Introduction

A red and dark red background of cloud and smoke featuring an older Asian mother making a combat ready pose with arms stretched out. In the background is a mild-mannered but stern Asian man and an older woman in yellow wearing a paper with a black circle drawn on her forehead as she uts her elbow up in a blocking position. In the background is a figure with her hands pointed away from her at an angle while wearing a facemask and a low visor - the background of the poster of the film Everything Everywhere All at Once. — ¹

In a dark and scary universe, do you put everything on a bagel or do you wear a pair of googly eyes?

When I look at a career path such as data science, I quickly get caught up in the innumerable possibilities of what a career in it would entail. Health care analytics. Business intelligence. Institutional research. AI. The list goes on. However, if there’s one question that lingers with me, it’s the following - “Am I making all the right choices I need to make to grow and thrive in this field?” There’s so much to learn, so much to do, and so much that reminds me of how little I still know, even with all this experience I have so far.

A picture of me fainted and my face smashed against the couch with my right arm hanging over the seat and my other arm dropping down.

Thus, I sometimes wondered if I had what it took to succeed in this field, given so much about me and the world around me that I still don’t know.

A silhouette of me leaning against rocks as I look out at the ocean during a dim sunset.

However, in spite of all of this chaos I find myself in, I found inspiration in navigating my own career and life through a couple of key takeaways from the Academy Award-winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) - a sci-fi action comedy-drama known for its wildly absurdist take on the multiverse concept, predominantly Asian cast (a rarity in modern American cinema), and drawing attention to neurodivergence, intergenerational family trauma, and nihilism; it’s arguably one of the best films I’ve seen in my entire life - a genre-bending mixture of a movie that’ll make you laugh, cry, and think all at once.

A picture of an Asian woman holding her hand out in an office cubicle setting in the background while she wears a googly eye on her forehead and papers fly all around her as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' — ²

Thus, on that note, let’s dive into three key things I learned this year about succeeding as a data person through the lenses of my favorite movie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) with almost no spoilers. So get ready, find your jumping pads, and fly off into the madness of multiverses with these three key lessons below!

A gif of a woman cocking her head to the right as she flips through different universes each time she cocks her head to the right like turning a dial to different stations on a radio all while the camera remains focused on her from behind her back as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — ³

1. You’ll always have more to learn, even when you finish a project.

JOBU TUPAKI: Every new discovery is just a reminder…
EVELYN WANG: We’re all small and stupid.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Data sets are nothing more than small snapshots of a larger bigger picture you’re using to make sense of the world around you and what’s going on. As much as a clean and reliable data set can provide clues as to what may be causing certain events to occur, there’s only so much you can cover and grasp, given our limitations as individual human beings in a three-dimensional world. Even if you find a clear and direct narrative to focus on that compellingly explains why you get the results you have, you should keep in mind all narratives are incomplete. Each one is merely one out of many possible interpretations of the data you could give.

A picture of a dark grey background of clouds with a black bagel-shaped object with sprinkles on it and a bright hole in the middle with white light coming out as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — ⁴

Thus, while it’s important to still celebrate your wins and where you went well with a data project, you should always keep an eye out for areas for improvement and/or further research. That way, you create greater transparency and accountability for your work and how you use it as well as maintain a steadfast commitment to getting as close to the truth as you can - a goal to keep in mind for you, your team, and the world at large.

A picture of a light bulb from a roof in the midst of darkness. — As Socrates once said, “I know that I know nothing.”⁵

2. Consider your audience when communicating your data.

WAYMOND: I know you are all[…]scared and confused. I’m confused too[…]But somehow, this feels like it’s all my fault. I don’t know. The only thing I do know… is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind - especially when we don’t know what’s going on.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

The beauty of data comes from now the methods used to work with it, but what you can do with it, especially in the form of telling stories with data (even with nothing but a stack of crumbled-up receipts).

A gif of a woman with glasses in an office setting saying the line, 'I see a story...' as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' — Couldn’t have said it better than our fellow IRS auditor Mrs. Deidre!⁶

Parts of a data set can shed light on anything from the prices of certain cars based on different factors to even highlighting the opinions and beliefs of everyday people. They are bits of information that are made meaningful by the context in which they exist, which can give them enough power to move your audience emotionally and invite all kinds of reactions from them (i.e., anger, fear, joy, etc).

A female presenter pointing at displayed presentation slides containing a pie chart and arow of people sitting facing her. — ⁷

Therefore, I see value in telling stories with data as carefully as possible, keeping in mind the kind of audience seeing the data as well as how they respond to it. Such efforts take a degree of emotional intelligence, focus, and effective communication skills to help the audience understand and connect with the data insights. It’s akin to how a good doctor announces medical diagnoses to paients in a generally simple and easy-to-digest, but accurate manner, knowing not everyone knows medical terminology and reacts the same way to information that can influence or impact their personal well-being and decision-making.

A cartoon of a couple of office workers at a table listening and discussing among themselves during a presentation on a screen an office worker is presenting to them. — ⁸

Additionally, if needed, I like to facilitate inclusive and respectful spaces for open-ended discussions about what does the data show, why others should care about the stories highlighted by the data, and how to move forward with using this data; even the story of humans with “hot dogs for fingers” deserves care too, for they can be really good with getting jobs done with just their feet despite the challenges of having those kinds of fingers!

A picture of an Asian woman looking at her extremely long and rubbery long fingers where each finger looks like a long sausage as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — ⁹

After all, while data may not perfectly capture everything that you need to understand or address a problem you’re investigating, it can help spark discussions on what may be going on below the surface, open other people’s minds to other perspectives rarely seen or respected, and how to best respond. That way, with enough care, empathy, and a commitment to teamwork and integrity, good data communication can effectively invite conversations that promote better understanding and guide better decision-making that benefits you, your team, and the world around us.

A picture of an Asian man hugging a woman in a laundromat as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — Team Waymond for the win!¹⁰

3. When in doubt, stay present.

ALPHA WAYMOND: Every rejection, every disappointment has led you to this moment. Don’t let anything distract you from it.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

A pair of rocks at the edge of a barren sandy cliff overlooking a large gourge on a sunny day as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — ¹¹

I get easily overwhelmed when the data world has so much information, new ideas, and people to meet - all bombarding my mind at an imperceptibly fast lightning speed. With all this information at my fingertips, I sometimes feel inferior and compare myself to other people working in the data space, feeling that I need to be as smart and/or doing what they’re doing to succeed in the data world. There’s so much to consume and learn, yet so little time to take it all in and build something out of it to the point where you might wonder if you made the right career choices at all versus the many other paths your career could have taken.

If case anyone feels that way, I get it myself. Being autistic, an early career statistics graduate, and navigating two different cultures as a first-generation Vietnamese-American has taught me much about how overwhelming the weight of possibilities can be and the choices you could make.

A picture of a lone boat with sails drifting along an ocean during sunset as it heads in towards a cloudy storm with dark clouds looming ahead as a bolt of lighting strikes the ocean. — ¹²

While I still have more of life to experience at the moment, I do know one thing - life is always uncertain chaos. Nothing we can do will quickly change or completely uproot it. There’ll always be new ideas, new challenges, and/or new situations that remind us of what we still don’t know or don’t have. Therefore, instead of ruminating constantly on worst-case scenarios and regrets, I want to accept what is and focus in thriving in the present in the best way possible.

In other words, it’s ok that I’m not the best at everything. It’s ok that I’m going to miss out on certain opportunities as I focus on others while still keeping an open mind. It’s ok that other people are better at certain things than I am. It’s perfectly fine to experience these things from time to time. What matters now is living a life that fulfills me and speaks to my goals, interests, and highest potential, which for me starts with staying in this present life I’m living and appreciating what I have versus chasing a perfect life.

On the left, a photo of me in my green Vietnamese traditional dress against a backdrop of roses, fruit, and red umbrellas. On the right, me wearing a graduation gown while carrying a bouquet of flowers, a scroll, and a stuffed animal dog in my arms. — **On the left**: Me wearing my Vietnamese traditional dress (or the Áo dài - pronounced “ow y-eye”) during a family Lunar New Year celebration in February 2024. **On the right**: Me in my graduation outfit when I got my master’s degree from California State University - East Bay in 2023.

Even in a life that’s not perfect, there’s always something I can be grateful for. Family. Friends. Connections. Getting my master’s degree. Seeing the world the way I do. And most of all, being the messy and multifaceted version of me that I am with a broad range of experiences in teaching and tutoring students, drawing art with R code, going on roadtrips to conferences, and certainly, my affinity for cheesy puns and navigating a chaotic world with spirit, humility, and care. They’re the stable rocks (with googly eyes) I can count on to keep me going even while the future’s yet to be written.

And that’s enough to keep me going each and every day.

A picture of me from behind as I hike along a trail on the side of a grassy hill heading towards a small valley of forestry against a bright and sunny clear blue sky.

Conclusion

EVELYN WANG: No matter what, I still want to be here with you. I will always, always, want to be here with you.
Joy WANG: So what? […] You could be anything, anywhere […] Here, all we get are a few specks of time where any of this actually makes any sense..
EVELYN WANG: Then I will cherish these few specks of time.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Overall, these lessons are examples of ones I find most prominent in my journey as a data nerd. While there’s so many to think about, they all reflect something that the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once communicated as well – the fact that we’re all growing people still doing our best to make sense of a vast, mysterious, and chaotic universe we still don’t have a full gasp of.

A picture of a young Asian woman hugging her mother at night in front of a laundromat in a parking lot as seen in the movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. — ¹³

While we’re all struggling, working, and doing our best to figure out our futures, it’s important to be kind to one another and most importantly, to ourselves. It doesn’t mean look past where we need to improve on. It generally means that we keep in mind that we each are at different points in our careers and journeys – some just starting out, some having years of experience under their belt, and others not sure on where to start. Instead of trying to go at it alone all time, let’s see if we can figure it out together, even if we don’t always have all the answers to all of the world’s biggest mysteries.

A picture of a dark blue hologram of the globe as we see a bunch of nodes on the planet with lines and curves connecting back and forth between different nodes. — ¹⁴

Plus, this data world’s always going to be growing and growing and growing so you can expect more challenges to come that’ll test you, your knowledge, and what you’re capable of. So whenever you find yourself in the midst of all these new ideas, trends, and changes it’s constantly going through, remember to pause, take a deep breath, acknowledge the world as it is, and then focus back on the present. This very moment. The here and now. The only area in which we have direct input in, even in a world that acts on its own accord.

A picture of me in a white button up shirt standing next to a poster saying 'Welcome to CSP 2023' as I point to a poster. — Me posing in front of a conference hall at the Conference on Statistical Practices in February 2023 in San Francisco, California.

It’s there that we can find the thread we can pull on to help guide our way through all the noise and beauty that makes up this very life we’re each living one googly eye at a time.

When life gives you bagels, wear a googly eye.

Every Data Point Everywhere All at Once

Introduction

1. You’ll always have more to learn, even when you finish a project.

2. Consider your audience when communicating your data.

3. When in doubt, stay present.

Conclusion

Picture Sources