Mandy Arola

Mandy has been following developers & tech companies at meetups since 2016. She is NSS’s chief content wrangler, a.k.a. marketing manager. When she’s not writing blogs, managing social media, pestering instructors & graduates for content, or attending meetups, you can find her traveling the world or at home with her beloved dog Lola.
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Recent Posts

From Video Game Commentator To Developing A Game | Graduate Spotlight
May 31, 2018
Tim Conner was an eSports broadcaster before making a career switch to software development. He enjoyed his work as a commentator for video games, but it didn’t offer any great growth opportunities. He decided on software development as a career shift because he enjoys building software, learning the languages, and the “instant gratification of seeing what you built.” Read More

Topics: Student Stories

Perfecting The Pitch: Group Projects Using Metro Nashville's Open Data
May 29, 2018
There was a lot of excitement in the air last Thursday as our Front-end Web Designer/Developer Bootcamp students presented their group projects using Nashville’s Open Data to an esteemed panel of judges. They had a week to build an app and perfect their pitch. See what they created! Read More

Topics: Student Stories, Learning, Community

What Is Causing Traffic Fatalities? | Discovery Through Data
May 24, 2018
We often focus our attention on events with numerous fatalities, but across the US, road traffic crashes (RTCs) are claiming lives on a daily basis. In his research for his mid-course capstone, Dereje Getu Demissie discovered some alarming statistics and looked at data from 2016 to see what is causing all of the fatalities. Read More

Topics: Analytics + Data Science

Cohort 23 is Officially On The Job Hunt After A Successful Demo Day
May 22, 2018
Cohort 23 wrapped up six months of learning full stack JavaScript on Friday. They shared their capstone projects one-on-one with over 40 employers in attendance for Demo Day. Read More

Topics: Student Stories, Hiring?

Visualizing Breast Cancer Research | Discovery Through Data
May 16, 2018
Smita Misra Upadhyay is passionate about improving treatment plans for breast cancer through her research. or her mid-course capstone, Smita set out to develop a predictive model for treatment choice based on the molecular subtypes and transcriptome profiles in breast cancer. Read More

Topics: Analytics + Data Science

Can We Prevent Misinformation In Science News? | Discovery Through Data
May 3, 2018
Miscommunication and misinterpretation can impact science news as it moves from the lab to the public. This miscommunication could be due to poor communication style, technical nuance, or sensationalized media headlines. Mahesh Rao was curious to dig into how the science community could better communicate Read More

Topics: Analytics + Data Science

Data Science Students Present at Metro Data Day
May 1, 2018
Two of our Data Science bootcamp students, Evan Lancaster and Mahesh Rao, and our Data Science instructor, Mary van Valkenburg, were invited to present at the inaugural Metro Data Day last Friday. Evan and Mahesh shared the insights they gained from their work with the Metro Nashville property violations data project. Read More

Topics: Student Stories, Community, Analytics + Data Science

What Makes A Song Popular? | Discovery Through Data
Apr 24, 2018
As a musician, Taylor Perkins knew his Data Science mid-course project had to involve music. Taylor wondered, “What makes a great song? What makes a popular song? Is there some secret formula that just draws in listeners?” He hypothesized that the energy and key of the song are important factors for a popular song and explored that in his project. Read More

Topics: Analytics + Data Science

Bring Your Skills With You | Graduate Spotlight
Apr 19, 2018
Are you in a career you love, but don’t see any growth opportunity? Becoming a software developer may allow you to pivot your career. Some of our graduates find jobs as junior software developers in the same industry or that utilize the skills they built before bootcamp. Jesse Page was able to pivot and still use her sound design skills. Read More

Topics: Student Stories

Does It Pass The Bechdel Test? | Discovery Through Data
Apr 18, 2018
Have you heard of the Bechdel Test? The test is a simple three point check that examines the gender imbalance in movies. Shruti Sharma decided to examine the Bechdel Test for her data science mid-course project. She explained, “I think it is an insightful way of looking at the issue of gender imbalance and how skewed its representation in pop culture is.” Read More

Topics: Analytics + Data Science