IU #026: My boss gave me this tip and it transformed my data career

I had an awesome coaching session on Monday.

I want to keep the client anonymous, so let’s call her Sarah.  

Sarah felt lost in her career. She had a lot of work experience but wasn’t sure where to go next.

During the session, I remembered incredible career advice that an ex-boss told me 10 years ago.

It’s helped transform my career. On Monday, I shared it with Sarah and today, I’m going to share it with you.

Insights from Sarah’s coaching session

Sarah was wondering, ‘Which data role is for me?’

After 2 years working as a data engineer, she wasn’t sure which role to apply for:

• Data analyst?

• Senior data engineer?

• Data scientist?

• Cloud engineer?

We started by discussing what Sarah liked about her work.

Sarah enjoyed:

• Problem-solving

• Working with other people

• Collecting data requirements

• Analysing data.

But what didn’t she like?

She didn’t like debugging data pipelines.

I asked why because debugging data pipelines is a similar skill set to collecting data requirements (which she does enjoy). They both require problem-solving.

We realised that debugging data pipelines is more like talking to a computer.

Collecting requirements are more about working with other people.  

Data careers give you so much choice.

This is fascinating to me because Sarah likes working with other people.

But she’s also super technical and enjoys getting into the details.

This is a tricky one because most technical roles involve working alone (which she doesn’t want).

I initially thought of a consulting role or a data analyst role because there is a lot of stakeholder management.

The more we talked, the more the theme of ‘working with other people’ kept coming through.

That’s when I remembered this fantastic career advice.

A few years ago, I used to meet my ex-boss for coffee.

He helped me think about my career.

His advice for job-seekers?

‘Don’t think about your next job role. Plan for the one after that.’

So, that’s what we did.

Sarah and I stopped thinking so short term.

Forget next role. What about the one after that?

We talked about how Sarah wanted to be a manager one day.

Why’s that?

Because she wants to involved in business decisions. She also wants to guide younger people’s development.

But if she goes more technical now, she may not gain the management experience. Or the business strategy experience.

In 3-4 years, if Sarah wants to be in a leadership or business releated role, maybe she needs to find a job that is a stepping-stone.

More management experience.

More business experience.

There are so many options

Some roles would allow her to have a graduate, intern or junior member reporting into her.

Maybe that should be her focus? Not a job that focuses on more technical skills. She already has loads of those.

In 2-3 years time, she could say,

• I’m super technical

• But I have also managed 2-3 people

• And I’ve been involved in driving the business strategy

All of that together will give her the best chance of landing her a senior data or management role in a couple of years.

But the wrong direction now may rule that out.

That’s why this tip is so powerful.  

So, what’s next for Sarah?

Sarah has another 1:1 coaching session booked with me for next week.

She’s gone to do some research:

• Find the job she wants in 2-5 years’ time. A more senior role that is currently out of reach.

• Map out what is missing from her career experience and skills.

• Find a job (for now) that would get her that missing experience.

It’s a powerful tip:

‘Don’t think about your next job role. Plan for the one after that.’

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Got a question?

1) You can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michae1di11on/

I post free tips at 12.30 (GMT) every day. Let’s chat in the comments 🙂 

2) Or hit reply and talk via email: [email protected]