Living with Data

[livingwithdata]

Sovente ho deluso me stesso prima che gli altri deludessero me

[livingwithdata]

Key#3

I read a quote from a boxer which opened my eyes. It was “People misinterpret my commitment to surpass myself for an attempt to demonstrate I’m better than them”. I wish I picked this 4 or 5 years ago ;P

[livingwithdata]

Key#2

I picked this from a Russian girl “Si tu destino no te hace reir, entonces no entendiste la broma”.

[livingwithdata]

Key#1

During my boxing years I met A. . A. is a guy from southern Italy who at some point in his life had troubles with heavy drugs. Boxing was an important part of his detox journey and when we met he was already practicing since 3 years. We trained together and became friends. One day he told me “You cannot avoid pain, but you can avoid suffering”.

[livingwithdata]

Don`t call it a comeback

FAST-FORWARD OF 4.5 YEARS. In short, since last post I left university, got a wonderful job in gaming and moved to Barcelona, lived there for 3.5 years, during this time I pick up boxing, met new interesting people, eventually I quit my wonderful job, I took another job in a fashion world leading company because of love (maybe), things crashed there, got health problems which now I’m trying to solve from Italy where I’m in a thing that potentially can generate a lot of money. In this new setting, I have also time to work on interesting side projects. I want to resume journaling about all these things about the last 4 years, my present, and my future.

[livingwithdata]

The job search is not going well. Digsci did not get back to me and I am very sad for this. I had an interview with WF but only more experienced candidates moved to the second round. I sent other semi-random applications without success. I start to feel pain, I need help, I am losing my enthusiasm.

[livingwithdata]

After having declined my first job offer (sic!) I am now hitting the ground again for more exciting and remunerative positions. Three applications are already on their ways: digsci, WF and compfut. I am planning to send some more during this week. I really hope to get an interview for digsci and that the job is well paid.

This week and the next are going to be tough. I am preparing the ML workshop and working for a PhD submission. Both are due around the 20th. Let’s see what happens.

[livingwithdata]

Project us has been cancelled. What a waste of time.

I have declined the part-time job offer since we did not agree on my job priorities. Soon I will apply for a full time position as data scientist.

[livingwithdata]

The seminar was terrible and largely useless. I received a couple of constructive comments but all the remaining ones came from people who had not read the paper.

I would like to get a job, a well paid one. I would like to have enough money to really enjoy myself. I think I have gradually switched to the student mentality, this is not for me, I have gray hair and I am sick of this PhD thing. As I am supposed to write another lit rev I am realizing I do not give a shit about all of this. This is too distant from my plans.

I am bargaining over the title of the part-time job. Probably this is putting me in a bad position. I have the feeling that they want to withdrawal the offer. At the end of the day it would not be that terrible since the pay is awful. It’s incredible, I think that at this moment the biggest weakness for my job applications are my references. This sounds stupid though. If you want something, you gotta reach out and grab it.

Tomorrow I will know if I can move to the interview for project US.

[livingwithdata]

Updates:

The first lit rev was not that bad after all. The meeting was ok but I have to do another literature review. February 8th I will present the data project at the uni. I am struggling with the final application but it looks good. I am curious to see the reactions. February 20th is my turn at the phdseminar. I need to sit and write.

Immediately after the interview for the consultant position I realized how badly I wanted that job. I did not get it. Instead I received an offer for the part time one. I am now waiting for the HR call, I am planning to bargain my job title.

I have finalized the application for project US. NOW I feel super thrilled about it. I can’t believe I have submitted it. Fellows moving to interviews will be notified on February 10th.

[livingwithdata]

Updates:

This weekend I will finalize the application for project US. I managed to get references from U and N. For some reason I am not thrilled, and BTW I am sick of asking for references though.

Still no news about money for the ML workshop. I think they want me to give it for free. I will, but I will also spit on their face at the first occasion.

I am not coding. Like at all. I am writing a lit rev which is terrible and useless instead. I have in mind how to rewrite it in order to make it more useful (maybe). Suicidal supervisory meeting later this week. I hate it here.

I have applied for two jobs, a part time and a full time one. This week I have the informal interview for the full time statistical consultant position. I am curious to see how far I can get with this kind of application. On the 20th I have the interview for the part time. For this one I am curious to hear what the job is about.

I feel like I my magic is sleeping, I need to do so something.

[livingwithdata]

Updates:

The workshop on ML has been confirmed. I am thrilled but I still have to get info about money.

Got the hpcp and python ML training. Good for project US.

Research looks on the right path: I have a structure in place and I have good research ideas already discussed with my supervisors. Now the boring part is about reading the literature, theory and all the fuss. I do not like the department and I am self-censoring a lot. However the research seems promising so let’s see how far I can go.

On January I will start to look for a part time job as statistician or the likes. I want to try to do the PhD while working in the real world. Otherwise I am afraid that my stats degree will become less and less valuable on the market. I am also wondering how much does a motorbike cost...

[livingwithdata]

Updates:

I attended my first RDojo and it was great in the sense that I realized that 1) My coding skills are not even decent 2) In London there are people who are very good in what they do. I must defeat my laziness and leverage this opportunity to improve myself. RDojo are good.

Hopefully I will run a workshop on predictive modelling during the spring.

The uni is paying for my training in ML with python. This should help me with project us.

I got a place for training in hpcp at the uni. Great.

I am still setting up my research but I have found an interesting stream of reading material and probably I have a couple of feasible and interesting ideas. I am stuck with the topics identification/corpus refinement for U.N. project.

I am keeping an eye on Amnesty but I am still searching for a partner.

[livingwithdata]

I don’t like the kindergarten

[livingwithdata]

I skipped the hackathon to attend introductory lectures and to have a useless departmental meeting. Plus I did not pay any attention to the data they send (just enough to realize that it was rubbish). I am an asshole. I should take more seriously the things that end up sticked on my wall.

[livingwithdata]

JB does not reply. I removed the RC from my wall for now. I would be better off searching for something else. I should start again from the uni, but where?

[livingwithdata]

There is the chance for me to hold a workshop about prediction during the spring. This is a great incentive to start to work hard in the uni world and. This invited workshop would look great on my application for project US.