kari peterson

The Portfolio as Personal Journey

I didn't decide to become a Visual Developer, I sort of fell into it. I also never intended to become an analyst of any sort. It was primarily through the grace of others, who saw talents in me that I did not, that I was able to start the journey that has led me to consultancy, which is partly why I take such joy in doing the same for others.When I sat down in 2020 to decide where I wanted my career to go, I applied the same pattern recognition principles I used daily for my work. At the time, I had not yet shaken off the specter of impostor syndrome, and felt that my patchwork job history didn't have any sort of coherency. Everyone I worked with seemed to have always known what they wanted to be when they grew up, whereas I felt more like a magpie, hopping from one shiny interest to the next.What did retail management, tea importing, industrial safety, and facilities analysis have in common? Not much, at first glance. But when I began to map out the common themes in the jobs I'd held, I realized that, regardless of the title I held at the time, I was happiest when I was helping others to understand and solve a problem.My working life spanned two decades and almost a dozen different domains, but the common threads through all of them were skills like leadership, teaching, research, and analysis. Each job had its own facet for how these skills were used, but by stepping back and finding the patterns, I realized that what looked like teaching people about flavor profiles in single origin teas in one job, and looked like explaining the safest techniques for using ladders in another job, were actually both about communicating new ideas to an interested audience.Fast forwarding to the position I then held in 2020, and the opportunities I got to be able to collaborate with students and professors who were seeking to use data visualization in their academic work, it finally all came together: having a broad collection of domain knowledges could actually be a strength WIP

"It is truly strange how long it takes to get to know oneself. I am now sixty two years old, and yet just one moment ago I realized that I absolutely love lightly toasted bread. Simultaneously, I also realized that I loathe bread when it is heavily toasted. For almost sixty years, and quite unconsciously, I have been experiencing inner joy or total despair at my relationship with grilled bread."- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Cambridge, 27th April 1951