3 Non-Analytical Lessons I’ve Learned During My first Year as An Analyst.
When I started my first analyst job, I was ready to apply what I learned in school in the real world. As I approach completing my first full year, and thinking back to what I originally envisioned it feels like worlds apart. I have learned more outside of analytics than I ever thought. All of these different aspects largely contribute to how I am growing as a data scientist. I want to share the top 3 non-analytical skills that will help anyone grow in data science and beyond.
Relationship Building
I started on my new team fully remote and it felt more challenging meeting the people outside of my direct team than I imagined it would be. First, it felt awkward to set so many Zoom meetings when people are tired of meetings and with no introductions. Once I realized I needed to interact with people outside my team and learn more about the department I started interacting with everyone.
Now with remote work meetings, people have to be intentional. There aren’t random interactions that lead to additional introductions. After a year of being on the team, I can say I’ve built some relationships and even started hanging out IRL. To get to this point there has to be intentionality around meeting people outside of your work area and put in work that otherwise would of been easier in the office. It’s sending the IM, setting a time to catch/ catch up, and sticking to it.
Documentation
Documentation is the thing nobody thinks about until you need it. I realized the importance of having proper documentation when I was reading training guides with information that was not relevant anymore. The trick with documentation is to incorporate the process throughout the project lifecycle. It will not only save a ton of time, but you’ll have better details that will come in handy for any presentations that have to get done. Remember- there’s a reason comments are left as you are coding and not just write them after the program is done, hint- because you’ll forget the details.
Curiosity
A large part of what I have learned this past year is thanks to my curious nature. The additional learning I’ve done spending time browsing through data science blogs, and attending virtual conferences has given me insights on how to apply the tools available to me in my job. For example, during the Tableau virtual conference, I attended a session on Snowflake/Tableau best practices. I learned new ways to approach dashboards I hadn’t thought about before and that can enhance my visualization skills.
Summary
It has been a wild first year to say the least! There have been several organizational changes and new bosses. With each change, I used these lessons to help me navigate. I hope this article has been helpful and if you would like to read more about my data science journey, check out some previous articles:
