The picture below was taken in October 2015, just hours after I got that “In Spite of…” tattoo, which had been a sort of motto of mine for a number of years prior to that.
Even though you can not see my whole face, I think it is perhaps one of the best photographic records of who I am. I don’t remember exactly when I came up with that motto, but I know it was something I kept saying when I was reflecting some tough times I had gone through.
But, if you’ve been on this site or seen my instagram page, then you’ve probably seen this picture already. So, why am I mentioning it now?
I was updating my CV/resume earlier and thinking about recent struggles to find a remote data analytics job, or something similar. I was reading the something I had written about what I believed I brought to the table if someone was to employ me. On the one hand, I was wondering whether it might come across as boastful, but then I thought that anything less could/would be selling myself short. Perhaps it depends on who is reading it.
In any case, I ‘go big’ because I don’t want to ‘go home’ (to South Africa). What do I have to lose? So, I’m going to paste it here and I’ve used it to update my ‘About’ section on my LinkedIn profile. If you think it’s boastful, so be it. But, I can back up everything I’m saying.
What do I bring to the table? In short, I am a motivated and adaptable individual, as well as a highly educated polymath, with excellent organisational, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. Let me explain.
First, I hold multiple qualifications across numerous disciplines, including sociology, theology, and accounting. Second, I have years of research and data analysis experience. This includes conceptualising and successfully completing qualitative interviews and data analysis for a master’s dissertation. Later, I also completed a doctoral project that combined multiple analytical methods (learned specifically for that project), from two different disciplines, as well as utilising a range of data visualisation methods. Over the years I have also worked in a variety of world-renowned academic and/or research institutions with esteemed educators and researchers.
Third, I remain passionate about life-long learning, including challenging myself to learn new practical skills. Consequently, I completed an online short course in data analytics, not only to give myself a better chance at finding employment in data analytics, but also because I am curious by nature and enjoy problem solving. I continue to practice those skills and find ways to do things with these new skills that I had only previously done in Excel or SPSS. I have also started learning Python.
Finally, my travels (including having lived in Africa, Europe, South America, and Asia) and varied employment have given me a breadth of life experience and a perspective that has been invaluable in numerous roles.
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