Bio: Millennial stuff

In the beginning, when I was in high school, there where literature and idealism and also vanity. It was my teacher of Literature who encouraged me to write. Things went well: I wrote wilful poems every night, submitted my first short stories to my teacher for feedback, won several literary prizes.

I was studying science, but the blood made me faint (and still does) and at that time algorithms were not as popular as they are today. I realised Literature had other plans for me: I decided to study Law and Political Science at Carlos III University of Madrid.

I was determined to become a writer, but in college, I mostly had new friends, various romances and breakups, the wonderful student life in Madrid, an Erasmus year in Toulouse and a constant but bearable financial austerity that has allowed me to build an alternative CV comprising mainly precarious, whatever jobs.

By the time I graduated in March 2017, I had grown up and my fine-tuned, rationalised vanity had probed faulty and useless. Yet frustration remained, I guess for what some experts call time management.

To clear my mind, I took some months off living in Liverpool, until some voice told me in dreams the time of Literature had come. Madrid would be the main location of my first novel, hence there where the right place to be. I came back, got accepted in a law firm specialised in cannabis issues to do an internship and prepared my plume and desk for the mission I was determined to perform. But things did not turn as I expected, and some months later I miserably gave up.

I was not in my best state of mind when I filled my master applications. I had put all my energies into the failed novel, so I had not spent enough time figuring out what to do next. I did not even know whether I wanted to continue studying law or political science. Plus, I was afraid of the idea of specialisation. Maybe that is why I ended up applying for European Law masters. Letters of acceptance arrived from the Netherlands and Belgium and finally opted for studying at Maastricht University.

In Maastricht, I had the best learning experience of my life. Great education system, great scholars, great fellows. Finally, I was happy. It seemed that I was at peace with my academic background. But then I discovered data science, got fascinated by its prospects and potential, and my future was a mess again.

I saw it straightforward: by studying data science I would find a way to sort out the puzzle. Rather than discipline, I see data science as a set of techniques that potentially allow us to question or reassess any preconceived knowledge, no matter which domain.

I started programming with Python in Datacamp and furthered my coding skills with a data science Bootcamp at datahack school in Madrid. And then the covid-19 pandemic collapsed our societies, I returned to my hometown Badajoz (in the southwest of Spain, close to the border with Portugal), settled down here, and started several positions as a Data Analyst. Of course, every work I have taken since has been remote. I am a firm defender of teleworking, as otherwise, I couldn't be living in a city like Badajoz. And I am very happy here. So happy that I decided to stay another year, despite being admitted to a two-year Master of Data Science for Public Policy in Berlin.

It is time for new adventures. In September 2021, I started as a Freelance Data Analyst. I help. I help companies extract insights from data and fine-tune algorithms and data processes. I also work as a data science lecturer at Datahack School, teaching courses on Big Data and (Python) programming.

I am also part of the Institute for the Internet & the Just Society, a think tank located in Berlin, where I co-coordinate a research group on climate change and technology.

I am still waiting for the moment to write my first novel.