Last summer I worked with a Game of thrones dataset for a visualization project. I was planning to revisit that dataset to unravel some more mysteries, when it occurred to me that I should look for something similar with my current favorite – The Office.
I found this wonderful dataset of lines from the show. It has dimensions like Speaker and Seasons making it a tempting dataset for a Tableau exercise. The first thing that came to mind was to get into Michael’s business – That’s What She Said!
Nothing surprising here – Michael obviously stands out! I was also interested in looking at the lines from a sentiment analysis point of view. It turns out that not many people laugh in the show (at least that’s what the script says). An analysis of the lines revealed some unusual observations –
Angela talks more than Oscar, and Toby talks more than Stanley
Dwight laughs more than Pam, and Toby more than Oscar
Looking at both these dashboards together, you can see that –
Season 4 has the maximum number of “That’s what she said”s but the lowest lines with characters laughing.
You can find the dashboard on my github page. I wanted to explore this further but I came across this amazing Tableau Public workbook, and this brilliant article where the author goes into data mining with R and word frequencies and character correlations. These are great inspirations for me to explore some other datasets and come up with interesting insights and dashboards.
I have been maintaining a countdown to graduation on a white board in my room. I started 616 days ago. This board has witnessed my journey more closely than anyone or anything else. It has seen the hundreds of activities I planned. It knows the ones that I checked off with a sense of pride and accomplishment. It has also seen the ones I erased after getting disheartened by unsuccessful attempts. It has observed the extent of my dreams and laughed at the ridiculousness of some of them. Sometimes, it has even served as a canvas for the artistic endeavors of my creative friends. But more than anything, it has been my companion that has kept me grounded and aligned. In many ways, this board is the Wilson to my Chuck Noland. This is what the board reads today.
What an incredible two years, these have been! There is no way I can find the words to describe exactly how I feel. So many new experiences, so many new friends, so many memories worth cherishing! I have tried to blog about it in bits and pieces but there’s so much more to these two years than what I have penned down. I desperately wanted to become a student again after almost 10 years in the work force. And my life at UTD turned out to be everything I had expected and more! It’s going to be difficult to say goodbye.
I completed my engineering in 2008. The world got hit by a recession. I am completing my Master’s degree in 2020. We are in the midst of a pandemic. Looks like I pick the worst years to graduate. My flatmate jokes that next time I plan to study again, I should inform him in advance so that he can be prepared! But may be there is a lesson here. Everything that happened since 2008 got me where I am today. And you know what? I did alright. I am still here – studying, working, enjoying myself, making new friends, looking forward to the next chapter. This tells me that despite everything that’s been happening, I will be okay. And so will each one of you!
The first picture I took of UTD – August 2018
That brings me to the man who reinstated my faith in myself and the process. Dr. Ganesh Janakiraman is a man of few words. It’s a shame that I met him so late in my Master’s journey. His Operations Management class is one of the most engaging, exciting, and productive classes I have taken not just at UTD, but in my life. But that’s not the only reason I am grateful to this brilliant professor. It’s because of his kindness as a human being. I met him outside of class for the first time in his office to discuss the results of a test. Ever since the day we had that chat, Dr. Janakiraman has been an encouraging voice and a driving force. In the past few months, when times have become tough and it’s so easy for me to doubt myself and get boggled by the uncertainty of what the future holds, his words have inspired me to stay strong. Every time I have a conversation (mostly email) with Dr. Janakiraman, there’s this voice inside me that goes – YOU GOT THIS. Like he says – “The process might be slow but that only means we go ahead with more energy.”
Dear Dr. Janakiraman, if you’re reading this – Your kind and genuine efforts to help me out during this phase have moved me. All your teachings and advice will stay with me forever, and play a big role in whatever becomes of me.
And on that note, it’s time to bring this 10-article series to a close with a quote by another profound man. The great Indian actor Irrfan Khan left us a few days ago. Before he did, he left this pearl of wisdom for his son and I think it applies to each one of us, especially now more than ever –
“Learn to surrender to the dance of uncertainty and trust your faith in the universe.”
This is the tenth and final article of my #10DaysToGraduate series where I share 10 key lessons from my Master’s degree in the form of a countdown to May 8 (today), my graduation date. Time to start over.
One of the advantages of the Information Technology and Management program at The University of Texas at Dallas is that it has the perfect curriculum design for learning the fundamentals of many pillars of IT. Of course, it is important to pick one focus and develop your skills in it. But with every passing day, the tech industry is evolving in a way where cross-functions and integrations are the norm. You need to be able to wear many hats. So, it makes sense to explore topics which might not really be your focus, but still fall in the technology umbrella. This is why, I was happy with my decision of taking IT Security and IT Audit and Risk Management, two subjects that enhanced my basic knowledge of some of the most promising and vital aspects of Information Technology.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
My cyber security class, led by the profound Prof. Nate Howe, was eye-opening as it got me well-versed with so many IT risk and security aspects. I understood the entire structure of IT security functions in an organization with a sneak peek into responsibilities of the Chief Information Security Officer. The class took me to interesting avenues like the CIA objective, Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery, ransomware and the anatomy of an attack, TCP/IP basics, secure – SDLCs and IT Control Frameworks. The class ended on a high note with guest speakers and industry professionals coming in to give demos of Kali Linux and penetration testing. It sure got me excited about exploring Kali Linux more, in the future.
The IT Audit and Risk Management class was a lot of fun, despite being so full of theory. This was because of the cool Prof. Joseph Mauriello, who always kept us engaged with his sense of humor and class-end quizzes. This class was the reason I became a member of the student chapter of ISACA – a club that had the best meet-ups and the most delicious food. In Prof. Mauriello’s class, I learnt the fundamentals of auditing IT governance controls, operating system and network controls, types of DOS attacks, and Risks associated with different IT functions and ERP systems. It is thanks to this class, that I know about the ACL software, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Fraud triangle.
The IT Audit group
While these subjects were not in line with my analytics focus, taking them was absolutely worth it as they served as essentials training of fundamental IT concepts. I also made some really cool friends (Hi Micah, Marie, Jeyaraj, Chloe, Diksha!) whom I enjoyed spending classwork and project time with. And that brings us to the professor, whom I have thanked several times but my series cannot be complete without him. I call him Master Yoda for without his guidance, I wouldn’t have been able to walk even two steps in this long path. I’m talking about the Program Director of MS Business Analytics at UTD, Dr. Bill Hefley.
Team Travelytics with Dr. Hefley
You might think that it is weird for me to be talking about Dr. Hefley in a post describing my experience in subjects that do not fall under his Business Analytics domain. But that is precisely why Dr. Hefley is an extremely special teacher to me. I had joined UTD as a MS BA student and had moved to ITM after my first semester as it aligned better with my experience and goals. Despite this, Dr. Hefley has continued to be my guardian angel. As faculty advisor for Travelytics, he has made sure everyone in our team has someone to go to. To me personally, he has been someone I can always write to (and I hope it continues to be that way) or walk up to. Every interaction with him has been warm and comforting. With his fun one-liners and cheerful yet informative emails, he is someone who is always there to cheer me up and keep me going. So, at the risk of boring you with my gratitude one more time, Dr. Hefley – THANK YOU.
This is the ninth post of my #10DaysToGraduate series where I share 10 key lessons from my Master’s degree in the form of a countdown to May 8, my graduation date.
