New Year: Time to Look Inside

It's been a while since my last post. To be honest, writing is the most terrifying activity for me, It just hard and usually my story was not deep enough, not really sure what I'm going to tell, and the flow was quite all over the place. But today, I am going to try to build the habit at the minimum commitment: writing only in the thematic situation, like new year's eve or possibly when I got any chance to fill up this blog. On top of that, as many productivity mentors and gurus out there that did many writing exercises, I just can't and I want to be like them.

Me, as millennials, a man who born in the '90s would agree that 2020 was the worst year of my life. Canceled plans, postponed goals, coping with aloneness, grieves, etc. On the other hand, working from home gave me a chance to be around my family in my hometown, surprisingly better exercise habits, and perhaps doing more deep work in my workplace by doing *quite* meaningful projects.

OK. 2021. is a new year with new hope and for some people and time to *maybe, at least* plan what your next year wants to look like. For me, I already know what I should do and what I want to do in the next year. I could safely say that I don't have a new plan. Hoping I could excel in the things I really need in 2021, and all of them were carried over from previous years.

First, Since I graduated from Information Systems ITS in 2016, I was always thinking about my study continuity: Pursue higher studies does it even necessary? Unfortunately, after 4 years' time pass by -not really working towards my goal- I am still thinking that I really need to put this into priority before everything. The most reason is I am working in a field that quite new in my country, and usually corporates and seniors inside the companies don't "really" know what they are doing, and how to do the job in the right way. The rules of thumb are lacking and the data-driven culture is not well-developed. Based on my experience working in the developed start-up tech companies, you have to be in a mature company situation that really knows what they want to do with its data, or perhaps the company has well-rounded science and technology cuture that already developed by senior managers or founders. It's silly when you think about the job of "Data Scientist / Analyst" in some or inside the corporations are different from the others. When you got lucky enough, got a great boss, partners, and a good culture in the company, your career could be growing or at least your knowledge. Umm, let me think again, maybe every condition is quite relative, based on what kind of person you are. I met a person that worked in his first company and I could say that he could drive the business. Maybe he knows what he is doing, the tasks were quite fit for him,  and eventually influenced other people around him. SO anyway, I am still thinking about studying abroad, focusing on Business Analytics or *hardcore* Machine Learning courses still my options. There are so many opportunities and learning that I could get while I am studying, learning about the technology companies in Europe or any other developed tech place is sounds really fascinating for me. Since working aboard is a huge goal, there are some derivative-goals that need to tackle as well: IELTS, GMAT/GRE, and so many other nitty-gritty that need to prepare like recommendation letter, letter of motivation, finding the scholarship, etc. It would give a pain in the ass at first as the tasks are really big but hopefully, this thing really has a positive impact on my life.

Second, excel in the next semester's personal assessment in my current employer. I am working as a senior data analyst in the payment tribe and I am working closely with physical goods and fintech as well. The situation in my working-place is quite miserable. Many of the data analysts resigned in late 2020 and also people in the Fintech tribe. There were some issues happening, yet so far I still could bear the pressure to not follow the stream. I could feel in my tribe, in terms of data analysis and insight are in the right direction. The written result of the data product and the deep analysis of the recommendation insight, and advanced analytics are really encouraged. Those three are at least make me feel always learning every day and not feeling stuck in the workplace. Other than that, I could see there are many rooms to grow in terms of data technicalities and my soft-skill capability in this company.

Third, read more and express more. Mainly I promise to myself this year I would read more books, papers, or articles. I post the books that I currently read, my wishlists, the books that I still have no motivation to read, and the books that already finished. The lists are not fascinating but I can promise you the lists will be growing over the years.

Fourth, deepen my know-how in programming. In the second semester of 2020, I was working on some projects related to python and machine learning automation that highly utilized in my tribe. One of the projects was to build a python application reminder that could inform data analysts in my current employer that their Big Query Scheduler tables are going to expired soon (this happened because we have a quite silly complex policy of table scheduler). The project made me learn proper apps writing code with proper OOP concepts and there were so many resourceful materials on the internet especially YouTube. The Indonesian Youtube channel will teach you how to write an OOP program in python seamlessly, this another youtube good video and freecodecamp also provide awesome programming resources. For the rest, I would like to enhance my programming skill to build more applications or projects that could be a good decoration in my portfolio.

and Others, working on my soft-skills and making new and "unique" friends are definitely sit in the higher priority of 2021. How I am going to achieve it? not sure yet. just let me work on it in my unconscious mind. lol.

I do hope 2021 is better than the previous year for you everyone. *finger crossed*