Skills and Tools I learnt As a She Code Africa Mentee
I joined the third cohort of the She Code Africa Data Science Mentorship Program about three months ago, and it has been a ride! I’d like to share with you, Reader some of the many things that I learnt while on the program. I hope that you find this article both interesting and educative. Now, let’s get started. Oh, no, wait!
I appreciate sincerely, my Mentor; Miss Olufunmilayo Ruth, Aforijiku. Yeah, we get assigned a mentor to guide us through, and mine was great! She taught me the tools I am about sharing with you. God bless her kind heart.
Now let’s really get started! :-)
Skills
Technical writing
The first and probably most exciting thing I learnt while on the She Code Africa Mentorship Program (SCAMP), Data Science track was how to write technical articles. I was scared at first, but not anymore. You can check out my first article here. I believe that my writing skills have improved over time, and I can now write about what I know or did confidently and find it fun. Great, isn’t it? Here,you can read all my articles so far .
Communication skills
These past three months have greatly improved my communication skills. I have had to discuss with my mentor, get help from and discuss with my teammates ( by the way, they all were super kind and helpful. Here’s a shout out to them :-) ) and make inquiries from my POC. I have learned to ask for help, make my challenges and thoughts known, and seek answers by asking questions, better. My communication skills have definitely improved.
Tools
SQL (Structured Query Language)
Most raw data exist as relational databases. SQL is a programming language used to query relational databases and is an essential tool for any data scientist. SQL can be used to access and wrangle databases, update, create, delete, insert tables or record in databases and so much more. There are different versions of the SQL language, but they all similar. During the SCAMP, I learned general commands of the SQL language and took an online course that specialised on PostgreSQL. I have worked on a number of databases successfully, and I keep getting better.
Microsoft Power BI
Before joining the SCAMP program, I had had online courses on Microsoft Power BI that I never started. I sense that someone has untouched online courses like me, yeah? ;). I wasn’t very bothered since I could use Python’s Matplotlib, Plotly and Seaborn libraries for my data visualisations. However, my mentor did such a great work teaching us Power BI on a particular day, that I was excited to start one of my saved courses on Power BI. I discovered that it is much faster, using Power BI for visualisations. I keep learning, and I sure am getting better skilled by the day.
Generally, my data science skills have greatly improved as I have had to work on many projects and assignments using Python libraries; Pandas, Numpy, Matplotlib, Seaborn, Plotly, Streamlit and others, Microsoft Power BI and SQL, thus getting better experienced as a data scientist.
So yeah, these three months have been challenging, educating and fruitful. Thank you, dear Reader, for reading.
