As a part of our consultancy training, I spent time this week with another data schooler at a large telecoms company. During this time, I got valuable exposure to what life will look like after training. Through this reflective log, I will detail what I took from the day, things that surprised me, and some thoughts for the future.
Start of the Day: The Stand-up
Having arrived on the premises (always give yourself a bit more time than you need! I got a little lost), and catching up with my colleague, it was time for the start of the working day. The first item on the agenda was the daily stand-up, where team members briefly (1-3 minutes each) review their progress, blockers, and next steps. Sitting in on this meeting shed light upon some of the practises now common across data teams, something which we don't get much insight into during training.
Across the finish line: Finishing the Sprint
After the sprint, I debriefed with my shadowee and we discussed the development cycle of the team. This is managed by a software called Jira, which enables agile, kanban-based project management across multiple teams. Development at this company is based upon two week sprints, where tasks are assigned and reviewed over this time period. Luckily, the day I was shadowing was also the end of a two week development sprint. This meant that I could sit-in on a Sprint Review, a meeting that takes place after the end of every sprint which involves communicating work achieved to high-level stakeholders. I was able to assist my shadowee by bouncing some chart sketch ideas across each other.
During the sprint review, I was able to observe the outputs of the whole team across the last two weeks. This ranged from data engineering projects to building Tableau dashboards to creating dynamic metrics through Tableau Pulse. Even in a short space of time I was able to learn quite a lot!
After the sprint review, I was able to go through some dbt with my shadowee, which is something we don't get to use during typical training!
Cooldown: Reflections Upon the Day
After I'd finished shadowing, I took some time to reflect on the lessons I'd learned throughout the day. Here are my top three takeaways:
Ask lots of questions: One key piece of advice from my shadowee was to gather information as quickly as possible when starting a new placement. He stressed writing everything down to decrease onboarding time, allowing you to get up to speed and benefit the team ASAP.
Know your stakeholders: It's crucial to make time to get to know the people you'll be working with. Building this relationship establishes trust and is essential for the information-gathering mission mentioned above.
Embrace the power of agile working: While we've touched upon agile in training, it was fascinating to see the intricacies of the system Myles' team deploys. It was easy to see the clear benefits this provided to both management and team members, and it gave me plenty of food for thought regarding my own work processes.