This user is going on a Sabbatical – Again

I took a break from work and left my role as a product manager at myStash in September. I took this break with the goal of resting as much as possible, and learning even more. I'm one month in and it's been just alright.

October was equal part win, and equal part lounging about. A key part of that was because I started piling priorities. I thought I had all the time so I took on a bit more. More small tasks. So, on most days, when I can't determine what to prioritise I end up doing nothing. I'm taking a different swing at it for November.

As I said, my sabbatical is happening for two things: resting and learning.

On resting, it's almost a given. Life moves at a seemingly slower pace when there's no job to attend to or office to go to. I don't sleep any longer than I usually would though. I've only just freed up more time for exercise. I run, cycle, and swim on a regular schedule now.

On learning, here I need to be more intentional. So, I've embarked on two quests.

One is the Fintech Engineering Bootcamp by The Payment Logue. It kicked off today and it's already as exciting and intensive as promised. I'm looking forward to learning from the professionals with experience building core infrastructure for payments at company, bank, and country levels. The insights I picked from today's class with Iphie really left my mouth watering. I think the next eight weeks are going to be a blur.

Two is the Master's of Science in Financial Engineering from WorldQuant University. In preparation for this degree, I have the opportunity to apply myself to learning the fundamentals of maths and statistics again, specifically Advanced Algebra, Linear Algebra, Probability, Statistics, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Differential Equations and Discrete Mathematics. Wooh. I've also tasked myself with covering all necessary materials on Khan Academy within the next eight weeks. You see what I mean when I say it'll be a blur, yh?

Let's go!

Pictures from DataFest Africa sometime last month. I wrote about it on my blog.