Naomi Mauss’ Midpoint Reflection
My Goals
One of my goals was to learn about the data science industry and the role I could hold in the industry. In DSPG, I have learned about the different jobs people have in mapping cities, from creating and maintaining zoning codes to making GIS maps to organizing census data. During one of the presentations regarding how to collect and use data from a city, I learned about a program where government employees can gain further education while working for the government. I am intrigued by these opportunities, as well as other opportunities to work in data science about which I have not yet learned.
In terms of technical skills, I have learned more about visualizing data with ggplot and GIS mapping. I am currently working on writing code to web scrape JSON data from a realty website called RedFin. Finally, I have learned more about cleaning data so that it represents information in both a digestible and accurate manner.
One example of the work I’ve done is plotting vacant housing units in Iowa
Plotting vacant housing units
First, I plotted vacant housing data for all 330 target places we want to track in Iowa.
I then calculated the acceptable Margin of Error (MOE) for vacant housing units, and plotted those places.
Given that there was extremely limited data on vacant housing units by place with an acceptable MOE, I then found the county data on vacant housing units with an acceptable MOE. This time, there were only three counties with unacceptable MOEs.
Looking back at earlier goals
I’ve been able to learn more about R and Python. However, I’m also spending time learning about zoning legislation and how zoning code affects many different facets of life. I have a new appreciation for the significance of zoning. I hope to keep improving upon the skills I’m currently learning.
I don’t think I’m meeting all the goals I had at the beginning of the program, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I’m doing much more productive things than I thought I would be able to acheive, and I’m learning more about a wider variety of topics. Specifically, I know much more about zoning and data collection than I had before, and I’m confident that’s knowledge I’ll be able to use later in my career.
What have you been learning so far?
One of my goals was to learn about the data science industry and the role I could hold in the industry. In DSPG, I have learned about the different jobs people have in mapping cities, from creating and maintaining zoning codes to making GIS maps to organizing census data. During one of the presentations regarding how to collect and use data from a city, I learned about a program where government employees can gain further education while working for the government. I am intrigued by these opportunities, as well as other opportunities to work in data science about which I have not yet learned.
In terms of technical skills, I have learned more about visualizing data with ggplot and GIS mapping. I am currently working on writing code to web scrape JSON data from a realtor website called RedFin. Finally, I have learned more about cleaning data so that it represents information in both a digestible and accurate manner.
Working with my team
I am so grateful to be working with the other talented people on the DSPG team. They have helped me grow and learn as we share the things we know about data science and share our knowledge. Thank you Tabassum, Blake, and Joe for working with me this summer!