Blog #8 - Final Reflection

    Looking back on my three weeks with Ben at Vertical Knowledge, I can say with certainty that my Hawken Project exceeded any sort of expectations that I had going in. I pursued this project purely due to my love of mathematics and my newfound interest in statistics, and I ended up learning many new skills and having a lot of fun along the way.

    My original hope for the project was to "engage in an impactful project that [would] give me a better idea of my future career plans, as well as to see the kinds of skills required to work in this field." I would argue that the latter part of that statement was precisely what went well over the past three weeks. I got to see first-hand the kind of coding experience and data-related expertise that is necessary to obtain a job in a data science/statistical career. Although I came in with virtually no prior knowledge about the particularities of this occupation, Ben did an exceptional job bringing me up to speed. He started off by teaching me the most important tools for data analysis in Microsoft Excel, like how to create Pivot Tables and use the "vlookup" function. Once I was comfortable enough with Excel, he transitioned me over to a new data visualization application called Tableau, on which I learned how to tell a story with data by creating professional-looking dashboards. Finally, I even learned the basics of Python, one of the most popular programming languages worldwide, which was never something that I thought I would be doing going into my Hawken Project. Looking back on all that I accomplished in the past three weeks, I think it goes without saying that it was a very engaging experience, since there was always something for me to work on.

    I don't think that there was anything lacking about the project itself. Perhaps the only area in which it fell a tad short was that I am not certain that it pointed me towards my future job. Although I found my project to be very meaningful and informative, it made me realize that there are so many potential paths I could go down in the field of data science. Perhaps a statistics job with the Guardians or the Cavaliers, for example, would better suit my interests.

    I am not sure that Hawken would be able to partner with Vertical Knowledge in any other capacity besides Hawken Project, simply due to the fact that it is a private company and most of the employees work from home. However, if Hawken ever needs help finding public data on a particular company, we now know who to call.

    My advice to rising seniors would be to find something that you think you are interested in. What you will find over the course of your three weeks is that you were either right or wrong, but either way, you will have learned something about your future. For example, my biggest takeaway is that while I may not have found my dream job through my Hawken Project, I was able to continue honing in on what I do want to do. I am now certain that working in a math- or data-related field is my end goal, but finding my exact niche is still an ongoing process. So use this opportunity wisely, as there is so much potential to find out who you are and what you want to be.

   Finally, I would like to express my utmost appreciation to my mentor, Ben, and all of the other members of the Vertical Knowledge team who were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to show me the ropes. It was a great pleasure being a part of the team for those few short weeks, so thank you for creating such an awesome experience for me!