Cohort Stories: Meet Selam
vol. 5, no. 79 — guest post by Selam Bekele
I was born and raised in Ethiopia. The education system in Ethiopia always makes one strive to be a good student in all subjects rather than investing more on your inclinations. Even though the education system did not help me and my family pick my interests early and build on it, it made me a good student. I completed high school and was assigned to one of the science and technology universities in Ethiopia where I explored the opportunities and potential with regards to the computer and its various applications. While taking the computer courses, I tended to be more inclined to the application of the computer and then completed my first degree in Geoinformatics, also referred as Geographic Information Science(GIS).
I felt the computer application could help solve various problems that we face every day and provide relevant information to people; especially companies or politicians who decide on our everyday interactions.
I then joined one of the well-known forestry colleges in Ethiopia as an assistant instructor, where I acquired more knowledge about GIS applications and provided various courses and short-term trainings to students and trainees coming from the different sectors of the country. In this process, I learned that more knowledge about data science is important to give meanings and properly utilize the geographic information system outputs.
Coming to the United States, I was waiting for some time to find opportunities to advance my career. The opportunity that I got in Bunker Hill Community Community College (BHCC) helped me fill in the data management and science gaps that I observed while I was working in Ethiopia, and then learn the basics of data analytics. Among the many projects that I have worked in due course, “Crime Analysis on United States using R” has helped me further understand the application of data analytics to solve problems and made me eager to learn more about data analytics and its applications.
I am excited to join Hack.Diversity. It provides me an opportunity to further explore and apply the data analytics knowledge that I acquired at various levels and learn more. I believe the experiences and the guidance I am going to get from Hack.Diversity will make me a better data scientist.
