Memoirs of a Data Janitor

The dirty work behind clean dashboards.

I often joke that I'm not a data analyst so much as a data janitor. Day after day, I mop up messy spreadsheets, sweep away outliers, and scrub timestamps until they shine. It's not glamorous work.

There are no awards for "Best Null Value Cleaner" or "Fastest CSV Formatter." But here's the secret every seasoned analyst knows: insights are only as good as the cleanliness of your data kitchen.

The unsexy chores of data preparation lay the groundwork for any breakthrough. Early in my career, I resisted this truth. I wanted to jump straight into cool algorithms and dazzling visualizations.

Reality hit hard the first time a model failed spectacularly because of a few rogue data entries I hadn't checked. Humility smells a bit like stale coffee at 2 AM when you're reconciling records line by line.

Over time, I learned to find zen in the cleanup. There's a quiet satisfaction in knowing everything balances to zero, or that every ID matches across systems. It's the kind of integrity that no one sees, but everyone feels in the final results.

So yes, call me a data janitor with pride. In a world obsessed with shiny AI and silver-bullet solutions, I'll be here in the background with my mop and bucket, making sure the truth doesn't slip on a banana peel.