Albert Einstein said “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious”. This affirmation resonates with me strongly. When I was a child, I loved to ask questions. I always wanted to know what my friends and the people around me were thinking. I was a curious kid. I have fond memories of long walks along the seashore with my dad, and me asking him many questions to find out how his company worked. That curiosity was more than just intrigue; it was a passion for gathering information and data to understand the world around me. The ability to ask why things are the way they are and to consider how they could improve is essential, and this does not happen without curiosity. Thanks to my parents, I was exposed to a whole range of activities, from music to computing, which fed my curiosity and my passion for acquiring new knowledge.
My fascination with programming began when I learnt to develop algorithms using the Fortran and Pascal programming languages. The process of telling a machine step by step how to solve a problem awakened in me the passion to understand how the world of technology and computing worked.
Curiosity is a powerful force that drives exploration, innovation and problem solving. In the world of data analysis, technical skills are important, but curiosity is what brings these skills to life. Being curious means not being satisfied with the obvious answers, but exploring further to discover hidden insights. Yet, to achieve exceptional results, more than technical skills and curiosity you need passion and enthusiasm for your work. When we are passionate, work becomes a mission, and difficulties become exciting challenges rather than insurmountable obstacles. This passion is contagious and it can inspire and motivate the whole team.
A specific example of this is a recent success story at Creand, where machine learning models were used to improve the selection of customers to offer a specific product from our bank. This process meant long meetings with the various departments involved. It is important to note that, nowadays, when a company undertakes a data-driven project, the legal department becomes crucially important. Once all the participants were on board, the next step was to prepare the data that would feed the model. After training several models and selecting one in particular, it helped us to identify the customers to target for the campaign in order to optimise the impacts to be generated. The curiosity and passion of the teams involved was crucial to the success.
In conclusion, curiosity and passion are key elements for achieving exceptional results in data analysis. In the increasingly competitive and data-driven business world, curiosity remains the secret ingredient that distinguishes leaders from followers. So, it is not just a personal skill, but a powerful business strategy for innovation and sustainable growth in the digital age.
Diari d’Andorra 18.04.2024