/ Recent content on Pennydropper - Lightbulb moments in Data Science Hugo -- gohugo.io en_us Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/03/09/retrospective-data-visualisation-learning-through-critique/ Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /2019/03/09/retrospective-data-visualisation-learning-through-critique/ Introduction I’m not sure if the March 7 Data Science Melbourne Meetup’s last-minute speaker change classes as serendipity but the 3 replacement speakers presented highly commendable presentations at the last minute. It’s unfortunate that the planned presenter, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic from the US and author of Storytelling with Data, was unable to present at the Meetup due to ill health. I’m told that Cole is an inspiring speaker and well worth seeing if possible. /2018/09/30/melbourne-data-science-conference-2018/ Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/09/30/melbourne-data-science-conference-2018/ The 2018 Melbourne Data Science Conference (MeDaScIn Conference) featured data science career advice from 6 presenters. The conference, held on Wednesday 26 September 2018, was staged at the NAB Arena in Docklands. Overall, the conference presented some good common sense career advice though there was little “new” material. This blog post shows notes taken during the presentations. Scott Wilson: How to Engage Executives and the Boardroom Scott Wilson, the founder of Wilson AI, presented on “How to Engage Executives and the Boardroom”. /2018/07/17/user-2018-conference-reflections/ Tue, 17 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/07/17/user-2018-conference-reflections/ useR! 2018 Confernce: Brisbane 10-13 July 2018. I had 2 main objectives in attending this year’s global “useR! 2018 Conference”, the global R users’ conference in Brisbane: 1. To develop R programming skills; 2. To reinvigorate my passion for building data science solutions using R. R “hex” map of Australia, with each hexagon representing an R package Develop R Programming Skills I sat in on presentations about some cool and useful packages in many of the sessions, but all that they did was point me in the right direction and then leave me complete the journey on my own. /2018/03/12/afl-tipping-mark-1/ Mon, 12 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/03/12/afl-tipping-mark-1/ Introduction Just like many other high-profile sports with an extended round-robin series, complementary competions have spun off the AFL season for amateurs followers. These tipping competions are particularly prevalent in work environments and social groups and are quite distinct from betting competions. The most frequent format, by far, for tipping competions features tippers submitting a tip for each game of the round, with the scores tallied at the end of the round. /2018/02/03/weighing-up-the-data/ Sat, 03 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /2018/02/03/weighing-up-the-data/ Introduction Health and wellbeing is one of my 5 core values, and I extended our new beginning in 2017 to establish new habits to live these values. The new habits included: Cycling to work where possible; Cutting out “gratuitous” sugar, i.e. confectionary and cakes; Reducing the evening meal to virtually a snack, thus making it my smallest meal of the day. Following the 7 minute workout 3 days per week, though I’ve embellished the exercises and extended it to a 30 minute workout thrice weekly. /about/ Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /about/ James is a data scientist with over 20 years of commercial experience in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), dairy and telecommunications. James’ data journey progressed from Supply Chain analysis and optimisation to demand planning and sales forecasting. With a desire to use data better and smarter, James completed a Masters’ Degree in Statistics and Operations Research with Distinction in 2015. James is fascinated by data science, and in particular: Obtaining data from a wide range of sources; Data visualisation and designing engaging charts; Predictive modelling and machine learning; Finding clever and effective ways to tell the data story.