Everyone, your skillsets are amazing! I wanted to leave a reply to each one of your posts, but it would have taken ages, so I will summarise my thoughts by letting you know how thankful I am for your openness in sharing your expertise, and how much I am looking forward to learning from you all!
Data – This is my specialty! My principal areas of focus are normally data accuracy, data integrity, and data validation or, as I like to call it, apples with apples. Due to my profession, I typically work on big trade data queries in order to reconciliate information and provide auditors or financial watchdogs clear and readable datasets. I have worked on all sort of data cleaning processes and applied various standardisation and normalisation techniques. Additionally, I have an in-depth understanding of statistical indicators and their differentiating features which, based on context and information available, might make one measure more significant than another.
Research – I am very proud of my research skills, I am committed to find every possible bit of information available about anything I am interested in or required for any assigned tasks; I am comfortable with consulting catalogues, archives, data lakes, and other available materials. I have a relatively critical approach, which partly stems from my job, and I tend to fact-check everything, always operating on the assumption that there’s a missing piece somewhere or some misconstrued figures (not always the case clearly, but I was given a strong dose of cynicism when I was little)
Programming and IT skills (miscellaneous) – Through the course of the previous semesters, I have developed a good understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (particularly .D3); I have used Leaflet a fair amount and built a GitHub repository which contains a few websites now. Among other data viz tools, I have learnt to use Tableau, however, I am not a fan – I think some of its applications can lead to poor data representations. I can do basic coding in Python, and I am self-sufficient in teaching myself how to manipulate big data with it. I know how to use WordPress and its main features. As strange as it might sound, I’m familiar with Haskell programming language, but I don’t think anyone uses it these days. I’m an advanced Excel and VBA user, especially when it comes to data cleaning, preparation, and automation of repetitive tasks. I have a good grasp of algorithmic trading, circuit breakers, and performance optimisation – these might be useful in the grand scheme of understanding automations, but not necessarily to power any of the projects suggested. In general, I’d be very enthusiastic to shadow anyone who has more experience than me in any of the above software and tools or other and new ones!
Outreach & social media – In-person social network activities and related follow-ups are tasks I am very comfortable with; I tend to leverage my network to connect people, get help, get funds for causes I believe in, and learn from others; on the other hand though, I don’t have a social media presence and this is the result of a thorough and conscious decision process, however, I appreciate the fact that this could be debilitating in successfully promote and present any project to new audiences. If you’re looking for social media power, I’m not you person. Conversely, if you need someone to knock at every door in NY, cold call random people, and find creative ways of reaching out some notoriously inaccessible individuals, here I am, ready for the challenge!
Design – This is going to be the shortest section: delighted to be rescued by anyone who is keen to share their knowledge around design principles and design techniques! I have never tried any online (or even offline) design tools – but I can be a good student, so anyone who is open to teach me, I’d be extremely grateful.
Project Management – happy to leave this joy to someone else; I have seen that many of you have this skill to offer, so I’ll gladly take your guidance here and save my PM know-how for the next big project.
