How's everyone's week so far? I hope it's a good one!

This week I got selected to be a top writer in Leadership on Medium! I didn't even know it was a thing. Thanks for all the strangers' readership. It means a lot to me when you read my work and come to me with questions. I answer all questions on Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

This week I realized we need to scale up our cloud architecture with source-system-pipelines on top of the use-case ones we already have to ensure better “data plumbing”. That is, our analytics functions are growing!

It’s a pain in the neck, but a growing one, which is good.

This year starts off with a lot of layoffs. With the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, you need to know how to stay ahead.

Here is how you become unfirable in data analytics:

How to Become Unfirable in Data Analytics

Are you a skilled partner or a skilled worker?

Both Bob and Barry were Power BI developers at the same skill level. They worked for companies that were similar in size and structure.

Let’s see what happened to Bob first.

Bob, the Skilled Worker

The marketing team wanted a dashboard that showed how well the marketing campaigns were doing for different business units.

Bob only took notes during their first meeting.

He didn’t ask questions.

He suggested nothing, even though he had some good ideas.

The team handed the data over. A few weeks later, he delivered a dashboard. He moved on to make dashboards for other teams.

He never talked to the marketing team again. The dashboard wasn’t tailored to their needs because the interaction was one-sided.

The marketing team felt the value provided wasn’t good enough. Other teams felt the same way about Bob.

When the company needed to cut costs, Bob was gone.

Now let’s see what happened to Barry.

Barry, the Skilled Partner

Barry showed up at the project kick-off meeting with intent.

He took the time to listen to the questions and concerns the marketing team had. He paused and described what they shared in his own words.

At the end of the meeting, he understood what they liked and what the timeline was set for the project. He started making the dashboard and providing weekly updates.

During the week, he asked questions via IM or email. To get instant feedback, he initiated video meetings to demo new features.

Whenever he noticed data quality issues, he shared them with the team immediately.

The team appreciated the regular communication from Barry and asked for more feedback.

Barry delivered a dashboard that was exactly what the team needed.

He went on and built more dashboards for other teams. People loved working with Barry because he took the time to understand their needs.

When the company needed to cut costs.

Barry stayed because he was an important partner for their data analytics needs.

Are You Bob Or Barry?

You need to be a skilled partner, not just a skilled worker.

Tech skills are important, but only to an extent. Many aspire to do more than just producing dashboards and performing ad hoc analyses.

What Does It Take To Take Your Career to the Next Level?

Be part of the value, not part of the cost.

A non-tech audience has a hard time articulating their needs. It’s up to you to help them describe their problems and lead them in the right direction.

You’re their therapist in these meetings.

As you become a partner in all you do, work gets easier and better. Your career will spring forward.

Choose to be a partner. Take proactive actions to understand your stakeholders. You’ll be surprised how a little extra work can take you further than expected.

If you like me to

1) guest post on your platform,

2) provide copy writing service, and

3) help with data project management.

Feel free to book a discovery call via Calendly here.

I'm also on Medium. Read more here:

Join Medium membership and read more of my articles!

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If you love what you read, give me a shoutout here:

I'm now available for podcast guest appearances! You can find all my details and get in touch to book interviews via this link below.

https://www.matchmaker.fm/podcast-guest/mo-villagran-f84572?utm_source=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=profile

Besides writing about data project management, I also write novels. I recently discovered this Podcast by Jim Woods. I asked him how to find an editor. He recorded a short episode to answer my question. I'm just impressed by people's kindness online!

If you'd like to give better presentations at work and hone your public speaking skills, let Christopher transform you into star speakers.

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• Great podcasts on communication here.

• If you're into finance, check out below. I've learned so much from her.