Hi everyone, I'm Jordan — or Jordy.

My background is in Oceanography. I hold a B.Sc. in Marine Science with Arctic Studies, an M.Sc. in Climate Change: Impacts and Mitigation, and a PhD in Oceanography. I've also completed two postdocs — one delivering an education programme for high school students, and a second in plankton research.

My major academic focus was on marine organisms called chaetognaths — very cool, worm-like creatures that fill the oceans and, though they look alike, survive by species-specific strategies. Working on them let me publish in high-ranking journals such as Progress in Oceanography and Marine Ecology Progress Series.

But it was during that time that I realised my true love — data. I love working with datasets, regardless of subject, to answer complex questions.

Part of that interest is tied to an important part of my identity. I'm autistic, and was diagnosed as an adult a couple of years ago. Autistic communities call the thing autistic people love to do their "special interest" — and yeah, data is mine. Isn't it amazing that behind all those numbers might lie a solution that could help us understand something better, or positively impact society?

Many companies are recognising the value neurodivergent people bring, and some data companies are exclusively hiring autistic people for their pattern-finding, detail-noticing, "don't give up" mindset.

Once you have the right person, you also need the right tool — and for me that's R Studio. I've been teaching it (mostly on Microsoft Teams) to about 100 students in the last several years, with great reviews.