In my last post, I mentioned how 2013 has been a phenomenal year for me. I can’t wait to continue the momentum in 2014. The year looks full of promises, a lot of learnings and value creation.
So what are my plans for 2014?
I plan to take a few resolutions and then track myself against them. I think that doing so guides and anchors my growth as a person. Last year, I completed 3 out of 4 resolutions I took. I am hoping to hit 100% achievement this year.
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Guidelines:[/stextbox]
While the web is full of suggestions on how to and how not to make resolutions, I will just mention the guidelines I follow to create my resolutions:
- I usually keep only 3 – 4 resolutions in a year. Any more than that and there is a huge risk of not achieving majority of them (Yes, there have been years when I wanted to achieve more than 10 of them!).
- The intention is to have measurable and objective resolution. So each resolution can be handed to a third person who can judge me on them at the end of year and tell me my success rate.
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Resolutions:[/stextbox]
So here are the resolutions I have kept for myself for 2014:
- More frequent usage of R and Python in my analytical endeavors. I rely heavily on SAS and excel for the work I do. While I have learnt R & Python and used R sparingly, I am still some steps away from executing entire project on both these languages. By end of year, I plan to deliver at least 1 project each on R and Python independently.
- Continue contributing actively in creating a community of analysts (in India): While the journey of Analytics Vidhya started last year, I plan to continue and increase the ways this platform becomes useful for development of a analyst community (specifically in India).
So, how would I measure this? The outputs I will measure are obviously readership and audience engagement on Analytics Vidhya. The inputs I will track myself against are number of posts, number of conferences attended / presented.
- Re-start reading: I used to religiously read for ~30 minutes before hitting bed every day. However, this changed after we were blessed with Jenika (my daughter). My mid-night baby sitting and blog engagement have left little room for reading at night. I’ll re-start reading for an hour at least 2 days in a week.
- 5 kg weight loss: This is the only un-ticked resolution from last year. I am hoping to reduce some belly fat I have accumulated over last few years. My family and friends will tell you that I write this every year and the strike rate has been low. I am hoping to change it this year.
So, here is my reminder sheet for rest of the year:
That’s it! I’ll keep you posted on how I track against these during the year and I am hoping to hit 100% achievement on each of these.
What are your resolutions for the year? How do you plan to grow as a professional? If you have set aside resolutions, please feel free to post them and we can track ourselves collectively. If not, would you want to join?
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Kunal is a post graduate from IIT Bombay in Aerospace Engineering. He has spent more than 10 years in field of Data Science. His work experience ranges from mature markets like UK to a developing market like India. During this period he has lead teams of various sizes and has worked on various tools like SAS, SPSS, Qlikview, R, Python and Matlab.
Great resolutions!! Have started compiling information on R - http://r.ramganalytics.com/r/ You does not seem (from photo) to have any issue with weight.. :) Thanks Ram www.ramganalytics.com
Hi Ram, Thanks for the link on resources on R. The photo was before the weight gain ;) Regards, Kunal
Excellent Kunal''''''''''
Cheers New Year 2014 ! Here are my resolutions to go with, 1) Usage of Hadoop and R in Big Data Analytics project 2) Get Certified, in Industry Big Data Analytics 3) Engage with the Open source Community ( Big Data Analytics area) 4) Once in a week spend quality time with family and my angel "Anuja Kumar" "Analytics Vidhya" is awesome resource for both beginners and experienced. Hats Off Team. Regards, Kumar Chinnakali
Good resolutions Kumar Chinnakali. Lets track ourselves against how we are doing regularly. Where do you plan to get the certification from? Kunal
Hey kunal I can you give me a link to learn predictive modelling which should be self explanatory. I want to learn it eagerly. I am not from statistics back ground. So its better if you give me the link using SAS. I am ok with it.
Hello Seniors, This is Sourav. I am very new to analytics field. I want to learn predictive modelling. So for that reason I want a link which will teach me that. As I am not from statistics background so please send me a link which a layman can understand but not very tough.
Hi Kunal, we will need a predictive model on resolution tracking . I wonder if time series or log. regression will be of use . Or both . Or is Taleb right on life is mostly of Outliers difficult to predict. Rgds. keep up the good work. Chetan
Hi Chetan, There will be a challenge with limited data points as well :) Kunal
good, write up. thanks for this knowledge.