allWomen Masterclass: Five Data Skills they don’t teach you at school
On Data Science, soft skills, personal and professional growth
When you google “the sexiest job of the century” or the “sexiest field of the century” everything that pops up is related to Data Science.
If you are bold enough and go even further with the research in order to find what makes a Data professional great, you might be at a loss. The field Data Science lies at a crossroads between 3 other disciplines : Math, Computer Science and Business Acumen. Nevertheless, pursuing the right mix of skills, both soft and technical, might not be as easy as you think for a aspirant in this field.
In January 2021, an article on important job skills for Data Scientists listed over 100 skills that are valued in the field. Well, mastering all these skills would actually make you a Data Science Unicorn. But we all know that Unicorns don’t exist in the real world.
However, the question “On what skills should I focus as an aspiring Data Scientist?” remains a valid one. Tammy Liang, the Chief of Data at Platanomelón, held a Masterclass within the AllWomen community, on this specific topic, sharing insights about her experience in the field from a Junior position up to Chief of Data.
During her talk, she broke down 5 Data skills they don’t teach you at school.
1. Business Understanding
Even though this particular skill might be seen as cliché, among Junior Data Scientists there is this tendency to focus on developing the technical skills, to prove yourself that you have the technical knowledge that will enable you to find the most suitable solutions for the business problem you are trying to solve.
However, if you want your work to have an impact on the business, take a step back and try to envision the bigger picture. Ask yourself:
- Why do we need to take on this project, as a team?
- What is our mission?
- How is my contribution helping in this business concept?
Our world is constantly changing and businesses need to adapt to new markets, new customer requirements and new behaviors. As a Data person, your tasks might change from one day to another as new challenges arise. You might be asked to drop a project , just to start another one . And having a proper understanding of the business world, allows you to understand why decisions that at first glance seem rushed, need input from your team. It also gives you a certain level of autonomy while working, a skill that is often highly valued by managers that don’t afford to micro-manage.
2. Proactive & resourceful Owner
How does a teammate look like in terms of day-to-day activities, know-how or area of expertise?
A Good Teammate is responsive, productive and reliable. He follow
thoroughly what needs to be done and respect the deadlines established.
He is not afraid to say ”I don’t know” and will always ask his teammates for help or he will find the answers individually.
And he will mostly deploy their expertise to deliver efficiently within their work.
However, an Amazing Teammate will propose initiatives and proactively contribute to the team’s assignment while helping others when needed.
He will actively search for internal and external resources, and then discusses found options.
Most importantly, he will continue learning and improving while actively teaching and mentoring others.
The management can’t hold hands and help everyone in the team on a daily basis; that’s why amazing teammates, who own the projects are valued: they are given a task, they do their research and exhaust all the resources and come back with potential solutions.
Once you’ve proved you can be the owner you can also expect more room for personal and professional growth.
3. Communication & Feedback
How do you cope with hard conversations?
As Tammy puts it, women tend to be more empathetic, we have a hard time starting conversations that could potentially hurt one’s feelings; we like to discuss it more in an official setting, we either keep it to ourselves or we end up oversharing with our friends and family.
Nonetheless, the best approach is to have a direct conversation with the person you’re disagreeing with. It’s not an easy task and it is considered to be an art by some experts, but there are some tips and tricks that can guide you though.
📌 Seek clarification when you’re lost
More often than not, if you are lost it’s not your fault, as the management also has the responsibility to delegate the task clearly and make the team member know where the team is going.
Seeking clarification, is also important for management to know when the team is not fully synced.
📌 Be transparent → feedback builds trust, satisfaction and growth
A trusting environment is vital for effective feedback; there are numerous team-building trust exercises one method to build confidence is the START, CONTINUE, STOP method.
- “you need to START doing more of X, it will help you to..”
- “you should CONTINUE doing Y, it’s great way to…”
- “I would advise you to STOP doing Z”
Just make sure you convey that you are coming with the best intentions and always give actionable suggestions.
4. Personal Growth and Career Development
At the current pace the job market and the world around us are changing, personal growth and career development are something any person should have in the back of their mind.
A long life learner and a constant explorer herself, Tammy explains that caring about these aspects “ it’s also a matter of being satisfied and content. If you’re learning everyday, keeping yourself intellectually intrigued , you’re prone to be more engaged and dedicated to your work.”
But, how can you constantly foster this growth mindset on a personal and professional level? Tammy suggested two ways:
📌 Plan your Career Development
Start by taking baby steps and question yourself:
- What do you like?
- What you want for your career?
- Which pillars of your career do you want to develop?
- Do you want to grow stronger as individual contributor, by taking your technical skills to the next level?
- Or do you want to develop you management skills?
Think in terms of “what am I most passionate about, what are the items on my to do list that get done without even crossing my mind to procrastinate”?
📌 Be Vocal and Ask for Help
Once you’ve got that figured out, approach your team leader or manager, talk about strategies and seek guidance and mentorship.
5. Document your work
Yes, it might be a boring subject, but often the benefits of this, somewhat tedious task, are overlooked.
Tammy shared with us her personal experience and raised awareness on 4 of the advantages of properly documenting your work.
- Stakeholders info sharing
- Team Collaboration
- Further Development
- Portfolio building
In fewer words
- Develop business understanding to connect your coding skills to the bigger landscape
- Take ownership, be the proactive and resourceful amazing teammate
- Have honest communication and give constructive feedback, this is the path to trust and growth
- Plan your Career Development and ask for mentorship
- End your projects with a 5 stars Documentation
If you want to find out more about Tammy and her journey as Data professional, watch her masterclass on allWomen’s Crowdcast channel.
