What I Learned From Completing the MIT xPro Data Science Course: Part 1
The personal insights, about taking up a challenge and a new learning project
Part 1: What have I learned about taking up a challenge and a new learning project?
About lifelong learning
As pointed out in a recent WSJ bestselling book, Ultralearning, “Rapidly changing fields … mean that professionals need to constantly learn new skills and abilities to stay relevant”, and “Your deepest moments of happiness don’t come from doing easy things; they come from realising your potential and overcoming your own limiting beliefs about yourself”. Very true.
About being a woman
I first heard about this course 2 years ago, it took me a long time to feel ready. It reminds me of things said about women. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, described it, in her book Lean In, that women often hesitate at opportunities because they are “not sure (they’d) be good at that”, that they’ve “never done anything like that before”, or that there is still “a lot to learn in (their) current role”, which she “rarely, if ever, heard … from men”.
Now in hindsight, it is true, this same course result was possible for me 2 years ago if I chose it. So, do women tend to underestimate themselves? I do not know. I am not sure if it is the right question.
Perhaps even more ridiculously, now that I have the result, I would in addition go through the experience of some hang up around sharing this story and this result, under the doubt “Is this narcissistic? Would people think I am bragging? Am I not being modest? Would a guy ever worry about those?”
I have learned over time, my intention is up to me. What’s real is enduring, what’s enduring is not to be created or diminished by the temporary. Life supports and celebrates life. And our values and true intentions always shine through over time. Beyond that, not up to me to control.
About the result
At some point during the course, I decided 100/100 was possible, so 99/100 became acceptable. And this is truly without any patronising. There are benefits in aiming higher, because it takes you further, as Sara Blakely would say in her MasterClass.
About the effort
There was just over 12 hours of video content. So at last count, the work I put in was at a factor of 10. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the popular science communicator in MasterClass.com mentioned, that this was the amount of work he put in too. So it does work.
About taking a challenge
The feeling at the end the course? When I closed the computer, my mind felt blank! As if I couldn’t remember. Hehehe… But it is true that deep down it now feels profoundly different. It is transformational. I wanted to do this because it was a challenge, I wanted to know I could do it. And now I do =) It is a happiness that reminds me of the Will Smith movie, The Pursuit of Happyness.
More than any jargon I may now know to throw, the difference this has made is a self knowledge that I now have open to me a bigger world, that I have the concepts, tools, skills, and above all the confidence to learn harder and more important things, and be able to listen and speak with my own mind.
So, challenges are necessary, worthwhile, and fulfilling.
What would I do differently next time?
I disappeared from the face of the earth and abandoned my dance and yoga life for a time.
The more I learn about machines and AI, the more I realise it is important for me to keep my dancing and yoga, because these are equally and fundamentally human too.
Take the time to walk away from the screen. So much humanity to be discovered outside the screen and the clusters.
The series
This is the first of a 3-part series. For the summary post, and the other two parts, please find their links below.
- Summary post,
- Part 2: The professional insights, on data science and machine learning; and
- Part 3: The modern way of learning, on virtual learning platforms, comparing MIT xPro vs popular alternatives like Udemy.
