2021 Year in review

It's that time of the year again. Here's looking back on the year that was 2021.

Awarded funding for a Machine Learning project

In 2019 I was awarded Health Research Council (HRC) funding for a Machine Learning project. The HRC is a New Zealand Government agency that invests in health research. Work on the project began in early 2021 and is still ongoing.

The project's goal is to develop Machine Learning models for predicting Hospital Admissions from the Emergency Department. I'm the sole person on the project and have been responsible for every aspect from Data Engineering, to Predictive Modelling, to Deployment.

It's been a steep learning curve, at times frustrating and slow, but ultimately a very satisfying project to have worked on. I'll write more about what I learned on the project when completed in the first quarter of 2022.

Wrote eight articles

With most of my free time in 2021 dedicated to my Machine Learning project, I naturally spent less time on the site. Still, I managed to complete eight articles that covered many useful things.

In reverse chronological order:

• Logistic Regression in Python with statsmodels
• Multi-file LaTeX Documents with Pylatex
• Four ways to forward-fill values in T-SQL (the last non NULL problem)
• The Table Value Constructor (aka the VALUES keyword)
• Clinical Natural Language Processing in Python
• Identify consecutive values in SQL Server
• Identify non-consecutive values in SQL Server
• Placeholder Text (String Interpolation) in T-SQL

Into 2022

While I'm reluctant to make plans (based on my 2021 experience), here is my thinking for 2022.

• Machine Learning: Some of the specifics around Machine Learning in Python.
• Discussion/Opinion pieces: These will be more idea or concept-based and reflections on my own experience rather than detailed how-tos.
• Site improvements: I parked work on the site in 2021, but I'd still like to build in a dark mode as well as explore responsive design.

Summing up

The most significant learning from 2021 would be to take opportunities when and where they present themselves. You'll never know what'll happen!

Thanks for reading in 2021.