture space and the area closest to the camera is more where we take breaks and eat.

This week was about diving into complex machine learning algorithms. Topics we covered:

Half-way Mark – Numb Brain

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:02:59 +0000

At the pace we were going, the class showed signs of weariness in week 5 and officially hit the wall this past week. The instructors eased up on us in exercises this week, and gave us a pseudo free day to recharge yesterday.

The week was about assessing where we were and covering MapReduce, Big Data, Flask and to think about projects. It may not sound like they eased up on us but they did.

One third of the way..

Sat, 15 Feb 2014 08:09:00 +0000

I’m keeping this a bit brief because there is a lot to do. Good week and busy as usual. Lots of Naive Bayes. Best part was my team won the simulated Kaggle competition about Stumbleupon.

Below is a summarization of concepts and tools covered this week.

Web Scraping
ReST APIs
Tolkenization
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Vectorization (Count, Tf-idf)
Ngrams
Feature Engineering
Classification – Naive Bayes (Mulitnomial, Bernoulli, Gaussian)
Confusion Matrix
ROC Plots & Area Under the Curve
Deep Learning

New Tools:

Machine Learning Starts with Linear Regression

Sat, 08 Feb 2014 10:27:42 +0000

We wrapped up our statistic deep dive on Monday with an exercise around Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) and focused the rest of the week on regression.

Main Topics Covered in Class:

Multi-Armed Bandit
Linear Regression
Gradient Descent
Cross Validation
Final Project Overview
Kaggle Competition

We also added in using the scikit learn data package which is primarily used for machine learning algorithms.

MAB / More Stats

MAB was actually interesting to learn about because its goal is to address some of the shortfalls in AB testing. For example, AB testing only compares two options at once and there is potential for bias when showing an old version against a new version. MAB allows testing multiple options at the same time while generating and updating performance scores. There are a couple different algorithm variations in MAB, but it basically is about showing the best performing option most of the time (ex. 90%) and providing some amount of randomization to show a lower performing option to give other options the opportunity to increase in performance (e.g. popularity). How often you randomly show an option can impact how long it takes the performance to change. The MAB algorithms typically beat out AB in picking the best option to use with the lowest error. This article gives some insight into MAB but beware that the code in the article is a little wonky.

Oh Math

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 23:54:23 +0000

This week was all about statistics and learning more python packages. It was a tough week and we covered the topic that intimidated me the most, the math.

StatsI actually grew up loving math and I know I can understand it with enough focus and time spent studying. Still it was a lot of grad level content that we pretty much squeezed into a few days. There is no way to fully learn all the concepts in a week and that is a common theme throughout this class (and probably most bootcamps). Additionally, several people in the class have PhDs in STEM (science, tech, engineering & math) and understand the math at a whole other level. It is definitely helpful to have students to learn from while also making it hard to keep up in the exercises at times.

Zipfian First Week Rundown

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 09:32:49 +0000

First week of Zipfian is already done and it does remind me how during Hackbright it felt like it went so fast. The focus for the week was about exposing us to core tools we will use as well as the main activities/processes around working with data.

Week Summary

The main tools used this week were Python, iPython, Git and Bash, and we went through three different exercises where we were gathering, cleaning, exploring and sometimes reporting data. A large part of our exercises throughout the program will be done in Python and we spent 4 of the 5 days using it. This is a bit of a shift for the school because they split more time with R in the last session, and it has to do with the growing popularity of using Python for data science. There’s a great article I read recently on the subject at R-bloggers. We will still use R but the emphasis is more Python.

Try: Data Science Except: Monty’s Bayes Example

Mon, 20 Jan 2014 21:45:19 +0000

Great first day at Zipfian. Definitely a different experience starting from Hackbright but some similarities. Granted there are the obvious differences of the content focus on data science vs. web application development as well as 20% women in the class vs. 100%. Plus I’m not the oldest or the youngest of the group. We have a really nice mix of people from various parts of the country and a myriad of backgrounds. Though there is a lot PhDs and/or engineering backgrounds. It was a much quieter energy to the start of the class even though you could tell there was some nervousness.

Wrap-up & Kick-off in One

Sat, 18 Jan 2014 18:14:01 +0000

It’s been over 8 months since I graduated Hackbright (HB). It also has been a while since my last post, but the last one was a bit difficult to follow. Plus, things have been …. busy.

Tips on Life After Bootcamp:
It has been an interesting several months since I started this journey and a good portion of that being what took place after HB. I know I’ve talked about this a little before but I’ve watched 2 classes since mine go through the HB withdrawal as well as met many from other bootcamps who have struggled with the “what’s next”.

New Job Fear – You are not Alone

Sun, 22 Sep 2013 09:06:24 +0000

I have been wanting to write this post for a while. After we graduated Hackbright and we started to land jobs, a common fear that popped up was fear of failure.

I found myself regularly talking to new alum unfortunately on a one-on-one basis since we were all spread to the wind in our unique job search experiences. Many were and are thrilled about landing the new job, but that excitement typically included and/or was replaced by the realization of “Oh god, I really have to do this now.”

Oh The Fun You’ll Have with Technical Interviews

Sat, 17 Aug 2013 02:16:24 +0000

Technical interviews are just tough. For the month and a half I went through them, I felt like I was constantly studying for and taking a final exam. We were trying to cram at least a semester’s if not a years worth of computer science concepts into our brains as well as practice how to solve problems with an audience in a handful of days.

Initial Experience
I definitely felt fear at the white board the first several times I was there. I would go blank and forget everything I knew. I was lucky if I remembered my name. But trust me when I say that you will survive this and practice is the key.

Week 10 – Graduation!

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:37:25 +0000

In the true spirit of graduation, I am posting this late and after the fact. I can’t believe 10 weeks have come and gone. I know I’m also not fully feeling it yet since most of us have transitioned into the post graduation job search.

May 10th on week 10 was our official graduation day. Although, it felt like we started celebrating graduation after Career Day, and didn’t let up until that weekend. Right after Career Day, most of us went out to let our hair down and celebrate a pretty amazing accomplishment.

HB Quick Tips

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:20:21 +0000

Below are some quick tips for those considering something like Hackbright Academy. If you have time before or want to get some preliminary building blocks, check out the links and pointers below.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Learn keyboard short cuts (before starting any programming bootcamp)
If you are not used to it, it does suck royally to learn
Push through it and practice, practice, practice!
The less you use the mouse, the more credible you are as a developer

Ask for Help Early and Often:

Leverage your classmates
Leverage google, stackoverflow, reddit, etc…
Leverage your network and online social tools

Start Reviewing:

Check-out HTML, CSS & JavaScript

Git with Git:

Read about git
Read about GitHub
Want more?…
Load git on your home computer
Setup a GitHub account

Balance is Key:

As Cynthia would say “take breaks!”
Make sure to keep up a workout regime – its good for the brain
Eat healthy to keep the energy up

Check out Zach Holman’s deck (it’s 5 min)

Career Day – Done & Done

Sat, 11 May 2013 01:19:19 +0000

As promised, I’m taking a moment to post commentary regarding Career Day. It went fast, was a whirlwind of companies and was a relief when it was done.

How it Worked:

Career Day is when Hackbright partner companies meet with students individually and see our skills on display through our final project. It was literally interview speed dating. Each student had a table and every 7 minutes the companies would rotate between the tables. It was a brief time to get a sense on whether there was enough fit for a further conversation/interview.

Week 9 – Crunch Time

Sat, 04 May 2013 17:52:45 +0000

It is hard to stop long enough to write this. Sometimes this past week I was too excited to work on my project to sleep. Still I know this is valuable for my sanity to think through what I’ve done so far and appreciate how far I’ve come. Plus, my brain functions better when I take breaks from coding.

Looking at my post from even a week ago surprises me because it feels like longer than 2 weeks since I was figuring out how to use web APIs for example. At the time it made me feel very lost and the concept seemed extremely foreign. Now whenever I see there’s an API that can be used, it feels like it’s the easiest thing to implement and leverage.

Week 8 – Time Goes Fast When You’re Having Fun (Project Status)

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:03:04 +0000

To anyone out there who’s watching, I wrapped up week 8 and I’m thinking about how I want to leverage my time in week 9 in preparation for Career Day. I do talk a lot about that as the D day, and it is to some extent. It’s a goal to help keep focus in terms of how I want to prioritize my time. A second goal is that I only have technically 2 weeks left in the program and there are certain subjects I want to practice while I have class time. Sometimes those goals match in purpose and sometimes I have to just pick based on how I’m feeling that day.

Week 7 – SF Sun Finder Project Progress

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:46:00 +0000

Development progress has definitely been enlightening the last week and a half. I’ve summarized highlights that have taken place to show what I’ve gone through so far and an example path of developing a HB project.

At the end of week 6, I spent Thurs. playing with Balsamiq and mocking up all kinds of ideas. Friday, I spent the day catching up on emails and just getting things in order so I could think straight. Then all I did over the weekend was start setting up my virtual environment.

The Final Project Kick-off

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 07:07:00 +0000

It’s the end of week 6, and we are in the thick of our starting and/or working on the final project. It could be called a type of thesis, and as I mentioned in a previous post, it has caused a lot of excitement over what to do for a variety of reasons. This post is to covey two main points: what I’m doing and key points to get started.

Stomach ache (aka not enough time challenge)

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:54:00 +0000

This week I felt like a kid with a nasty belly ache after being left alone in the tech candy shop. There has been so much interesting and fantastic things to learn and experience, and I hit the wall with trying to do it all at once. I know better. My career for the last several years has been about prioritization. Still here I am gorging on the tech candy because it’s so hard not to.

Finding a Project

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:06:30 +0000

As we near the halfway mark of our program, the top of mind question is: ‘What project will I work on?’

It can be a stressful question when there is still so much to learn, there are concerns with picking something too simple or too complex, there are so many options to pick from, and that we know it will influence whether anyone at career day will invite us to interview.

Days Blur Together

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:49:00 +0000

I can’t believe I’m already 3 weeks into this 10 week program. I was thinking through what we’ve learned so far this weekend and thought it would be helpful to post the core programming concepts to help keep it in perspective.

Week 1

Keyboard shortcuts
Terminal command line
Python language and logic for math, strings, tuples, lists, dictionaries
Git & Github

Week 2

Continuing dictionaries & general Python review
OOP (Object Oriented Programming)
Markov and APIs

Week 3

Hackbright Mentorship Mixer

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:37:40 +0000

Hackbright paired us with mentors last night and it was really great to see so many people in the software engineering and development community who came out. There is so much support that they’ve assigned 2 mentors for every student which is awesome.

If there was enough time in the day and I had enough energy, I would have loved to talk to every person who attended to hear their story and perspective on things. The reality was that after a day of studying SQL, which made my brain ache, I was already tired by the time the mixer started. Actually, I seem to be struggling a lot lately with so much I want to know and learn and just not enough time or space to do it. It’s a good problem to have and I would kill for the Matrix brain upload or some kind of Harry Potter time loop thing.

Pair Programming Perspective

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:50:00 +0000

For the first two weeks at Hackbright, we’ve been working as pair programmers. We team up with a new person almost every day and spend about 4 to 6 hours programming with our pair.

Each person gets a keyboard, mouse and screen but you share the same OS. Thus, you have to take turns driving the computer and be ready to figure out how to share the work with your partner.

Room Full of Brilliant Women

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:58:00 +0000

My favorite part about Hackbright so far has been that I am working with such smart and driven women who are constantly geeking out on technology. It also adds to the challenge of the experience. We had two alumni visiting today that spoke about how they were amazed by their class but also intimidated whether they were good enough to be part of the program.

I come from a background of many years in the consulting industry where confidence is key. Many times you are thrown into a situation where you have to solve ambiguous problems and pretend like you know what you are doing whether you do or you are getting up to speed on the fly. Based on that experience, I know I have a wealth of knowledge and valuable skills as well as I am very capable at applying myself.

.startswith()

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:48:00 +0000

Hackbright Class Spring 2013

8. Its around the age I was when my father brought home our first PC and I learned how to get around in DOS to play games. Fun fact is also used to be the number of standard bits in a byte.

So here I am 30 years later enrolled in the Python programming boot camp, Hackbright Academy, learning how to be a developer (or hacker as I’ve been informed).