Nigel H. Is Empowered By Earning His Certificate in Data Science

Nigel H. grew up in a single-parent household in Australia. He excelled academically but because of financial constraints, he had to start working at an early age to support himself. “Growing up in the pre-internet era, I had to rely on trips to the local library to explore encyclopedias and other reference books. I had hopes of getting into the Airforce as an airborne Aircraft Analyst. I managed the needed grades, but eventually failed for other reasons,” he shares.

Over the last twenty-five years, Nigel has worked in different capacities in a range of fields. “Starting with entry-level roles to hands-on roles, I’ve been able to climb up the ladder to management roles. I have continued to learn through short courses like Six Sigma, SAFe Agile, ISO, and ITIL V3. In addition to the knowledge I gained being exposed to many different business models and through personal involvement in large projects,” he says.

Why did Nigel decide to join University of the People? “I’ve been fascinated with UoPeople since first hearing about it in 2014. I watched President Shai Reshef’s TED talk in 2014 and it inspired me. The fact that education at UoPeople is tuition-free appealed to me greatly. At the moment, I’m only a couple of weeks in and already feel empowered. To be honest, I was a little skeptical in the beginning. I wasn’t sure how much learning I would really be able to absorb, but soon found myself explaining programming concepts to my family. I am surprised at how much I’m learning and how everything is specifically geared for students,” he says with a big smile.

Nigel is also enjoys the discussion forum portion of learning at UoPeople. It’s an excellent tool to help students delve deep into what they learned the week before.

Nigel is also a doting hands-on dad to two daughters. “I’m very busy with my family and am also building a boutique IT consulting and services company. I started it with two other colleagues. We also have a well-defined intern program that already has two year-round interns. Coaching them has been an extremely rewarding experience.To balance everything, I choose to stick to a strict schedule. That’s the only way for me to stay productive,” he says.

Nigel firmly believes his main skillset lies in understanding and implementing business processes, operations, & project management. “I’ve never really had a technical skill set and with the rise and increase of data, and the need for data science is growing by the day. I felt the specialized knowledge acquired through earning a Certificate in Data Science would be invaluable,” he says.

When not studying or working on his business, Nigel likes to participate in the activities in his community church where he has been a part of programs. In one program in particular, he and his fellow community members build beds for children in need. “We also do backpacks of food, for those that don’t have food and we work closely with some of the rehab centers. These regular and seasonal church events along with weekly church services occupy a lot of my spare time,” he shares.

In the near future, he wants to continue making more progress in his business enterprise, coach and develop a young team and pass on the knowledge to the new generation. “I truly believe in giving back to the business community and making a mark for myself with the help of my hard-earned knowledge and experience of so many years,” he says. What a remarkable outlook, Nigel is an inspiration to us all. We know he will go far.