What I Learned This Week

In my quest to becoming the best surgical data analyst.

In the ongoing onslaught of AI integration into almost every field but especially in the field of data science and analytics, I’ve been trying to rush forward with learning as much as I can on all of the programming languages and platforms without having to rely on AI so heavily. Having graduated with a degree in Health Informatics, we were just knowing about AI and ChatGPT as we were in the middle of midterms so it was something that we were aware of but not something we would think would completely change the field in the way that it has. It’s also alarming how even while in school, we were relying on these AI chatbots to help not so much complete our assignments but carry us through with heavily guiding what we should be doing with our code. Also, since our program itself was so short, I feel like we got a taste of what is possible with programming and healthcare data but not enough detailed instructions so since then I’ve been trying to fill in those gaps. I’ve been simultaneously working on several online courses but shuffling between R, Python, SQL, and whatever else I deem might be helpful. The problem with this is that learning so many things simultaneously is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. Many of the generalized practices in each language is slightly differing so you end up mashing them all together in your brain and get confused as to what language does what.

I have enjoyed all of the courses on freeCodeCamp because most of their courses have projects that are applicable to real life and are very enjoyable to follow along with each step. They also don’t hand hold you with providing the answer and expect you to figure it out with previous knowledge or rely on the community forums to get hints (but you are not allowed to post actual answers). It makes it satisfying to learn because you really have to investigate why your code isn’t passing and what could be the issue especially since there are so many variations on how to code things. So this week, I’ve been focusing on SQL (but since accessing the workspace for using bash to program with SQL is very annoying, I’ve been more reluctant to use it) and my favorite so far is the Scientific Computing with Python.

What I’ve learned this week is that you really need to be focused on what you are trying to learn because multitasking with a tv show or sports game in the background (and even some types of music) can be too distracting and all of a sudden you are not paying attention and you get to a point in the project where it is referencing back to something you should have already known and now you have to figure out where you missed it and it becomes a hassle. It’s also hard at this point to guage whether I will be focusing more on SQL in my future work or python so as of now, I will be focusing on finishing my Python training but we will see if that will come back to haunt me in the future.

Follow my Important References Repo to see the progress I’m making in my courses, and much more!