Women in Data Hackathon

To take part in this Hackathon you do NOT need to have a specific degree or have specific work experience.

We welcome anyone with an interest in data analysis and some experience working with data-this could include reshaping, cleansing, manipulating and joining data, analysing data and creating calculations, and visualising data with charts and graphs.If you are familiar and have experience with all of the above, then you should apply! If you have experience with some, less familiar with others but are willing to learn, please do apply too!

We welcome but don’t require you to have more advanced data skills such as machine learning and data science. If you are a more experienced data pro, this is your opportunity to shine! Take the lead on the project, go as far as you wish with the analysis, bring your team members with you in that journey, and impress us with your presentation!

We are also not putting any prerequisite on specific tools. So you could use the tool of your choice for the hackathon, and that could be Excel, Tableau, Python, or whatever other tools that’s available to you.The only thing we’d ask you to bear in mind, is that you might have to align with your team on the choice of tools –you don’t have to all use the same tools, as long as you are all collaborating and learning, and no one is excluded from the working sessions because they don’t have access to a proprietary tool.

There are some technical requirements for participating in the hackathon:

• – Internet access
• – A computer on which you can use your chosen data analysis and visualisation software
• – Access to PowerPoint or Google Slides to create a presentation

To volunteer as a facilitator, you should be someone who is already a data analytics practitioner with plenty of experience in data preparation, manipulation, visualisation and analysis. Since you are not expected to work directly on the project, you don’t have to know all the tools your team chooses to use. Most of the data skills are tool agnostic anyway!  

Other than technical skills, your soft skills such as stakeholder management, project management, and presentation skills will come handy when you provide steering and feedback to the team during the hackathon. 

Lastly but most importantly, we expect you to be passionate with mentoring and coaching people. You are there to make sure the participants have a smooth, exciting, and inspiring journey during those two weeks. You don’t need to be delivering trainings to them directly, but your steer and feedback would be immensely valuable to them throughout their project. 

The main goal is to ensure that everyone in the team is participating in the hackathon, and learning in the process. You are not expected to work directly on the project, but to help guide the team, and steer the direction, if the team feels stuck at any point during the hackathon. As a bonus point, if the team needs it and you feel up to it, you can provide some feedback on their analyses and presentation. 

Some example tasks include: 

• – Facilitating the collaboration of the team 

• – Helping with interpreting the assignment and choosing the right tools 
• – Providing feedback and steering progress 
• – Ensuring that everyone is participating, learning and having fun 

There is no fixed requirement for time spent as a facilitator. We understand that everyone has other responsibilities in life, and have organised this hackathon over a period of 2 weeks anticipating that some people would only be able to spend time in the evenings and weekends. 

Any catch-up sessions with your team members will depend on their availability, and it is up to you to liaise and organise what works best. For instance, if you are working fulltime, this can be arranged to take place after work hours. 

We think that every team will be different and everyone in the team will have different time commitments, or even be in different time zones. It is up to you to decide how much time you spend overall. To give you a rough idea, we expect this to be somewhere around 4 – 8 hours over the 2-week period, but of course you are more than welcome to dedicate more time if you can. 

There is no fixed requirement for time spent as a facilitator. We understand that everyone has other responsibilities in life, and have organised this hackathon over a period of 2 weeks anticipating that some people would only be able to spend time in the evenings and weekends. 

Any working sessions or catch-up calls with your team members and facilitator will depend on their availability, and it is up to you to liaise and organise what works best. For instance, if you are working fulltime, this can be arranged to take place after work hours. 

We think that every team will be different and everyone in the team will have different time commitments, or even be in different time zones. It is completely up to you to decide how much time you want to spend on the hackathon overall. To give you a rough idea, we expect this to be at least 8 hours over the 2-week period, but of course you are more than welcome to dedicate more time if you can.  

You are free to choose whatever tools you like for the hackathon.

If you don’t have preferences and are looking for recommendation, here are some of our favourite picks with links to learning resources.

For data manipulation, cleansing, analysis:

Alteryx – A powerful, no-code data preparation and analytics tool. You can get a free licence if you are an active student, or you can apply for a free 14-day trial.

Alteryx Academy: a collection of resources to help you get started with Alteryx or learn a specific topic.

Data Blending for Dummies, Alteryx Special Edition: an e-book covering the fundamentals on the subject of data blending. Perfect if you are new to the concept.

Alteryx ADAPT program: A program built to up-skill individuals whose employment status has been impacted by COVID-19.

For data visualisation:

Tableau – Data visualisation and analysis software with an intuitive interface to help people “see and understand their data”. You can get free licence if you are a full-time student, or you can apply for a free 14-day trial. Their public gallery is a great place to find inspirations. E.g. Some Simple Steps for Better Dashboard Design.

Power BI – Data management, preparation and visualisation software that enables a range of analysis. The Data Stories Gallery – collection of public Power BI dashboards. Search by “kudos” level or topic and download in order to reverse engineer and learn new tips, tricks and techniques.

The Power BI Resource Centre – published and maintained by Microsoft, this documentation is always be a good place to turn when learning or if you are stuck on a particular challenge.

Flourish – a platform with cool animation-based visualisations (e.g. bar chart race). Public version is free.

Other resources for inspiration:

Tiny Viz Talks – A community that shares best practice advice on data analysis and visualisation through quarterly speaking events. Sign up using the website link to attend the virtual, October event.

The Pudding – get inspired for story-telling with their publications that explains ideas debated in culture with visual essays.