A few years back, I made a lateral transition from software engineering to data analytic. It seems less uncommon for software engineers to make this lateral move. Typically, they stay in the same role, maybe switch to a different company, become a manager or a software architect. But after almost three years in this role, I am still very much glad that I made this transition. Even I had to take a pay cut in the beginning and the pay band is lower.
A data analyst’s responsibilities can be different depending on the company. My formal role is called BI data analyst. Some of my tasks are cleaning, shaping, combining data, providing analysis, and creating a dashboard for business users, with a little bit of data engineer work (although it won’t be as technical as data engineer).
Without a further due, here are 5 reasons why I enjoy my role in data analytics
I get to interact with many users from different department
Although I am an introvert, I enjoy one on one interaction with people. This is one of the most favorite parts of the role, which is building relationships with my customers. I like to get to know my users and help them, which makes me feel that I have a direct impact on my users.
Whereas, in my previous role, I spent most of my time debugging software issues and writing codes. Often, I feel alone in this role, although arguably I can still get human interaction by talking to my coworkers. However, it is probably still limited compared to a data analyst where you almost have to talk to the users (or otherwise you couldn’t get your stuff done).
In addition, I just enjoy the opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds. I personally found it is interesting to learn how finance, marketing and product, and other departments work and what they are striving for.
I have more autonomy and flexibility over my work and schedule
I worked in two companies as a data analyst and this is my experience so far. If there is a big project, typically you will meet the user/users first and then you get to ask lots of questions. After understanding their needs, then you start gathering the data, create a data model, design the dashboard and send the whole product and your analysis afterward. You will work by yourself and get to decide when you deliver this. If you stumble upon a problem – extending this by a day or two is unlikely to cause a problem. Although this is a rare case, I am fortunate that I have had a pleasing experience with my customers and most of them would understand if I have any issues.
While as a software engineer, I worked with two weeks sprint schedule, and typically, I would have to get the task done in the first week so the QAs can test my feature. So, I don’t get to decide when to complete this, and if I have to delay my delivery, it will for sure impact others, which makes me even more stressed.
Another role I had was an operational business analyst role as well for two months, and the work schedule is even more strict. So for instance at 9.15 am – I have to pull certain data and at 11 am – I have to send this file to x department. So almost every hour, there is a set of tasks I have to finish. So that’s even more stressful, and I did not get a lot of downtimes.
Now flexibility over deadline can also depend on your manager. I worked with two different managers, one of them was really hands-off, and the other is more demanding. For instance, this manager won’t be happy if I take more than a week to complete an analysis and if I have some problems, his question would be – when you will complete this, then? Which is obviously super helpful (please if you are a manager, don’t do this).
But still, overall, I have had more autonomy and flexibility, which I really really value.
I can employ my creativity
My favorite part of the role is building the data visualization which communicates the insight you’ve covered. I think it’s fun and I can employ my creativity when designing the dashboard. I also enjoy slicing and dicing and answer my own questions – I am a naturally curious person and probably ask more questions than I can find an answer lol. Also, I think it is pretty cool to see my imaginative ideas turning into a real product and being used by business users.
I get to learn different analysis techniques to uncover insights
Last year, I got to learn a few analysis techniques such as cohort and RFM analysis and use them. We uncover that most users are not returning to extend their software licenses. Because of this, they decided to change the strategy by creating a cheaper bundle with the hope it will entice existing users. With the tool that I created, the product analysts can monitor if their strategy works. Although many techniques require stats and I’m not super good at it, but I think it’s cool to use these techniques and uncover some insights in the data.
Help people make a more informed decision
The essence of data analytics is turning observation and information into insights. Helping people to make a more informed decision makes me feel that I have more of an impact on the company.
I myself made a lot of mistakes in the past and probably some of these could have been avoided easily If I had better information at my had. But well, what can one do? Past is past. The goal resonates with me a lot that hopefully learning how to analyze data can help me think more critically about the decision I have to make in the future.
How about you? What’s your favorite part about working in data analytics?
Thank you for stopping by!
Vi, a software engineer with a keen interest in personal finance, had planned to retire once she reached her lean FI/RE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) goal. However, after achieving the goal, she took few months of a mini-retirement filled with travel and adventure and decided to continue her career.
For the past five years, Vi has been using Personal Capital (Empower), a free financial tool. Her favorite features include the dashboard for net worth, allocation, and planning, which help track her FI/RE goal and keep those investment fees in check.