Career Growth Tips for Data Scientists at Big Companies
My personal feeling is that large companies could benefit from having scientifically minded and data driven people in positions of leadership, especially in areas responsible for innovation and making data driven decisions. For anyone working as a Data Scientists at a big company: think about where you want to go next in your career and start making moves early in your career to show your interest and gain critical experience.
Types of Growth for Data Scientists
Data Scientist is already, by itself, a high level technical role which usually requires a higher education and/or more experience. Still, there is always room to grow, but you need to ask yourself: do I want to grow as a “technical” leader or a “people” leader? Both are fine paths, but you should be honest with yourself on what is a better path for you.
Do you already spend extra time researching new technology or modeling methods? Is that a chore to do or something you do for fun? If the pursuit of technical knowledge and competency is your jam and you enjoy teaching others, then pursuing growth as a technical leader is good for you. Senior and lead data scientists are often the lead on projects. While they may be leaders in that sense, they don’t always have direct reports. Without direct reports, the experience of managing people and their careers is never really a part of the job of a technical leader. Having direct reports is a good sign of people leadership though.
Another type of leader you can grow into is sometimes referred to as a “people leader”, and from what I can tell is that growth in this area means being good at managing people and teams and working across departments and large initiatives. So, if you find yourself wondering about how a business unit is structured in terms of the resources allocated to unit and what technology stack they use, you might be interested in becoming a people leader. Being a mentor and helping other employees in their career trajectory is also a part of the job.
How to Grow As a Technical Leader
If your goal is to end up as a leader in the technical space, and your currently work as a data scientist, then you’re already on the right track. Being a lead or senior data scientist means being a source of technical information and experience, as well as being a person that can help guide a project. You will need to show that you are confident in your skill set and be able to…wait for it…communicate effectively.
Yes. Just being smarter than your colleagues won’t qualify you for the lead data scientist position, especially when you’ll be selected to communicate your team’s work and roadmap more often. Perhaps there will come a day when Lead data scientists are only tasked with being more experienced with the technical aspects of the job, but usually they are also responsible for socializing the work of data science to the larger organization.
A quality I see in lead data scientists is the ability to see the work currently being done in the larger context of how it affects the business as a whole. To get that quality for yourself, ask to be on more meetings with product owners, analysts, subject matter experts, or sales. I know it can be boring sitting in meetings, and it’s awkward the first few times, but I’ve found that you can pick up on what your company truly cares about and what drives the business, which can be helpful to know before moving into a position of leadership.
How to Grow As a People Leader
Patience. Fairness. Transparency. Emotional Intelligence. These are the kind of qualities that you want to see in a people leader. It’s also important when a people leader has the best interests of their employees in mind and is willing to stick up for them. Most employees have little appreciation for people leaders that only have their own best interests at heart, and are especially unappreciative of those people leaders that lash out or throw their employees under the bus.
Now that there is a general understanding of what traits are important to being a people leader, how to does a Data Scientist become one? On one hand, we have the traits of a people leader and on the other hand, we have the titles and responsibilities of a people leader. Having a role of a people leader at a company gives the recognition that many look for, and it usually comes with more responsibility and maybe a higher salary. There’s also different opportunities that come with entering this type of career trajectory, versus the technical one.
Take on planning duties for events, or suggest events to manage. Public events give you the exposure to other people within the company, and having a responsible role at the event tells people about your capability to lead. These are also opportunities to work across business functions. While you might be a Data Scientist, you will need to work with other areas of the business, such as marketing and communications to set up the event. Now you can boast about your collaborative work within the company.
Offer to coach or mentor other employees. Since Data Science is such a hot topic, employees in other departments may have an interest in what you do. Coaching another employee and sharing your passion is a way to gain crucial experience in communication and patience.
Look at job descriptions for managerial and executive positions within the company and read the requirements for the role. For requirements that require many years of experience, think about how you can acquire that type of experience in less time. I’ve read executive job descriptions before and, while excellent, 7 years of experience in executing data science projects may not translate to 7 years experience setting business strategy in a new market.
Lastly, similar to growing as a technical leader, ask to be on those meetings! As long as it doesn’t distract from your day-to-day work, it shouldn’t be a problem. Start thinking about the work you do in the greater context of the company, and learn more about the various business units.
Conclusion
Working as a Data Scientist already grants you the opportunity to gain great technical and interpersonal skills. I think that the experience gained by Data Scientists makes them great candidates for leadership, both as technical leaders and as people leaders. Growth as a leader means getting outside of your comfort zone and being collaborative with other across business units.
