A final reflection
This post addresses the following prompts:
What things are you going to do differently in practice now that you’ve had this course?
Data science (and statistics) is a huge field. What do you hope to do in relation to data science (and statistics) in your future career? What aspects/areas do you want to learn more about?
Having used R successfully in several courses prior to this one, I honestly wasn’t sure how much I would gain from this course when I enrolled, but felt that it was immensely important to build a more solid foundation. Upon reflection, it is hard to believe that I felt like my knowledge of R was in fact sufficient before! While I was able to create models, compare them, produce summary statistics, etc., I had entirely missed out on how to create useful graphics and plots, how to create apps, how to manipulate data sets, and even the basics of how to format text in order to make a report look professional. Overall, I have found this course to be immensely useful and am already reaping the benefits of my newfound knowledge in other coursework.
I have LOVED learning more about R this semester and absolutely plan on extending my skills after the course concludes. I came into this degree program with zero programming experience and could not have been more overwhelmed the first time I was expected to use it in a course. However, I truly feel like I have the hang of it and am eager to practice and learn more. While I am still unsure what specific career path awaits me, I would now add a career as a data engineer to the list of possibilities after having taken this course, which is not something I had even considered before. I know that this would require a more robust skill set; however, I feel like I now have the foundation that I was seeking and can build from it much more easily than before.