Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion with members of the data analytics cohort at Nashville Software School. Technical bootcamps are awesome, and we need more people upskilling or changing careers.
The roundtable was on Job Hunting and Finding a Mentor. I certainly don’t think I am an expert, but by happenstance, I just got a new job (my fifth since 2017, don’t judge), and also trained and mentored at previous gig, so hopefully I had some helpful advice. At the end of the night I realized I could boil down my advice to three tenets.
#1 – Lean Into Your Experiences
What makes you is what you are selling in a job interview. It is also fundamental to what you may be looking to do in your next role.
Make sure that you feature your background, regardless of where you coming from; tech, not tech, life… and weave that into your story and make it part of your narrative. Don’t shy away from that, use it.
As a data example…say I used to work at Taco Bell and I saw every day the long drive thru times, how could I consume that data, how could I visualize it, how could Taco Bell make more money.
When thinking about that next job or next role, consider your background too. Maybe your background is more creative, so you want to find something in tech, but appeals to that, or maybe you have a math or engineering background, help that guide you.
#2 – Always Be Learning
Where I just started at Slalom, I had a recent seminar on Knower versus Learner Mindset, and that really struck me.
The reason I love tech, the reason I get up in the morning, is to constantly be learning. The more I know, the more I know I am not an expert. Expert level knowledge is a nirvana, but every day I can work towards it. Don’t be afraid to ask others, maybe you have used this tech and they haven’t or vice versa, maybe someone else knows this business domain and you want to learn it. Ask, listen, and grow.
#3 – SQL
The last one is very concrete and close to my heart.
SQL is core to data technologies. Every day there is a new stack, a new vendor, but SQL has been here for 40+ years (Wikipedia says 48) and is core to so much in the data space. Learning SQL is beneficial to whatever you data role you take.
However, maybe I don’t just mean the Structured Query Language in all it’s flavors…maybe I am lumping in there, understanding databases and relational algebra at some core level. Understand how to break apart a problem, how to optimize and improve your code or analysis.
I’d love to hear how other people think about job hunting, career growth, finding a mentor, being a mentor. And all the reason SQL is old tech and Python is King.
