Ivy Mar 08, 2018 No Comments
We spoke to one of our successful Alumni, Shromona on her thoughts about Women in the field of Analytics in general and along the way came to her story of switching gears from Geology to Analytics! Read on!
Analytics looks to be a male dominated career. Are things changing? Your thoughts.
Women have a better footing in analytics than any other STEM field. Nearly half of all analytics professionals are women. An article published in Forbes Magazine says that almost half of degrees in math and statistics are earned by women. And Women statisticians are influential in many countries – 47 of the world’s 190 statistical offices are headed by women. In fact, in India also we have some very intelligent women who have carved a niche for themselves in the analytics community both in India and abroad. Indian women such as Dr Radhika Kulkarni, Rwitwika Bhattacharya, Mamatha Upadhyaya, and Ujjyaini Mitra, Vidya Subramanian Analytics Leader, Apple. Saigeetha A J is a senior data scientist at IBM is amongst India’s Top 10 data S. As my present role involves a mix of Analytic skills and a lot of research is required which involves tenacity and perseverance to obtain certain inputs crucial to the process. There is a lot of competition in the team, but women are fast learners and have better adaptive skills.
Do you think Women make better Analysts than Men?
Definitely. Women have a better analytical acumen and their attention to details means they can catch the minor variations and trends which in turn drive the better decision. Women are experts in soft skills which is an important trait to survive in the industry.
24% of the workforce of coders are women. Exclusive women-centric coding events like the TechGig Geek Goddess which is one of India’s largest coding festivals are held which only goes on to show that the industry recognises the vast potential of women these days.
Women are known to be good at multitasking, does that have a role to play in being a good Analyst?
Multitasking is something women have proved themselves at since time immemorial. They are better at distributing their time and can take up multiple challenges at a go, which is I think is a really important part of being an Analyst. As an Analyst, you have to study the data, drill down, do a lot of dicing and slicing with the data & draw insights using different sets of tools. We just need to play around with numbers and technology with ease, break the stereotypes, and view this field with a different lens.
How difficult is it for someone who is not from Economics/ Statistics background to get into Analytics?
Being from a different background has its own set of challenges. I am a Masters of Sciences in Geology myself. But at the end of the day, it’s all about data. Data is generated everywhere. No matter what the background you need to have a passion for analyzing data, that urge to deep dive into the dataset to obtain results and an eye for detail. There are vast opportunities for someone who is willing to sweat it out literally. I was reading a study published by Analytics India Magazine where it said that the number of analytics jobs had almost doubled from 2016-2017 and is expected to grow further.
The study also said that the most sought after skills companies are looking for are in R and Python, with almost 36 per cent of advertised analytics jobs in India demanding R as a core skill and another 30 per cent Python, followed by Hadoop, SAS and Spark, among others.
What are the challenges you faced in your journey as an Analyst?
The main challenge I had was the fact that I come from a different background. It was a challenge to convince the interviewers why the shift in career. But the time when I shifted into Analytics was just right. With a big wave towards digitalization in India, everything is about data. have been extremely lucky to have studied the Business Analytics course at Ivy Pro –Kolkata under the industry stalwarts like Eeshani Mam, Prateek Sir, Subhojit Sir. From day one Eeshani Mam’s career path has been very inspirational. The care and passion with which the faculties teach to make you want to stretch every single day. All the faculties at Ivy are extremely helpful and help you make the right decisions. They have been instrumental in helping me carve out a niche for me in this field. Currently, I’m working as a financial analyst for the largest beer manufacturing companies in the world and I owe my success to my mentors & faculties of Ivy.
What is your advice to other women who are looking at moving into Analytics?
It’s a very exciting time to be in Analytics now, certainly a rewarding career to have as Analytics has become pervasive & invisible with its omnipresence. According to a report by Nasscom, “the Big Data analytics sector in India is expected to witness an eight-fold growth by 2025 – from the current $2 billion to $16 billion ”. But be prepared to be thrown out of your comfort zone. It is extremely vital to understand the importance of reskilling in an ever-evolving industry. Due to the fast-growing digitalization across sectors and the onset of new technologies newer skill development is indispensable right now. Already the industry has welcomed Big Data Analytics, IoT, Blockchain, AI to name a few which are expected to drive the industry in 2018. But just knowing how to perform well in one’s own job by meeting all KPI’s is no longer enough. As the proliferation of new tools and technologies can be overwhelming, it is important to be at the forefront of all the development. There is a need to do a lot of groundwork, keep learning, innovating and understand the business if you want to go ahead and make a long-term career out of it.
From Team Ivy –
Thank You Shromona for sharing your thoughts with us. Wish you good luck!
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