E is For Eskwelabs Issue 017 - 20 Milestones that Made our 2020 Memorable ❤️💭

In our seventeenth issue, we turn up the nostalgia and share our most memorable milestones this 2020. This special edition of our newsletter documents how we've made the most out of this unique year.

Dec 13, 2020

Hello and happy holidays, Francine here! 👋 It'll be Christmas next week, and the excitement and nostalgia that comes during this time of the year is what we're trying to capture for this special edition of our newsletter. Today we'd like to share with you our "2020 Haul." These are the experiences that made this year memorable and meaningful. This list has been a great reminder that some of the best gifts in life are the intangible moments—ones that you may not be able to hold in your hands, but will always have in your heart. ❤️

This special issue is quite a long one, it's best read with a cup of coffee ☕ or tea 🍵 by your side. Estimated reading time: 15 minutes. 👍

What's in this newsletter:

📍 Eskwelabs' 2020 Haul: 20 milestones that made our 2020 memorable

1 | Celebrating our 1st Anniversary 🎉

Last May 13, 2020, we hosted an online birthday celebration for Eskwelabs. Alumni across our three programs, as well as a couple of members from the Aral-Aral community, joined us for a virtual party filled with games, personal sharing, and thanksgiving.

2 | Redesigning the Data Science Bootcamp Experience 🖥️

We had to match the sudden announcements of lockdowns with a lightning response in how we provided student care for Cohort 4, the first Data Science Bootcamp batch that's gone fully online. And after studying the feedback we've collected, we went for a full redesign of the Bootcamp into "sprint" format for Cohort 5. The pandemic may have prevented us from being together in a physical space, but we remained more determined than ever to deliver an engaging and high quality learning experience.

3 | Welcoming program alumni home and introducing them as program mentors 🍎

There are many ways our alumni excite us: when they give us career updates or share personal life milestones. But the most heartwarming news we love receiving is when our alumni return to us as program mentors. This is the kind of homecoming that we celebrate behind the scenes, and it's our hope that we see more of this pay-it-forward and lifelong learning attitude develop in future Eskwelabs learners.

4 | Raising awareness about using data for good 👍

Aside from bringing excitement into our lives, there are many ways in which our learners make us feel proud and honored to have trained them. This year we've seen the development of capstone projects with social impact, the creation of hackathon projects surrounding the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and the potential of partnerships (like the one we had with Omdena) to use data science for good.

5 | Conducting virtual graduations and having live demo days 🎓

The program experience isn't complete without a closing ceremony or graduation to wrap it all up. Since moving towards a fully online set-up, we've had opportunities to get creative in how we thank, celebrate, and send-off our learners. Pushing it one step further, we've experimented with conducting live demo days for our Data Science Fellows. These themed demo days served not only as public speaking learning experiences for our Fellows, but also as eye-opening events for people who may be curious about the world of data in general.

6 | Relaunching a special version of Aral-Aral at the start of the pandemic 📓

To date, we've updated our Aral-Aral learning initiative about 5x. Each change is brought about by our ever-evolving understanding of what our community needs and wants. But the physical limitations and emotional stress brought by COVID-19 took all of us by surprise, and what mattered to us is that our Aral-Aral learners find some semblance of stability and joy in the learning resources we provided. So at the start of the first lockdowns in the Philippines, we launched the free COVID Aral-Aral to introduce learning mindsets and coding with Python to our community via the new Learning Management System we've set up.

7 | Growing our Aral-Aral community 🌱

We've experienced much growth in our Aral-Aral Facebook group. But more than the number of individuals we are adding to our community each day, what's inspiring is the blossoming of genuine care and support within our corner of the internet. Thank you to our members who help other members with their questions, share relevant resources to one another, and provide a virtual morale boost in the form of comments or a simple "thumbs up."

8 | Conducting Aral-Aral Learning Circles 📚

An idea that we emphasized this year was that online learning shouldn't have to be lonely. Yes, Zoom fatigue is real—but so is the heaviness of typing away and learning code all by yourself. Through our Learning Circles, we gave our community members free content and live sessions where mentors guided them through 1-2 hours of skills practice.

9 | Releasing our first on-demand prep-course: Aral-Aral+ 💻

Cultivating a genuine relationship with our learners allows us to take action on the feedback we receive from them. What we discovered from our Aral-Aral members who then become our Data Science Bootcamp Fellows is that there's a need to provide learners with more practice with Python and Statistics concepts for data science. Aral-Aral+, which is the premium version of Aral-Aral, is a labor of love and we dedicate the 14 code-along Jupyter Notebooks and 70+ walkthrough videos we've created to all aspiring data scientists out there. Preparing for our Data Science Bootcamp becomes easier with Aral-Aral+.

10 | Showcasing Eskwelabs' innovation internationally 🌎

It's an honor to be able to contribute to the conversation of innovation on a bigger stage—an international one. We are a top 10 regional finalist for the Cartiers' Women's Initiative. Aside from this, we were also selected to be a social entrepreneur at SOCAP (Social Capital Markets in SF).

11 | Conducting the Business Intelligence SkillsCamp in a flexible per-module format 📊

Our data science program isn't the only one we redesigned. For our Business Intelligence SkillsCamp, which was originally done in a blended learning format every day for 2 weeks, we adapted the program into three 3-week modules: data analytics tools like SQL, Excel, and Power BI; Descriptive and Prescriptive analytics; and Inferential statistics and Predictive analytics. Before the year ends; however, we're happy to announce that we're revamping this program and launching it as Data Analytics Bootcamp this January 2021! Once again, studying the feedback of our learners made these program updates possible.

12 | Hosting topic-specific workshops ✏️

We understand that for some, the length of our Bootcamps (12 weeks per Cohort) and SkillsCamps (3 weeks per Module) may not fit into their daily schedules. That's why we're thankful for the bite-sized learning experiences we were able to provide those interested in data storytelling with PowerBI and businesses who wanted to understand their customers better with customer analytics.

13 | Publishing Whitepapers 📄

So much has happened in this year alone, but what we have yet to see in full are the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on the future of education and the future of work in the decade to come. We tried to make sense of the present and give hope for the future through two Whitepapers we published this year: COVID-19 and the Future of Work (published in April) and Using Data to Bounce Back (published in September). May these publications add value to the ongoing conversations that we've been keeping up with online and offline, all over the world.

14 | Creating bespoke training programs for companies 💼

This year, we've taken great care to design and deliver bespoke training programs to upskill company teams. We deeply appreciate the trust that has been given to us and we commit to uphold high standards of education for companies we'll be working with in 2021 and beyond.

15 | Making it into the top 10 of QBO's RESQUE: Startups vs. COVID-19 Competition 🌟

Over 100 applications were sent in as entries to this competition hosted by QBO Philippines in partnership with Youth Business International. This was a Google-supported nationwide startup competition that "aimed to provide a laser-focused support program to Filipino startups as part of YBI's Rapid Response and Recovery Program." We're so thankful for the opportunity to share our mission of democratizing digital skills education and lead more people to see the importance of upskilling in the future of work.

16 | Launching Analytics SkillsCourse 💖

The first lockdown in the Philippines back in March have caused many establishments and institutions to slow down—some unfortunately had to stop altogether. But in the midst of this chaos and the anxiety everyone was feeling, we powered through to contribute to pandemic relief efforts in the most Eskwelabs-way possible: providing data skills education. We launched Analytics SkillsCourse as our response to the impact of COVID-19 on the future of education and work. Since March, we've upskilled three batches of learners from two remote working communities: virtual assistants and online entrepreneurs. We're looking to expand our reach and see how we can help other COVID-impacted workers from communities we have yet to connect with.

17 | Expanding the potential of our content via Aral-Aral Digital Careers ✨

We have adapted content from the Career Development curriculum of Analytics SkillsCourse and structured it to be perfect for self-paced learners seeking any kind of online work. Aral-Aral Digital Careers helps learners bridge that gap between themselves and the clients they want by completing personal reflection exercises, improving their resumes, writing cover letters, and seeing the screening and hiring process from the point of view of the employer. May this resource help those who want to stand out in an even more competitive remote work market post-COVID.

18 | Mastering the virtual onboarding process for Eskwelabs team members 👋

Our team has grown so much this year—both in terms of manpower and development of skills. From the interns who have come and gone despite never meeting them physically to the new hires we've onboarded virtually, it has been a strange year. But every moment is meaningful when you're working as one Eskwelabs team.

19 | Bonding with the Eskwelabs team via Zoom 🤗

We've thrown virtual birthday parties, grew stronger bonds in 1-on-1 check-ins, enjoyed each other's company in online games, and persevered to maintain excellence and accountability in the work we do in Zoom meetings. Geographically, our remote team may be miles apart. But going through a year like 2020 together has the tendency of bringing people closer than ever. We are thankful for our teammates behind the scenes who have helped make the milestones in this "2020 haul" possible.

20 | Starting our E is for Eskwelabs Substack newsletter 💌

Finally, this was also the year when we started publishing on Substack. Since our first issue back in May 3, 2020, we have not missed a release in this bi-weekly newsletter. It brings us comfort and joy knowing that when we share news we are excited about, there are hundreds of you on the other end who get to celebrate with us. In 2021, we hope to continue the conversation with you. Thank you so much for welcoming us in your email inbox!

That’s it for our seventeenth issue of the newsletter! Thank you so much for reading. ♥️

Have something to share? We encourage you to give us feedback and ideas (you may do so here) and if you like it, please share it with a friend!

Have a good Sunday! See you again in your inbox next, next week!

💌 Cheering you on always (and feeling extra nostalgic),

Francine

Community Producer at Eskwelabs

E is for Eskwelabs