Kirill Eremenko: 00:00
This is episode number 399 with data enthusiast Monica Royal.
Kirill Eremenko: 00:12
Welcome to the SuperDataScience Podcast. My name is Kirill Eremenko, Data Science Coach and Lifestyle Entrepreneur. And each week we bring you inspiring people and ideas to help you build your successful career in data science. Thanks for being here today, and now let’s make the complex simple.
Kirill Eremenko: 00:44
Hello and welcome back to the SuperDataScience Podcast, everybody. Super excited to have you back here on the show. Today’s guest is Monica Royal, who is a manager of data analytics and innovation at American Express. However, today’s episode is not going to be technical at all. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about learning and impacting the community. And it’s going to be very helpful for you if you’re just starting out into the space of data science. If you’re feeling maybe a bit of an imposter syndrome. If you’re feeling a bit that you don’t have anything to give back to contribute to this community, this episode will be very inspiring because of the journey that Monica has had herself over the past year or so.
Kirill Eremenko: 01:31
And specifically, some of the topics that we’ll talk about include being a consumer versus being a contributor, the 100 days of learning challenge, and how you can participate in it and how you can create a challenge for yourself. Being curious, productivity, the Pomodoro Technique, the 21/90 rule for creating habits, discussion boards, strategies to help learning, and some other topics that will inspire you to keep going. So, if you’re at the beginning of your data science journey, if you’re looking to find new fun ways to learn and to grow your expertise and contribute back to the space, this is the podcast for you, and Monica will guide you into this world. So, without further ado, I bring to you data enthusiast, Monica Royal.
Kirill Eremenko: 02:24
Welcome back to the SuperDataScience Podcast, everybody. Super excited to have you back on the show, and today we’ve got a very special guest Monica Royal calling in from Phoenix, Arizona. Monica, welcome how are you doing today?
Monica Royal: 02:36
I’m doing very well. Hello, nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Kirill Eremenko: 02:41
So, excited to have you and Chloe your cat over there in the background on the show. 14 years old, right? For a cat that’s a lot.
Monica Royal: 02:53
Yeah. She’s our baby. Yeah, I [inaudible 00:02:56] since she was born.
Kirill Eremenko: 02:58
Wow, amazing. And you are in Phoenix, Arizona. How’s the weather in Phoenix?
Monica Royal: 03:05
Oh, it’s very hot. It’s been over 110 for the past week, a little bit too hot to even be in our pool. We were swimming last weekend for not even 30 minutes and it was too hot. So we decided to come back inside.
Kirill Eremenko: 03:21
110. I just converted that on Google, it’s 43 degrees celsius. That’s insane.
Monica Royal: 03:28
Yeah.
Kirill Eremenko: 03:29
How do you survive? You have to have air conditioning, right?
Monica Royal: 03:32
Yes, everybody has to have air conditioning for sure. I don’t know if you guys have Swamp Cool?
Kirill Eremenko: 03:38
What is Swamp-
Monica Royal: 03:39
No, so that’s a different version of air conditioning that doesn’t work very well in Phoenix because it’s so hot. So, everybody does have air conditioning.
Kirill Eremenko: 03:48
Okay. Swamp Cool, interesting. And so, 43 degrees. What do you do all day if you can’t go outside? I mean, many people can’t go outside now because of the coronavirus, but you can’t even go probably onto the balcony. You can’t even open a window. That’s how bad it is.
Monica Royal: 04:08
So, a lot of porches that we have the ceiling fans outside, and strangely enough in the shade, it is significantly cooler. I don’t know if you’ve heard Phoenix being a dry heat. So, it’s very true. If you step into the shade, it’s a significant difference.
Kirill Eremenko: 04:30
Okay. Wow. Oh, amazing. Well, it’s good that there’s a way out. Does this normally happen throughout the year?
Monica Royal: 04:39
Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, it’s hit like 120s in the summer.
Kirill Eremenko: 04:45
Wow, that’s crazy. All right. Well, Monica, it’s really cool to meet you. I’ve been seeing your name or your photo, your profile pop in a lot of places, especially on LinkedIn. So, like I go on to reply to somebody or post the message and I see a message from Monica. Somewhere you commented on something, and you have a very distinctive photo, which is easy to tell. You have this bright red hair in your LinkedIn photo and a huge smile. So, it’s hard to miss. So you’ve been very active, and then we had DataScienceGO Virtual a few weeks ago in June. It’s been about a month ago now. And you were so active there as well. You just replying to everyone, commenting, posting.
Kirill Eremenko: 05:33
And first of all, I want to say a huge thank you. That helped guide people who had questions and that… Even for me, it felt like, wow, we have a huge discussion going and you’re always participating in it, so a huge thank you for that. And I wanted to ask you, why have you been so active in the data science world? What are the motivations for that?
Monica Royal: 06:00
Yeah, definitely. I just love being active in the data science community. It’s such a great community, and everyone has such good things to say. And so, interesting topics to share. It actually started back in September. Kate… I’m going to butcher her last name.
Kirill Eremenko: 06:21
Strachnyi.
Monica Royal: 06:22
Strachnyi, she actually posted on LinkedIn asking, “Are you a consumer or a contributor?” And I wasn’t big on social media at all. And so, I thought about it, and I was like, “I really want to respond to this post.” And it took me a while to even respond to the post to say, “Oh, I’m just a consumer,” because that would mean that I wouldn’t be contributing. And so I wrote it out. I hit the enter button, and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” So, I basically said, “I’m a consumer, but I really do want to try to start contributing.” And then the next day I was like, “Oh, here’s my first post. I’m so nervous to do it.”
Kirill Eremenko: 07:06
What was it about? What was your first post about?
Monica Royal: 07:06
It was just about what I want to do. I had found everyone was doing this 100 days of code thing. And I originally thought that they were all part of some group that I needed to be a member of. I didn’t know if I needed to pay dues. So, I did some research on Google. 100 days of code and found that it’s just a general challenge that people were participating in, and you can even tweak it to your own, and have 100 days of YouTube, 100 days of Instagram. So, I chose 100 days of learning because I am so curious, I can’t stick to one thing. So, just coding for 100 days I want to learn about different topics or I have a background in general IT, so I have a lot of cybersecurity, information security, and all of that. So I can’t just stick to one thing at a time.
Monica Royal: 08:10
So, I chose to participate in 100 days of learning, and that was my first post. And then the next day I saw how much engagement that I got on that post, and that blew me away. I was just like, “This is really awesome people actually read my post. Who am I? Why are they reading my stuff?” And I made that commitment. So I had 100 days to still go on. And so, every day I just thought of something to write about.
Kirill Eremenko: 08:46
Something that you learned on that day.
Monica Royal: 08:49
Correct. Yes. So, my topics really came from something that I did that day. Podcasts that I would listen to. Books that I would read. On my commute, I do a lot of audio books, or just some articles that I would see on LinkedIn or some YouTube video that I saw that’s on an interesting topic. I would decide to write about that. And it got to the point where I would have to start compiling a list because I had so many ideas. I had kind of like a backlog of topics that I can talk about.
Kirill Eremenko: 09:26
Amazing. And so, that was 100 days. Is it 100 days in a row or are you allowed to take breaks?
Monica Royal: 09:33
So there was a couple times that I took breaks. I did start in September, so there were a few holidays. And I took breaks and I talked about how you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking breaks. Just because for two reasons. I mean, it’s holidays. You should spend time with family and friends of course, and then the other side is that really sparked creativity taking a break because you had instead of just focusing on I have to write, I have to write. Then you were kind of in your own head thinking about other things to write. And so, it was creativity sparker.
Kirill Eremenko: 10:13
Gotcha. Were all these things you learned part of in the data science world or were they random maybe in other domains?
Monica Royal: 10:22
Yes. So, a lot of the posts are for data science, data literacy, data governance. Some off topics would be cybersecurity. I do Friday fun facts, where I bring in just a random silly fact that I find. I also like to relate some data topics to food analogies. I feel like if you bring that in, more people can really relate to the topic and understand some more complicated topics.
Kirill Eremenko: 10:58
Give us an example. Like a couple of examples of the things you learned. What are some things that are memorable to you from that 100 day challenge that really stand out, those learnings?
Monica Royal: 11:09
So, during the whole 100 days of learning, I thought the most benefit was the engagement and the comments that I would get from others. So, I always try to make it a point to ask a question at the end. Maybe I was struggling with the visualization that I was trying to create or maybe I’m curious, I want to take a poll. Are you side R or side Python, and why? So, the engagement that happens and learning from others within the community, I think is the most beneficial.
Kirill Eremenko: 11:45
Gotcha. Okay. Okay, interesting. So you post something that people would be likely or interested to comment on and you’re interested to hear their thoughts.
Monica Royal: 11:54
Exactly. And then even better is when you have other people talking back and forth. They have a side conversation on your thread, so then it makes me happy to see that other people are inspired and encouraged to share ideas with each other.
Kirill Eremenko: 12:16
Okay. What’s one of the most thought provoking comments that you read of people posting after you posted one of your learnings then some people posted on that? What was something that provoked most thinking in you?
Monica Royal: 12:32
So, the other day I posted a topic on general time management, specifically related to how I structure my Fridays. So what I tend to do is save all of my tasks that are easier for Fridays just because everyone’s excited for the weekend or counting down the hours for the week to end. And so, if you set your schedule in that way, you are more productive and you actually get things done. And within those comments and the… Within the comments and the discussions that were happening in that thread, people shared ideas on how they structured their Fridays or general time management ideas.
Kirill Eremenko: 13:22
Okay. And did anything stand out to you?
Monica Royal: 13:25
So, I guess one thing that stood out is people still handwrite their notes. I don’t know. Do you still handwrite notes?
Kirill Eremenko: 13:33
Yep. Yep, [crosstalk 00:13:34].
Monica Royal: 13:36
You do. Okay.
Kirill Eremenko: 13:37
I even handwrite my plans for the week. I handwrite everything as much as I can because I have this notepad here. I go through maybe one of these every two months, just because I write, or even a month sometimes. I write a lot, and it helps me… I don’t know. It’s just kind of an old fashioned soothing feeling, I guess I have from writing.
Monica Royal: 13:58
Yeah. I’ve gotten to the point where I take notes on my computer a lot faster and more efficiently than I can in handwriting. To the point where my handwriting is almost illegible.
Kirill Eremenko: 14:12
Oh, wow.
Monica Royal: 14:16
I do have an ongoing grocery list on my refrigerator. And when I go to the grocery store, it’s just so funny. I’m like, “What is this?”
Kirill Eremenko: 14:25
What did I write there?
Monica Royal: 14:28
Yeah.
Kirill Eremenko: 14:28
Gotcha. So, why did that come to mind just now?
Monica Royal: 14:32
That was one of the comments was that somebody feels… Somebody commented that they felt that handwriting resonated better than typing it out making them remember it better.
Kirill Eremenko: 14:45
Oh, okay. Yeah, I think it’s sort of synesthesia that if you have several senses involved, like with handwriting, like the motion of writing a letter. I think it triggers different parts of your brain than typing it up. And that helps you remember. It’s kind of like when you’re reading, we have this subvocalization. And it’s some people try to get rid of it to read faster. But then that impacts retention because subvocalization is another form, another sense, like, using your muscles in your mouth in addition to your eyes, which will help you memorize because that information is stored, I guess. I’m not a brain expert, but I guess it’s stored in two parts of your brain instead of one. So, you memorize it better, or something like that, but I think each to their own. Like whatever is works for you at the end of the day.
Monica Royal: 15:37
Definitely. So, that just reminds me of watching movies with subtitles. Sometimes I’ll do that even if it is in English. And I feel like I do retain the information better because I’m reading it and I’m hearing it.
Kirill Eremenko: 15:51
That’s a good point. That’s very good. But I get so distracted by the subtitles, I miss what’s going on.
Monica Royal: 15:57
It does take a little bit to get used to, I’ll admit.
Kirill Eremenko: 16:00
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay. Very interesting. Sounds like you’re quite into productivity. Let’s talk a bit about that. So, what is productivity to you?
Monica Royal: 16:11
Productivity is about being able to accomplish a task, no matter how big or small, important or not important, it’s about being able to complete a task.
Kirill Eremenko: 16:25
Okay. And why is productivity tricky?
Monica Royal: 16:29
Because people constantly multitask. They’re on their phones. They’re answering emails. They’re distracted by just the environments around them. I’m looking out my window and I see people walk by and I’m, “Oh, okay, let’s just walk them off by.”
Kirill Eremenko: 16:48
[inaudible 00:16:48]. Yeah. Okay. So I guess the key then is to simply just focus on one task at a time.
Monica Royal: 16:55
Exactly.
Kirill Eremenko: 16:56
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Okay, and how do you do that?
Monica Royal: 16:59
So, there’s a time management technique called the Pomodoro Technique. Have you ever heard of this?
Kirill Eremenko: 17:06
I have heard of it, but I’m not well versed in it, so I’d love to hear about it again.
Monica Royal: 17:11
Definitely. So, Pomodoro Technique, a pomodoro is one of those kitchen timer that’s in the shape of a tomato. I believe that’s the Italian word for tomato is pomodoro. I think so. So, what you do with that is, you don’t technically have to have the Pomodoro. Of course, you can just use a clock that’s on your cell phone. But what you want to do is set that timer for 25 minutes and only focus on getting one task completed. So that means no multitasking, turn off your phone, turn off your emails, turn off the TV, even maybe turn off the music in the background.
Kirill Eremenko: 17:55
Sorry, five minutes?
Monica Royal: 17:56
25 minutes.
Kirill Eremenko: 17:56
Oh, 25 minutes. Okay.
Monica Royal: 18:00
No five minutes. [inaudible 00:18:02] tasks.
Kirill Eremenko: 18:06
Gotcha. 25 minutes and then what?
Monica Royal: 18:09
And then you might not get the task done, the full task done within that 25 minutes, but that’s okay. What you do want to do is over time, you’ll start understanding what tasks take how long and what I do is adjust that time accordingly. Basically, the main point being do what… Have time boxes set up within your day so that you’ll be able to get tasks completed.
Kirill Eremenko: 18:41
Okay. Okay, gotcha. So, if it takes longer eventually you learn to adjust to allocate more time.
Monica Royal: 18:49
That’s what I do. Yes.
Kirill Eremenko: 18:51
And what happens after 25 minutes? I think, is it correct to take a five minute break, and then you do another 25 minutes?
Monica Royal: 18:57
Yes. Or you might need to take longer if you need to regroup or if you’re in a agile process, assess what you have completed. Did you complete things in accordance to how you planned or do you need to pivot and start something in a different manner?
Kirill Eremenko: 19:23
Okay, that’s interesting. For me, I’ve been… I’ve mentioned this in the podcast a few times before. I’ve been reading this book, Deep Work. And my approach is slightly different. I find for me 25 minutes is not enough. It’s like it just… Because it takes me a while to get into a task. I’ve realized over time that my golden amount of minutes is 90 minutes. So if I can focus on something for a one and a half hours, a bit less than that is usually just not enough. A bit more than that is usually I start to procrastinate. So, about 90 minutes for me it works like that. But I guess it’s different for everybody. So there’s many different techniques out there, and again, what works for you works best.
Monica Royal: 20:09
Can you focus for 90 full minutes? Don’t they say 45 is the human attention span before they start beating out?
Kirill Eremenko: 20:17
Maybe, but I think it takes me 45 minutes to first get into the task, and then I focus on it for 45.
Monica Royal: 20:23
Okay.
Kirill Eremenko: 20:24
So, that’s the price you pay. Another thing you mentioned in your notes was the 21/90 rule. What is that about?
Monica Royal: 20:32
Yes. So, the 21/90 rule is applied to people that are trying to create or break a habit. So it states that if you do something for 21 consecutive days, then you’re able to create a habit. If you continue that habit for an additional 90 days, then you create a life change. So, I structured my 100 days of learning in that way. I don’t know if it’s 90 full days or if it’s 90 days in addition to the 21. So, I ended up doing 111 days of learning.
Kirill Eremenko: 21:13
Nice. Just in case.
Monica Royal: 21:13
Just to really get in that life change.
Kirill Eremenko: 21:16
Nice. And how do you feel your life has changed since then?
Monica Royal: 21:19
I am a lot more confident in sharing my posts, realizing that not everyone’s going to agree with what I post. People are going to have comments that are different than my views. And I enjoy that, I learn from that. And I think other people learn from that too, and then engagement within… The discussions back and forth on that thread.
Kirill Eremenko: 21:44
That’s very admirable. So, does it often happen that somebody disagrees with your post and even tries to shoot you down? What do you do about that?
Monica Royal: 21:57
I have had a couple haters. I think that means that I’ve achieved visibility maybe. I’m doing things right maybe. I don’t know.
Kirill Eremenko: 22:09
And it doesn’t bother you? It doesn’t affect your mood?
Monica Royal: 22:14
I wouldn’t say it does just because I’m like, “Oh, why would you post that negative remark?” But then, like I said, I kind of just learn from it. I take their points of view and try to research on their points. And I think I’ve more better well rounded that way. I try not to let it negatively impact me. Like, oh, maybe I shouldn’t have posted that. Or there have been a couple times where I’m like, oh, maybe I should edit my post and decided against it because I originally posted it for a reason, and I just wanted to receive a candid feedback.
Kirill Eremenko: 22:57
Being true to yourself.
Monica Royal: 22:59
Yeah.
Kirill Eremenko: 22:59
Okay, fantastic. And speaking of learning, one of the things that you’re a fan of is, if I may say it in this way, is failing. That failing is a great way to learn, right? I think that’s a very, very true statement.
Monica Royal: 23:17
Yes. That is a very true statement.
Kirill Eremenko: 23:19
Why are you a believer in that?
Monica Royal: 23:22
Everyone’s going to fail at some point in their lives, and you just need to get used to it and get out of your comfort zone. There’s a saying out there, nothing grows in your comfort zone. So step outside of it to grow.
Kirill Eremenko: 23:38
Nice. And what are some examples of you failing recently?
Monica Royal: 23:44
So, specifically, if you’re taking a course online, say in Python, SQL or R, and you go through the course, you follow everything to the tee, you pass, you get your certificate, but what did you really learn? Some of the courses are kind of set up for you to succeed. Other courses, which are my favorite actually give you dirty data, and they kind of let you go through the data preparation process. Those are the most beneficial. So. I would say after completing those types of courses, then you take a different data set and apply what you learned to that different data set. So, you import all your libraries and then you’re reading in your CSV and you hit your first error. You just failed and you haven’t even started, but it’s okay. It really is okay. It’s an opportunity to learn why did that error happen?
Kirill Eremenko: 24:51
Okay, okay. Understood. What’s another example that recently happened to you?
Monica Royal: 24:58
In terms of failing, I’m just saying, in general, when you fail, you want to know why you failed, and to fix that failure. So, the approach would be to get on Google. Google should be your best friend. If you type in your specific error code that you’re getting or your error message, then you would likely stumble upon a website called Stack Overflow, which is where lots of people post those types of error messages or types of questions that they have. And you’re likely to find what’s going on and how to fix your situation.
Kirill Eremenko: 25:40
Okay. That’s a popular website. I’ve definitely been on it many times. You actually talk about being active on discussion boards, that that helps learning as well. And not just reading them, but contributing to them as well. Whether it’s Stack Overflow or you also mentioned before the podcast, Udemy, the question and answers sections. So, tell us a bit about that. How does that help you learn more? How does this engagement there help you learn more?
Monica Royal: 26:14
Yeah. So, if you’re on a discussion board, likely you’re thinking that it would just be for you to post your questions to the instructor, why am I having this error? What do I do? You want somebody else to answer that for you. I think if you’re being active on the discussion board and helping other people out, then you’re learning more about the topic because you’re doing your own research, trying to reproduce what the other people are experiencing it, and being able to help them troubleshoot their issues.
Kirill Eremenko: 26:55
So, you kind of like learn about issues that maybe you will come across in the future, so preventing yourself or helping yourself solve them even before you come across them?
Monica Royal: 27:08
Oh, definitely. Yeah, there’s been several times on the discussion board that I asked about, “Oh, I just got this error message.” I’m like, “Oh yeah, me too. And I googled it. And here it is.” And I’ll give them some resources. Send them some links, and that’ll help them out.
Kirill Eremenko: 27:25
Oh, fantastic. Okay. Being active on discussion boards. What else comes to mind that helps learning? Something to do with continuous learning. You’re a big fan of continuous learning. What’s another approach you have? So, we spoke about failing, we spoke about commitments as in 100 days of learning, consumer versus contributor. That’s already four methods, then active on discussion boards that’s already four methods. Do you have another method to round it up to five?
Monica Royal: 27:57
So, no matter what level you are within your career or your knowledge in a particular topic don’t be afraid to periodically revisit the fundamentals. There’s several fundamental courses that I go back just to refresh on say a statistical, what is a P value? What is the null hypothesis? Just to keep that fresh in my mind.
Kirill Eremenko: 28:28
Okay. Revisit fundamentals. That’s really cool. Definitely important to focus on your foundation. All right, so that was about learning. That was very exciting, and some useful tips. I think it about these strategies for learning, everybody’s going to have their own combination. So, for me, something else might work. Like for me, recording a video of course might work to help learn something or another technique that maybe I use is to put myself under pressure. So, I give myself only one day to discover a topic instead of a week because I know I’ll procrastinate. So everybody has their own combination.
Kirill Eremenko: 29:14
We learned about your combination, which is, again to recap, failing is a great way to learn. 100 days of learning as a challenge to continuously to develop this habit. Consumer versus contributor, not just being consumer, but also contributing on LinkedIn or including other discussion boards such as Stack Overflow, Udemy questions and answers, that’s the fourth thing. And the fifth one, you mentioned, revisiting the fundamentals, and I appreciate you sharing them because while that combination might not work for every single person, people listening to this can take away one or two and add it to their combination of strategies for learning and enhance that.
Kirill Eremenko: 29:58
For instance, something that I find exciting is this whole habit thing that you said. The 100 days of doing the same thing in a row. That’s really cool. And sometimes I do that unconsciously, like I’ve been doing stretches before going to sleep for the past, probably three months, no four months. So over 100 days, and it’s become like a second nature to me. Like I really want to do it before going to sleep. But now that you’ve said it, and I see you’re succeeding with it in that same way, I might more consciously think about it and like apply it as a technique just as you applied to be able to share on LinkedIn and not be worried about what people say.
Monica Royal: 30:38
Exactly. That’s an important point that you bring up in that you shouldn’t feel that you need to spend hours upon hours every single day. It could be a small task such as stretching or-
Kirill Eremenko: 30:53
Meditation. Another one, right?
Monica Royal: 30:55
Meditation, yes, that is a good one too.
Kirill Eremenko: 30:57
Like cooking your own dinner instead of getting take-out every time. Or another one I’m trying… I really want to develop as a habit is every morning spend one hour before I even take my phone off flight mode, reading. Just read a book for an hour every single morning. It might not work for everybody in the morning. Some people prefer reading in the evening. But for me that works. Or having a nap. Like having a nap for 20 minutes a day every single day, and that helps refresh your mind but you need to carve out time for it. You need to put in the calendar, you need to be in the right place, in the right mind space to do that. I think there’s a lot of things that are… Some are directly technical related, like data science related or learning technical skills, but some are more psychological that will help you do the technical things more efficiently, more productively, as you say.
Monica Royal: 31:55
Completely agree. I have an app on my phone that has mini exercises that I do in the day. So, it’ll be like seven to 10 minutes of a series of exercises just to get me awake in the morning so I’m not [crosstalk 00:32:11]-
Kirill Eremenko: 32:11
That’s awesome. What’s that app called?
Monica Royal: 32:14
Whoo. There’s several of them that are the same. This one, let me look it up for you is called FitOn.
Kirill Eremenko: 32:26
FitOn. I don’t have that one. FitOn, interesting. I downloaded Fitbod a few months ago. I did it one day and then I just couldn’t be bothered. It’s bad, I should do it more. But a recent one I got a cool one is called Elevate. It’s kind of like Lumosity. Lumosity is like brain training. Elevate is similar to that, and they’ve got some different kind of games in there to train your brain. I like that one.
Monica Royal: 32:53
I’m writing that down. Taking notes on my laptop.
Kirill Eremenko: 32:58
Yeah. As you mentioned. Okay, okay, interesting. So, another thing I want to ask you, this podcast, you said you’ve listened to it for quite a while. I’m just curious, how many episodes have you heard, and why do you listen to it?
Monica Royal: 33:18
I was first introduced to this podcast when I was taking one of your courses on Udemy back probably two years.
Kirill Eremenko: 33:30
Do you remember which one?
Monica Royal: 33:31
Oh, I think it was Data Science A-Z.
Kirill Eremenko: 33:33
Okay. So, then it would have been the episode with Nicolas Cepeda.
Monica Royal: 33:39
Possibly, that was a long time ago.
Kirill Eremenko: 33:44
He got a job at Disney. Okay, all right. Gotcha.
Monica Royal: 33:46
I’ve definitely heard 50 plus episodes. I think one of my favorites is with you and Jose Portilla. When you’re doing the battle of the instructors.
Kirill Eremenko: 34:00
Nice. Yeah. We recorded that one in Berlin. So, but why do you keep listening? And speaking of learning, what’s your most valuable takeaway or continuous takeaway from these sessions?
Monica Royal: 34:16
You have such a variety of different topics and different people that you have on your show that bring in their views of the world, their views of the different areas of data science. And I think it’s important to be aware of all of the different areas and just keep up to date with all the changes that are happening within data science.
Kirill Eremenko: 34:42
Okay, gotcha. Interesting. So, speaking of keeping up to date, the podcast for sure, for me personally is a way to keep up to date because we invite guests who speak as you say about very different topics, and I am able to understand, hey, what’s it going on in the world? What is this person looking towards this discussion? But what are some other ways that you as a data scientist, in fact, a data science manager, that you keep up to date with what the technical trends, the industry trends and things like that. Any other tips that you can recommend to others listening?
Monica Royal: 35:23
I love going to conferences. And when this whole COVID thing started, I was missing the conferences. But I was so excited when everyone started transitioning to the virtual type setup. And so, I’m just very excited that I can still continue being active in the community and conferences and learning new things.
Kirill Eremenko: 35:50
Okay, fantastic. And speaking of conferences, how was your experience at DataScienceGO Virtual?
Monica Royal: 35:58
Oh, my gosh, it was the best. I’m not just saying this. It was the best virtual conference I attended. I think the interaction via the chat rooms was phenomenal. There was two chat rooms. One was dedicated for exchanging contact information, mostly LinkedIn profiles. And then the others being the stage. If you were watching the people that were giving the presentations on stage, there was some side talk related to the topic that was being presented. I enjoyed the interaction, and also I think it was better than if you were there live because you couldn’t have that interaction. You can’t just start talking to your neighbor next to you while somebody is up there presenting, that’s a little bit rude. So, I think this is a really, really well organized [crosstalk 00:36:55].
Kirill Eremenko: 36:56
Awesome. And through the networking sessions, who did you manage to meet?
Monica Royal: 37:00
So, there was several people that I met. I can’t count them all. That was my favorite part actually was those networking sections. The speed networking, everybody was calling it. You only had three minutes for both of you to connect, to say your elevator speech or whatever. And then you’re just immediately cut off after the three minutes.
Kirill Eremenko: 37:26
Because you can stay in touch. You can exchange details.
Monica Royal: 37:29
Exactly. I think that was a great feature of that.
Kirill Eremenko: 37:33
Awesome, awesome, fantastic. Okay, and so speaking of staying up to date with trends, what’s the most valuable thing in terms of trends and data science that you took away from that event? There were some talks on deep learning, some talks on visualization, some talks on ethics and data science.
Monica Royal: 37:54
Michelle, how do you say her last name?
Kirill Eremenko: 37:56
Michelle Gaudette.
Monica Royal: 38:00
Gaudette. I really enjoyed Michelle Gaudette’s workshop on Tableau. She was able to give us some files, and we worked right along with her. And she gave some tips and tricks that I didn’t even know, and I use Tableau almost on a daily basis. So I really did enjoy her workshop.
Kirill Eremenko: 38:19
Wow. That’s awesome. Very cool. All right. Well, that was very exciting, and it was cool to see you participating in all the chat rooms in DataScienceGO, so that was really fun. And what else did I want to talk about? One more thing in your top skills to learn for 2020 you talk about strategic thinking. And I think this would be a good way for us to… And a good note for us to end the podcast on. Tell us a bit about strategic thinking and why is it an important skill for everybody to master?
Monica Royal: 39:02
So, strategic thinking is where you want to think of your long term goals where you want to be. I wouldn’t consider it goal setting. I would consider it a journey. So, I like to think of when you’re achieving a goal, it’s not just about obtaining a certificate or completing a specific course. It really is about the journey and learn along the way and who you can help along the way.
Kirill Eremenko: 39:38
Okay, and how often should a person think about their maybe say take on the strategic thinking? Is it like a monthly thing? Is it a annual thing? How often do you do it?
Monica Royal: 39:53
I typically do it every six months, and I have a yearly outlook and a five year outlook. The five year outlook usually is I’m just going to remain awesome. It’s a little harder for me to think of what I’m going to be doing in five years just because things constantly change, and you might not even be able to guide those changes.
Kirill Eremenko: 40:24
Okay, gotcha. And what’s your yearly outlook right now if you don’t mind sharing?
Monica Royal: 40:30
My general goals for the year just to keep up to date with data science by attending as many conferences that I can. Being active within the community on LinkedIn and just doing as much personal research that I can and making posts on LinkedIn as I do.
Kirill Eremenko: 40:50
Okay, well, wonderful. Well, you’re definitely up to speed with your yearly goal. So, that’s fantastic to see. That’s very inspiring as well. Speaking of inspiration, to finish off, what is something that you can wish to our listeners? Something like inspirational thought or something that you’d like to share with them to give them that motivational boost to pursue their careers and become the best versions of themselves.
Monica Royal: 41:26
Don’t focus so much on where you are within your journey. Even if you’re a beginner, you’ll be able to help out others that are in your level. Don’t think that you need to know everything in the world to be able to consider yourself to be successful or to consider yourself to be a data scientist. There’s always Google, remember that.
Kirill Eremenko: 41:52
Awesome. Love it. Love it. Well, Monica, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s been a pleasure and before I let you go, could you please tell us where it’s the best places to connect with you if people would like to follow your career or just get in touch?
Monica Royal: 42:07
Yeah, definitely follow me on LinkedIn. That’s where I’m the most active. I also post all of my LinkedIn posts to #nerdnourishment. So, if you want to follow that hashtag in order to see my posts.
Kirill Eremenko: 42:26
Nerd nourishment.
Monica Royal: 42:27
Nerd nourishment. Yes. I actually wrote a little blurb on what that means. Did you want to hear it?
Kirill Eremenko: 42:32
Yeah, sure.
Monica Royal: 42:33
Okay, so nerd nourishment are the thoughts that run through your head that are used as fuel that gives you the tenacity to seek and obtain the random knowledge that ultimately helps you become the winner of bar trivia.
Kirill Eremenko: 42:47
Oh, wow. Amazing. Love it. Well, there you go #nerdnourishment. And for your 100 day challenge, there’s a cool post you have on your LinkedIn. How was my 100 days of learning. So, it’s an interesting read. People can find your posts there, and you use the #100daysoflearning. Is that right?
Monica Royal: 43:09
Yes, I did.
Kirill Eremenko: 43:10
Okay, cool. In case people want to repeat your awesome feat. And then you can also see what they’re up to as well.
Monica Royal: 43:19
Yes, definitely. Please participate. It was a wonderful challenge.
Kirill Eremenko: 43:23
Fantastic. Monica, what’s a book you can recommend to our listeners?
Monica Royal: 43:28
So, my book is a little different than the books typically on your show because it’s not a data science book per se. I have it right here. It’s by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s called Blink. So, this I think really sparked my curiosity in data science. It’s The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. So it’s a combination of different experiments, but from a psychology perspective. It was one of my required readings in my psychology class in university.
Kirill Eremenko: 44:02
Oh, interesting. So, what’s the biggest takeaway from there?
Monica Royal: 44:07
So, they had a lot of experiments, as I mentioned, but it was from a human psychology perspective. So one of those challenges being the blind Pepsi taste challenge in the 1980s, if you remember that one.
Kirill Eremenko: 44:22
I’ve heard of it.
Monica Royal: 44:25
Okay. So it just sparked my interest in data science, I think because in my head I was like, “Oh, how did they measure that experience? How did they know statistically speaking how the Pepsi won?” But I think this book could easily be turned into a more traditional data science book.
Kirill Eremenko: 44:44
Gotcha.
Monica Royal: 44:45
So, it is interesting if you’re into psychology.
Kirill Eremenko: 44:49
Okay. Blink by whom?
Monica Royal: 44:52
Malcolm Gladwell.
Kirill Eremenko: 44:53
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Awesome. Thank you very much. Awesome. Monica, thank you for coming on the show. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you, and thanks for sharing your ideas about learning and how you learn. I’m sure it’s going to be helpful to others.
Monica Royal: 45:09
Thank you so much, again, for having me on the show. It was a pleasure.
Kirill Eremenko: 45:17
So, there you go, everybody. Thank you so much for being part of this conversation. Hope you got some valuable takeaways. Hope you enjoyed it. And most importantly, I hope you got some inspiration. I found it really inspiring to see what Monica did in her 100 day learning challenge, and how she’s been able to participate in the data science community, not just as a consumer, which is totally fine as well, but also as a contributor. As somebody who gives back, who inspires people, who sparks conversations, who shares ideas. I think that is very valuable for the community as a whole. So, if you’re sitting on the fence about it then take example from Monica’s journey and get involved as well.
Kirill Eremenko: 46:04
As always, you can get the show notes for this episode at www.superdatascience.com/399. That’s www.superdatascience.com/399. There you’ll be able to find the transcript for this episode, any materials we mentioned on the show. And of course, a URL to Monica’s LinkedIn where you can connect with her. And one final thing, Monica in our conversation mentioned DataScienceGO Virtual, which is our virtual conference. We hosted that one in June this year. Well, we are hosting a second one. It is happening in October this year, and you can get your ticket at datasciencego.com/virtual. It’s absolutely free. There’s no cost attached to it whatsoever. We want to help the community get together, network, hear from amazing speakers, and for all of us to grow together. So head on over to datasciencego.com/virtual, and apply for your ticket today. And on that note, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I look forward to seeing you back here next time. Until then, happy analyzing.
