(Author: Tristan Shaeen)

So you’re thinking about improving your data skills. Congratulations! These are extremely valuable in today’s world, and they will pay off in both your personal and public life.

But navigating this landscape can be difficult. There are so many possible starting points, so many potential routes, and so many destinations! Decision paralysis can creep in. For this reason, it’s important to spend a little bit of time orienting yourself.  

Think of your foray into the datasphere as a hiking trip. You don’t just get up and go, you need to prepare. At the same time, you don’t want to over-prepare or you’ll never take your first step at the trailhead! The key is to prepare the essential resources that you will need – a data wilderness survival kit.

There are three items in the data wilderness survival kit:

1. A mindset
2. A map
3. A field journal

A Mindset

While your mindset may not be a physical tool, it is nonetheless a vital one to prepare and keep sharp.

Everyone, including you, has a mindset regarding their own ability to learn. If you have ever uttered the words “I’m not a math person, I should probably stick with what I do best”, in that moment you were expressing what psychologist Carol Dweck and colleagues call a “fixed mindset”. On the other hand, if you have ever said something like “This is going to be tough, but I’ll get it eventually,” you were expressing what they call a “growth mindset”.

A great deal of research has gone into evaluating the differences in performance between fixed mindsets and growth mindsets. Among these findings there are two important take-homes for our purposes:

1. It is easy adopt a growth mindset;
2. Growth mindsets do not give up anywhere near as easily as fixed mindsets.

The datasphere will test you. There will be moments where you have simply met the limit of what you can currently do, and you will have a choice: turn back or figure out how to keep going. It’s easy to tell yourself that those who have walked the path before you were better cut out for it, but many of them were simply those who did not give up.

A Map

The next item you will need is a map. A map is important because it shows you the terrain and allows you to plan ahead. The terrain in question is the vast wilderness of data learning materials, which grows by the day. This website seeks to map out a few of the trails for you on that map.

A Field Journal

In order to be fully prepared for where you’re going, you need to know where you’ve been. You need to reflect on what you’ve learned, and document it for future use. The best version of a field journal for the data wilderness is a blog. If you decide in favour of a more private journal, we would encourage you to take it as seriously as though it was going to be read by others, and even share it with some people. Like wilderness adventurers, data people need each other.

With this survival kit packed you are ready to hit the trails. Over time, you will add items to this base kit that are tailored to your particular needs and the terrain you encounter, and this kit will develop into a deluxe toolbox.  

Good luck out there, and remember one thing: you will never explore it all, so take your time and make sure to fully absorb your own personal journey.

See you out there!

Happy trails,

Tristan from Sysabee Learning.