Drinking from the "firehose" in GitHub, Datawrapper, and pivot tables as a part-time grad student.

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My current science writing course in data storytelling ignited a newfound appreciation inside me for data visualization. It's hard to explain the thrill I felt when I first learned that our class would be exposed to GitHub data repos and visualization programs! It felt like taking a front row seat on a thril ride, ready to explore the twists, turns, and loops of this new adventure. I called one of my engineering friends to share this excitement, and he was equally in sync with my enthusiam for data manipulation.

The growing pains of learning aspects of web development, cloud services and hosting via Cloudflare, and experiencing frustrations tinkering with a new tech stack prepared me for this moment in time-- exploring data journalism. Those long nights debugging code and wrestling with deployment issues like a sumo wrestler have paid off. I started refreshing my knowledge through Youtube tutorials about ETL (extracting, transforming, and loading) data pipelines, reading inspirational articles from The New York Times and WIRED, analyzing how those journalists crafted compelling stories, vetted factual sources and envisioning a series of patterns to emulate in my own work.

Familiar vernacular such as "data scraping," "web crawlers," "APIs (Application Programming Interface) calls" to retrieve information, and functions in Google Sheets fed my technical side. I was reminded of the importance of continuous learning and how my current role in technical integrations and systems has evolved my knowledge for the precipice I'm exploring now. Everything suddenly fell into place, and it solidifed my confidence in adapting to new skills to become a part-time science communicator. At first, I beleived my background in technology would make me seem rigid and less credible than my peers in the writing world. However, I now see that my unique blend of systems thinking and storytelling can offer a fresh perspective in this field of work.

The pursuit of a traditional role in journalism no longer feels like the only path to travel. Instead, I'm taking a road less traveled, learning how my intelligence and creativity can intersect to create something beautiful. Also after getting my first feature story [ever] published in Hackernoon, this semester, I feel more motivated than ever to continue honing my craft and exploring the endless possibilities that lie ahead. I also plan to document some of my learnng experiences here on my blog as I navigate this exciting new chapter in my life.

Today's Win: I have established my niche as a different type of writer: blending a knowledge of systems in different scientific industries and tech to expand on human stories.