This post is about a framework or a mindset I have used to get myself learning while being a working adult after graduating from university. I have shared a version of this at my company's town hall this year.
As much as I like to give an inspirational story on how I come to work with data, I think we need to be realistic about the journey. Not everyone can become a data scientist within months of learning a new coding language, despite the story being not uncommon on LinkedIn. We can pace ourselves and learn along the way. Hence, DRUMS - the acronym, not a musical instrument.
D for Deskill
To start learning new things, especially things different from what we already know, we must first forget. This is akin to the Pokemon in the Pokemon games which can only learn up to 4 moves. Despite our human brains being able to remember many things, we need to forgo less helpful things in the journey to learn new things. If one were to look at my LinkedIn, one can see that I started as an arts undergraduate. In other words, my life revolved around writing essay after essay for 4 years. To leap into learning data, I have to tell myself that my essay writing skills are not as important as before anymore - it is no longer my core competency at this stage and it can be picked up again if needed. Only by putting down the past, can we move on. Deskilling is acceptance.
R - Reskill
Acquiring new skills helps us stay relevant. This is what I tell myself as I have tried to force myself to learn something foreign and entirely outside my comfort zone and initial career aspirations. Not all dreams get fulfilled. Although I started with the ambition of doing policy and planning work, I ended up doing HR work. To differentiate myself, I have gone into HR analytics, a budding subfield in my country. To do so, I have to pick data analytics skills. This includes learning the basics and practising even before working in a role that has allowed me to do HR analytics. Learning a new skill is not easy and the light at the end of the tunnel is hard to see when you do not get to practise it for work initially, but it does help as you get to build knowledge and a portfolio along the way, like my Tableau Public page.
U- Upskill
Building competencies is the next step after acquiring new ones. This blog is an example of it. I have started blogging due to me wanting to remember the things that I have learnt and build on them. As I challenge myself to build better vizzes, I use the blog as a diary and test lab to keep track of my practices and notes from my trials and readings. Improvement is critical to learning as it not only provides a sense that I am not stagnating but also makes me better. This gives me confidence as time goes on, and it also helps me continue data visualisation as a hobby than something I dread doing.
M - Multi-skill
Gaining multiple competencies in an area of work is also essential. After Tableau provided me with the confidence to work with a larger amount of data, I jumped into Python. The experience with Tableau has me not feel squeezed by the stress of learning a coding language from scratch. Although Python can be used for visualisation like Tableau, I see Python as a complementary skill to Tableau as it helps with the data processing part. It also helps if one is doing predictive analytics, giving more story behind a visual that may only be descriptive. This is the case for my efforts in predicting staff attrition.
S - Subskill
Attaining skills that are part of a bigger skill set is helpful, especially when I am faced with the need to tackle tasks that are not as straightforward using a familiar tool. I have tried learning and applying VBA macros in Excel to take on things that may otherwise be impossible to do without. Such an example can be seen from my use of VBA macros for one of my Iron Viz entries. By tapping into new Excel skills, I have managed to create a viz and also received new confidence to use VBA macros more on different Excel projects when it is called for. VBA macros may not be a popular skill, but knowing it helps, especially when many workers still use Excel. VBA macros allow users to keep complex processes in Excel so that the Excel files can be used and shared widely among colleagues.
All in all, DRUMS is the acronym to remember when it comes to my journey from an Arts student to a person who works with data at work.