E is for Eskwelabs Issue 64 - The Greatness of Guidance 🥇
Issue 64 is a testament to the effectiveness of Guidance. It is about wonder, admiration, and appreciation for all the hard work and guidance of November.
We created this newsletter to keep our alums, partners, and anyone interested in learning skills for the future of work updated and connected to our ever-growing family. If you want to read our previous issues, you can check them out here.
Ciao! This is Meg speaking 😉. We’ve just concluded November, and if last issue I wanted to approach things in a state of calm, now I’m encouraging you to approach things with wonder 💭. Our theme Guidance 🔦 not only assures you of the abundance of resources available for our learning journey, but it also implies the greatness of our outcomes 🥇 thanks to the people and communities who guide us.
Dear readers, I regret to inform you that I have recently lost a huge pillar of guidance in my life. Despite my grief, I feel hopeful and eager to share the biggest lesson I learned in these trying times: make the most of what you can and the rest will follow 🤞. Everything around you can contribute to your peace and growth, so reach out, take that leap of faith, and trust that all your efforts will bear something you’ll be proud of 🙌.
Issue 64 is my version of show and tell 🎙️. More than telling you what such greatness means, I'll show you what it actually looks like. You can look forward to:
🎨 Team Socials guided by AI art
📖 Stories guided by data
👨💻 Mentors guided by their learners
🔓 Accessible education guided by Bukas
Are you ready to be amazed? Happy reading!
READING TIME: 15 minutes
🎨 Team Socials guided by AI art
AI Art can perfectly capture how seeking guidance produces impactful outcomes: it is science guided by creativity, and art guided by machine learning 🔗. What was once unimaginable is now transformed, maximised, and incorporated into our day-to-day activities. Just like human-made art, AI art is used to create concept art for video games, books, and advertisements, among others.
Japanese programmer Nao_u created the 2D horizontal, sci-fi shooting game Shoon, and used AI program Midjourney for its graphics.
Big sci-fi fan Kevin Hess paid homage to his favorite franchise Star Wars by reimagining it into the world’s first fully-illustrated novel, Star Maker. Also using Midjourney, Hess spent a total of only 100 hours crafting this masterpiece.
European electronic music festival Jardim Sonoro was advertised by Dentsu Creative using Midjourney as well. The main prompt to generate this art was “unpredictable.”
We at Eskwelabs also thought of a way to incorporate AI art in our activities—AI art in our team socials 🎮! The game was simple, the team had to determine which piece of art was made by humans and which was made by AI. Check out the sample slides from our deck below and try them for yourself! Tell us which ones are made by AI by leaving a comment on this post ✏️
Interesting, isn’t it? 🧐 The fact that both kinds of art are barely distinguishable from each other raises the question of whether AI art should be regarded at the same level as man-made art. We’d like to think of it this way: AI expedites processes and makes visual creativity more accessible 💯. The artist’s originality is still seen as they create the prompts that would make the piece. For example, one of the creatives from the Jardim Sonoro event regarded how fascinated they are that if you change a single word from the set of prompts, the whole artwork will change altogether. 😯
So, despite the controversy, there is no denying how revolutionary AI is in guiding the world of art and machine learning. You can look forward to more insights on this in the blog we’ll be releasing soon. 🔜 In the meantime, check out what our Senior Brand Designer Isabela Lumba wrote about AI text-to-image programs in her Curious Cafe series!
📖 Stories guided by data
We’re still probably in awe of all the art pieces I shared, so let’s continue this train of guided wonder and creativity and talk about Data Storytelling. 📊 In issue 63, we recognized it as an effective strategy to avoid Information Overload. Ideas are transformed into data that is presented in a coherent narrative with visual representations. It is, in the most literal sense, telling a story. 📚 Stories evoke emotion, encourage empathy, and increase memory retention. With the amount of information we receive, it is no surprise that our brain prefers stories over pure data 🧠 But who am I to talk about info overload and storytelling if I won’t share some examples?
Data storytelling is one of the skills our learners and fellows master in our bootcamps (the 9-week Data Analytics Bootcamp and the 15-week Data Science Fellowship! With the help of real industry data 📜 and a 1:5 mentor-to-learner ratio 🤝🏼, students are able to come up with impressive and relevant outcomes!
Above are snippets of Cohort 8 Group 5’s presentation that culminates the first sprint of our Data Analytics Bootcamp. The study is conducted to reduce Malaysia’s carbon emissions in the coming years, so two of their objectives were to determine the CO2 trends and identify its top sources for emission 🔬 Their choice of narrative and graphs tie their research process together and deliver credible information. 👏
Another captivating example of data storytelling is that of Group 10 from the same sprint and the same cohort. The analysts wanted to address the impact of carbon emissions in the Philippines and propose recommendations to counter it 🏕️. From both slides, you can observe that their solutions are heavily evidenced by data that is presented in a manner that is very informative and not at all overwhelming. 🙌
These are just a few of what our learners produce on a regular basis. This skill is very multi-faceted so we do our best to share as much knowledge and resources to upskill everybody 👍 Last October 14, we had the privilege to conduct a workshop on data storytelling at the International Design Conference of the Philippines 2022. 📍 Check out how it went through Fran’s recent blog post!
If you’re sentimental like me, you’d feel like a proud mother hen seeing learners thrive in areas they’re passionate about. 🤩📸 You’re doing amazing sweetie!!!
👨💻 Mentors guided by their learners
Another example of guidance bearing fruitful results is mentorship at Eskwelabs! 👨💻 The relationship our learners build with our mentors is a mutually beneficial one. 🤝 The mentors provide their expertise and tailor their advice based on what their mentees need. Similarly, the learners provide a space that is stimulating and conducive to further learning for their mentors. In the spirit of embodying a growth mindset, we do our best to provide opportunities for both learners and mentors to grow within Eskwelabs. 🌱 The best person to testify to this is one of our mentors himself! Meet Julius Abante, Senior Analyst at Global Procurement Risk Management:
“Being a mentor at Eskwelabs if very fulfilling! Aside from providing a safe and conducive space for my mentees during our many breakout sessions (yes to learning by doing!), I also learn a lot of best practices and tips from the amazing Eskwelabs mentors, build meaningful relationships in the data community, and develop my soft skills! If you want to dip your toes in mentoring, Eskwelabs is the best place to start!"
Your mentorship journey will start with our career page, where you will accomplish an information database form. 📋 After that, you need to take an assessment and conduct a fit interview. ✍️ Once you’ve passed, wait for opportunities available and indicate your interest to join through email! 📩 A short and straightforward process for investment in learning. 🎓
🤗 “Kasama Ka Ngayon, Kasama Ka Bukas.”
Admittedly, sometimes it is hard to believe the possibility of greatness in our efforts if we do not have the means to reach our full potential. 😩 But, as we are reminded about November’s theme, we realise that we can also seek guidance on things we don’t know much about or terrain that is unfamiliar to us. ⛰️ The reality and the concept of “tomorrow” is scary to many of us because what we really have is the present moment. We don’t know what tomorrow brings—this is what they say. 🌅
But the future doesn’t have to be frightening. In fact, it is bright, hopeful, and warm, if you have the right people by your side. 🥂
Introducing our beloved partner, Bukas!
Bukas is a third-party educational loan assistance partner dedicated to providing affordable and flexible tuition installment plans to parents and college and graduate students. 💵
Speaking of affordable financing solutions, Bukas is our Study Now, Pay Later partner for our Data Analytics Bootcamp and Data Science Fellowship. Aspiring Eskwelabs students don’t have to worry about tuition options given that Bukas is here. Their new slogan and campaign is a reflection of this: “Kasama Ka Ngayon, Kasama Ka Bukas.”
Here are four reflection questions related to the theme “Bukas” and “Guidance:”
How do I deal with the future where things are uncertain? Do I deal with it by myself or share my uncertainties with others? 🤷♂️
Who are the people I consider my support system or guides? 🧑🏽🤝🧑🏻
My future in one word would be described as _____ because _____. 🔮
What am I looking forward to in the future? 🔭
Leave your answers as comments in this newsletter issue! Or you can reply to this email and we’ll reply to all of your reflections/responses. button
Here are Bukas’ love-notes to you, our Eskweloves:
Bukas offers a reliable, flexible, and hassle-free alternative tuition payment option as Eskwelabs’ Study Now, Pay Later partner. With Bukas, Eskweloves can get:
Full Data Analytics Bootcamp tuition coverage worth ₱31,360 with 0.50% monthly interest
Partial Data Science Fellowship tuition coverage worth ₱56,000 with 0.99% monthly interest
These options are payable in 12 months or less!
If you have any questions, visit the FAQs page that Bukas has prepared for those interested.
For Eskwelabs bootcamps specifically, go register and create your account now at https://bukas.ph/s/eskwelabs1122m
Finally, here are two Bukas blog posts you may enjoy! Perfect with the theme: Guidance.
Bukas has generously shared these blog posts. Amazing how they are perfectly aligned with our November theme, “Guidance!” Thank you, Bukas!
I hope this mini compilation of greatness in guidance sparks deeper reflection within yourself and what’s ahead. 🧘♂️ As your guiding community, Eskwelabs is ever present to remind you of your meritable feats in your learning journey. 🚀 Here are some questions to think about before we meet again:
What is something you did or made recently that you are proud of? Who or what guided you to achieve those results?
What are you passionately working on now? Why are you doing it?
Let us know what you think in the comments sections or in our social media pages. See you next time!
💌 Learning with you,
Meg Ruiz
Operations Associate and budding Content Designer at Eskwelabs