I completed my B.Tech in Textile Technology in 2004 and have been working as merchandising & sourcing professional in the Apparel industry for some reputed International brands for 16 years.
My role was to work in close liaison with the International clients and the domestic manufacturing vendors, handling their product development, cost negotiation, production management, and Logistics. Some basic analysis using excel, like risk analysis, vendor performance analysis, trend analysis, etc., was part of the portfolio I handled.
After 16 years of my career, I found I was stuck in a rut, probably a mid-career crisis. I was looking for a shift to break this inertia and do a work more passionate that would define the rest of my career path.
I also didn’t want to pick up something completely new that has no meaning to the rich expertise in the Apparel industry over the last 16 years. I found the Retail Industry was the best choice, with Data Analytics and ML taking the lead in most of the decision-making and devising business strategies there.
Given my personal commitments, part-time education was my possible choice. As the Pandemic erupted and work from home became a routine, I realized online education is the practical best choice.
I was exploring a lot of videos available online on Data science before making a decision to sign up for a course. Some of the GL videos lectures by highly eminent faculties from renowned universities were impressive. I reached out to the GL team and was happy with their course structure, especially the curriculum, hackathons, and placement assistance, thus enrolled for PGP in DSBA.
Though there was sufficient Video content provided for every topic at the beginning of the week, there were always a lot of open queries in my mind to relate these concepts well, especially on some of the new subjects. The mentoring sessions bridged this gap completely.
I believe profound learning happens when our doubts get clarified; thus, we move ahead one step further in the learning process.
I should say I was lucky to have some great mentors who come with a lot of industry experience besides subject knowledge. They were also encouraging students like me to share their thoughts & industry experiences. Since most of my batch mates come from different industrial experiences, there was also peer-to-peer learning happening during these sessions. This made these sessions more intriguing and interesting.
My Mentors played a vital role in my learning. Besides explaining the concepts, they shared a lot of inputs from industry case studies and projects related to the given subject. They gave us a lot of hope and scope to go and try many of these new concepts in our current roles to experiment.
I have moved recently into an Omni channel Retail Company, and the scope of Analytics in this domain is endless. I’m exposed to a lot more data now than before, and Analytics (mainly EDA) is setting the ground for many of my decisions in my day today. Still, miles to go.
If you find analytics interesting and attractive, please start your journey with no hesitation. As the saying goes, “Known is a drop, unknown is Ocean.” There’s no limit to learning, and this GL course on Data Science and Business Analytics is sure to lay a strong foundation for the same. From my experience during the last 1 year doing this course, 2 humble advice for new learners would be:
- Have a clear schedule for your learning amidst your daily work routine. I picked up a slot 1hr much early in the morning. Please find your best time at your convenience and try to stick to the same.
- Do much preparation for the mentor session, and please make complete use of the same. This will determine how far and fast you go in your learning.
