I originally graduated from engineering, and after four years of working in the manufacturing industry, I hoped to make a career change. WeCloudData was the first educational platform I came across in data and analytics. After a couple of courses on machine learning coupled with my huge interest in the field, I decided to advance down this path. However, it was a very difficult decision considering my background and lack of working experience in data. Despite a massive job hunt and over 100 applications, I secured interviews on less than 5% of my applications, and didn’t receive any offers over 6-months.
After several career counselling sessions with Eric and the completion of WeCloudData’s data analytics bootcamp, I decided to join the career mentorship program at WeCareer. This program pairs a candidate with an industry professional for a one-on-one career planning and professional portfolio build-up. My mentor offered not only professional guidance but also personal growth plan that was tailored to my background and competencies.
Initially, we had discussions about my background and future expectations. Following these discussions about my needs, desires and expectations, we narrowed down the targeted job streams to help identify a more specific goal. We then dove deep into the key qualifications and how to prepare, focusing on how to stand out among the other candidates.
I recall during the first several discussions, the mentor presented me an insider view of a typical day in the position, and what my responsibilities would be. The description was surprisingly different than how I had imagined it. We also spent a great deal of time analyzing similar job requirements. The mentor went through each point to explain what qualities the hiring manager would be looking for and why they would require such skills in the day-to-day tasks. This helped correct a large amount of my misunderstanding as an outsider. This improved my resume and interview experiences substantially because I understood how to efficiently and effectively position myself and highlight key competencies that best meet their needs. This was the major obstacle I failed to realize before joining the program, and I’m not sure I could’ve overcome it if I hadn’t been taught by an actual industry professional.
Beyond simply upgrading my resume, the mentor also provided studying materials and required me to study on the side to improve my technical skills. Upon receiving interviews, based on job postings, the mentor worked with me to prepare for technical questions and organize short stories to support behavioral questions. He also highlighted the key requirements that were likely to be asked or tested based on the nature of the roles. After each round we took time to reflect on the questions and review what could be improved next time.
Eric and my mentor connected me to several other professionals in the industry. I really appreciated this because building a professional network in a new industry generally takes time and is quite challenging for a newcomer. It was thanks to my mentor and my peers continuous support, that I was able to smoothly adapt to my new position.
Looking back on this journey, the most valuable lesson I learned was the importance of quality research, and the value in speaking with and learning from industry professionals to obtain thorough understanding of each role’s expectations. In-depth understanding of jobs and their responsibilities allow candidates to:
- Showcase themselves in a way that demonstrates their ability to fulfill the role
- Accurately identify the gap and efficiently focus effort to close the gap.
This is where I found WeCareer provided the most value to my career transition.
After almost a year in my current role, I am very glad I made this career shift and thankful I reached out to WeCloudData for help.
