Interview: Being a mentor in the data space
Why did you decide to become a mentor?
To me a mentor has a few roles: they are supposed to be inspiring, to advise them to reach their career goals. I believe a mentor can guide you through your career and help you stay true. I wanted to be a mentor on Mentor Cruise because I can connect with different people from around the world and help them on their career journey.
I have mentees who are on different journey’s from career breaks, career change, getting the next promotion and becoming more aware about the data space and technologies. I find this interesting and I find satisfaction helping others like minded like me who are open to learning and improving everyday.
How did you get your career start?
As a financial analyst in my early career, I was exposed to data technologies such as SQL. I found it intriguing and learned from my mentor how important dealing with structured data is to any organisation. I knew I wanted to work in the data sector in the long run and advance my career in this field.
My finance analyst profession did not give me many coding possibilities. Like other data professionals, I did not study SQL as part of my degree, so I contacted my mentor, who was essential in assisting me with a career pivot.
I recall my mentor showing me several internet resources, such as technical articles, blog posts, how to start a pet project, and books to read. These sites help me to get inspiration. He gave me good advice that inspired me to pursue a full-time position working within a business intelligence analyst role. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who guided me, and I am now working full-time in an analytics engineer role.
How do you usually set up mentorships?
Our initial discussion would involve me assessing where you are on your journey. I would understand your current circumstance, and we’ll create a roadmap together, and arrange regular check-ins. We would essentially set actions to reach your goal, for example if you are looking to change jobs, we would understand how we can promote your profile, create the interview opportunities and pass the interviews! Doing all that we can set expectations and timelines of the mentorship.
My style is that I would be more focused on the strategic aspect of landing the job, i.e. actions you need to take and gaps that you may be missing. We could talk about technical coding problems/skills like python and data structures. This depends on how you would like to arrange our sessions, so I am totally flexible.
What are you getting out of being a mentor?
The data space, like other technologies, is always changing, and there are many tools available on the market. I enjoy discussing the benefits and drawbacks of them. A recent example, a mentor asked me what is the difference and similarities between Databricks vs. Snowflake tools? Answering these questions are not typical conversations in my full-time job, which I find stimulating.
I’m enthusiastic about anything that will help people flourish. If you’re ever needing mentorship, portfolio reviews, resume reviews, or anything else, I’m game.
https://mentorcruise.com/mentor/richiewong/
