New Year’s Resolution – Start Blogging!
Seeing in the new year comes with tons of excitement,
anticipation, and, of course, champagne!
For most of us, the new year is a line in the sand, it
offers a chance to reflect on the last year, while looking forward to the New
Year, with optimism and hope at what is to come.
Looking back at 2022, a lot has changed for me both
personally and professionally.
Professionally, I started the year with a new job! In
January, I joined Vertice Cloud as a Senior Data Science Consultant, which
ended several years of working in the Data Lab at the NHS. I had a great time
at the NHS, and left behind a lot of excellent people, but moving to Vertice
Cloud has been a brilliant opportunity and one that I’ve absolutely loved.
It’s been a year full of learning - but having the
opportunity to work on a wide range of new projects, with support from new
colleagues, using the latest and greatest technology on offer from Oracle, has
made the year fly by.
My new role also offered up some new opportunities, being an
Oracle Platinum partner, Vertice has been hugely supportive for me to share my
knowledge with to the Oracle community, something I was more than happy to do.
I’ve presented at UK OUG a few times in the past, but this year provided me the
chance to present at UK, Scotland, and Ireland OUG’s! On a personal note, it
was great to see in-person conferences back. As much as we all managed with
virtual presentations over the course of the pandemic, it’s so nice to get that
real-time feedback from an audience when presenting, and a chance to network
and grab a coffee and a chat with old friends and new was a real plus point.
Personally, it’s been a year of change as well, with my
girlfriend and I moving in together! A few friends mentioned to me “it’s about
time!”, which can only be a good sign 😊
With both of us working from home, that’s had its own
challenges, mainly to find our “office space”. The challenge was, to find a
space where we can both work comfortably but can’t hear each other speaking on
Teams. I’m sure a lot of you had the same trouble during the pandemic, it was a
bit of trial and error, but like most things, you always find a way that works!
I’ve also continued with my photography business that I
started in January 2021 (that could have been that year’s resolution?!). I
shoot a lot of landscapes from around the North East of England, which is a
beautiful part of the world, and I use photography as a chance to get out more,
to exercise and be creative, as well as travelling to new places around my
native North East. I’m also still amazed at the thought that my photo’s are up
on people’s walls, but I don’t think that feeling will ever go away!
Fast forward to the end of year, after a very busy year, swapping
my desk and laptop for spending time with family and friends (and lots of
eating and drinking) was a welcome break. This brings us to the New Year, and
my chance to look forward to the year to come.
I’ve always tried to use a New Year’s resolution as a chance
to put into place something that will better me as a person. In the past I’ve
put in some physical goals, like exercising more, or mentally, by making time
to see friends. This year I’d like to share more, which brings me to my blog.
I’ve read a LOT of blogs this last year, which I’ve found
hugely helpful (remember that steep learning curve?), so I wanted to challenge
myself to do the same, and to share my technical knowledge with the community.
After working in Data Science for nearly 8 years, I’m hopeful I’ll have a few
tips and tricks that you may want to use, and it’s my chance to share and give
back.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first instalment of my blog
series, keep an eye out for upcoming blogs on all things Data Science, Machine
Learning, Presenting, and maybe even Photography!
Phil
Comments
Post a Comment