About Me — Kasia

How I found my passion for Data Analytics amidst countless house moves and boring HR jobs

Hello! That’s the contemporary me!

Hi all, I’m Kasia (pronounced ‘cash-a’ but unfortunately, the name in itself didn’t turn out to be a magnet for cash!) — if you’ve ever met any girl from Poland you know my name unforgivably gives away my origin. It’s not even my actual legal name but I’m not here to torture you with the intricacies of the Polish language — let’s see how it goes though and perhaps we’ll get to that later!

I honestly find talking about myself a little disconcerting, but we’re here to do just that, right? :)

Alright then, here’s my story!

Beginnings

I was born in the north of (still communist, at the time) Poland. Went to school, had good grades, wasn’t causing any trouble. Just your average boring kid. When I was ten, I moved with my parents to the south of the country and finally, at the age of 13, to Warsaw where we’ve lived ever since.

My childhood was filled with all sorts of activities. I danced, played the piano, painted, did horse riding and learned Spanish and French. A true embodiment of Renaissance, if you like. I guess my parents wanted to make sure I had all the opportunities they didn’t have — or perhaps they were hoping to discover a prodigious talent, which unfortunately did not happen (always manage your expectations, guys!). I did, however, turn out to have a knack for foreign languages which allowed me to not only understand all the Reggaeton songs before they even became popular (poetry it is not!) but also helped me quite a bit further down the line.

I guess the early nomadic lifestyle has had an impact on me as I just don’t tend to stay in one place for long. It’s against my nature. After a while I just get bored and feel like I’m suffocating. And need to move on.

So when I was 18, I went to England to study Psychology (because, why not?). And here’s how it went (spoiler alert: so-so).

Confusion — when it’s summer in Brazil but winter in Europe

Uni And Life Before Switzerland

I spent a total of four years living and studying in the UK. I worked hard but well, it’s the UK, so I also played pretty hard! You may think I was ambitious and had great plans for future and that’s why I went to study in the UK?

Sorry to disappoint but no and no.

I went to the UK because I happened to have passed something called International Baccalaureat, without fully realising the consequences (yup, I can be adventurous that way!). So it turned out one pretty significant consequence was that this diploma was too modern for the back-then Polish educational system. I actually recall one prominent university requiring 48 points from the exam — in which you could score a max of 45. Sadly, I didn’t even get the mere 45 so I simply didn’t have a choice! I had to look for education elsewhere.

And why Psychology? I think it just seemed interesting (which it really turned out to be!) and I was feeling very lost at the time and didn’t understand what the world was all about. I don’t regret it but I probably would’ve chosen something different now.

Here I could share some strong opinions about the state of Education in general but those golden thoughts will find their way out a little later.

I actually ended up also getting a masters degree from the famous London School of Economics but it didn’t shelter me from the ravaging world financial crisis. I very quickly realised two things:

→ Employers care about your experience and real skills — not shiny diplomas

→ You CANNOT survive in London on an unpaid internship.

I honestly think unpaid internships are such a scam, they should be made illegal. I am a hard worker but I was never naive enough to serve coffees for free — so I decided to come back home.

The 2010s was a funny time. Poland was developing really fast and I remember it was so easy to get a job anywhere. I decided I wanted to build a career in HR. So I found a job, then another one and another and so it went for a few years.

Along the way, I also happened to find my husband and best friend in one (only I didn’t know we’d end up married until much later!).

We travelled a bit, lived in a few places until one day he was offered a job in Switzerland.

Switzerland

So I moved to Romandie, the French part of Switzerland. The heaven on earth. The promised land. The country where cows are transported back home by helicopters. And it was horrible.

I couldn’t find a job for months and was discriminated against openly. It was not nice, trust me. Finally, I broke, I said I wouldn’t take it any more. Something had to give. I took up a contract role in Berlin, just for a year, to see how it goes.

I was happy because I had a job but I realised I was no longer interested in HR. I lost faith in traditional HR. It was fake and useless and boring, and as much as I loved supporting people, I no longer could do it the way I had up until then. That’s when I started looking for options. I got creative. I reached out to my network and finally, I knew it: HR needs data → I’m gonna learn how to analyze data!

From there, things went really fast. I had a goal and I was motivated. I was learning everything I could. And I realised I really loved it. After a few months, I started interviewing for HR Data Analyst roles — and I got one. It happened to be in Warsaw, at Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The job at Goldman Sachs was at the end of the day only one of many jobs I’ve held. I decided to allocate a separate section to it for three reasons though:

1. I had a blast and learnt so much. I had the best team and worked with the smartest people. I’m afraid things like that happen only once. It was tough often times, but it was great.
2. That time coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the worst of times, but it was also the best of times. I was stuck in Switzerland for months, didn’t have to travel as much and could spend time with my husband. I also discovered I loved remote wokring ❤
3. This job has finally led me to land a job in Switzerland. Not how I imagined it — we were based in the French part of the country and the job was in Zurich, a place I’d visited once only and the language of which I didn’t know. But we decided to take the leap: next stop — Zurich!

Zurich

I’ve lived here for over three years now but still often feel like a stranger. I’ve had better and worse experiences but overall am happy with where I am. People in Zurich are an absolute delight and whatever good you’ve heard about the Swiss public transport is 100% true. And it’s stunningly beautiful, no denying that.

Proof I’ve been on a hike! (Being in nature is not exactly my cup of tea)

So now you know all about me. If you got this far, you probably also don’t believe what I said about not being comfortable talking about myself ;) (I don’t blame you, I’ve written MANY words here!)

It’s been now over six years since I made the swich from HR to Data. Best decision ever. As I’ve been growing older and reflecting on my life and corporate realities around me, I’ve re-discovered my passion for writing and decided to combine it with my passion for data.

Topics I am interested in and am planning to write about are:

• career change
• lifelong learning
• HR analytics
• data & data visualisation
• Tableau
• personal growth

I hope to ‘read you around’! :)