It's Not all About Winning

This is a cross post from my personal blog on 02-02-2019 https://waylonwalker.com/blog/journey/

This is my story into data science.

The Journey Begins

I am addicted to the process of learning and improving my skills nearly to a fault. The reason I say nearly is because my addiction is fueled with results. I crave the output of my work enhance the work of others. I jump with joy as I see users gain insights they could have never imagined before. My mouth starts watering as I see their boring repetitive data mining activites be completed in a matter of seconds, opening up their mind to focus on their expertise. The day I stop learning will be the day that I start looking for another career path.

It's not all about winning.

~Mom

This happened to me in 2014. I have a mechanical engineering degree and had a really good position at the time. I owned full engineering control of a small subset of engine components. The problem was that Everything is so proprietary and hardly documented the process of learning did not click with me. I felt like I had learned a lot about the product early on, and was stuck without anymore resources to learn more. On the side I had started learning python and data science techniques to enhance my job.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

Everytime the I feel like I have reached the peak of any one topic the fog clears and I can now see a whole new mountain range that I did not know existed.

I was addicted. I felt like there is so much knowledge easily obtained online in my free time, and I was able to take it back to my job and achieve results. Everytime the I feel like I have reached the peak of any one topic the fog clears and I can now see a whole new mountain range that I did not know existed.

Love the Journey

By 2017 I was really good at gaining results for our business, and decided to make the jump to the data science team. I have achieved great results, and have been recognized as a high contributor to our business. Still I do not feel like I have won. My goals are always moving and will always be 3-6 months ahead of me. I truly enjoy the process of learning, and providing value so much that I will never let myself sit back and think that I have won and its time to reap the rewards of my hard work. I will say that I am winning. Not because of any results, awards or recognition, but because I am happy. I have found a career path that I really enjoy the journey and I am not just trying to get on the fast track to a destination.

Photo by Michelle Spencer on Unsplash

Life is too short to stay on a path you do not enjoy.

Enjoy the journey, explore new paths, and do what brings you joy. Life is too short to stay on a path you do not enjoy. Focus on the process not the Destination.