Lessons learned from my adventures in data, cities, and the civic tech community | by Dea Bardhoshi | Coding it Forward

At the end of my time at UC Berkeley, I knew a few things about myself. One: I wanted to be a data scientist, or in some form, think deeply about data to derive insights. Two: I wanted my work to directly apply to some area of our shared daily lives, rather than only theoretical or serving a select few people. Three: What piqued my interest for the last few years of college were cities and urban planning. I loved (and still do) thinking about cities as complex systems where many different areas of our lives come together. How we plan, maintain, and sustain our lived spaces and urban environment enormously impacts our lives. I wanted to explore this web of connections using the data tools I’d spent time in college honing in. So, I was elated when the NYC Department of City Planning offered me a Fellowship spot in their data engineering team. I’d followed their open-source work from afar, inspired by the dedication to transparency and openness that the City showed. In June, I could also

At the end of my time at UC Berkeley, I knew a few things about myself. One: I wanted to be a data scientist, or in some form, think deeply about data to derive insights. Two: I wanted my work to directly apply to some area of our shared daily lives, rather than only theoretical or serving a select few people. Three: What piqued my interest for the last few years of college were cities and urban planning. I loved (and still do) thinking about cities as complex systems where many different areas of our lives come together. How we plan, maintain, and sustain our lived spaces and urban environmen