A deep dive into Joon’s journey – from engineer to data analyst

Posted on: June 9, 2024

Post Category: Professional Development

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Joon and I first met around 3 years ago at a virtual Tableau Community catchup event.

It was my second year as a Tableau Student Ambassador and it was his first year as a Tableau Forum Ambassador. 

We kept in touch ever since, and we caught up every now and then whenever we crossed paths. 

At one point, I wanted to apply to IAG when he was working there, and now I guess you can say that we’re both working for the same (big) company – Woolworths Group.

A few weeks ago, Joon actually gave a talk about his Tableau-learning journey, and how to accelerate your learning.

And I figured why not get him to share his journey here…

So here’s his story.

– Jason Khu

Jason:

Can you tell us a bit about your background, what you studied at Uni, and where you currently work?

Joon:

I majored in Engineering at University of Sydney, which led to my first job as a telecommunication engineer, where I held responsibilities ranging from network design and architecture, tenders, governance… to name a few.

Having been in the industry for over 10 years, I transitioned out to insurance before moving across to retail, which is where I am now.

I currently work for Big W as a senior data visualisation specialist, where my key function is – as the title suggests – to generate visualisations of the data to help the wider audience gain better insight through an intuitive and user centric dashboard designs.

Jason:

People who build their career in data analytics often get started in one of four ways: (1) going through a Uni/graduate program, (2) doing a bootcamp, (3) learning from a data analyst-adjacent role, and (4) doing it yourself. Which group(s) do you fall into?

What made you want to pursue or switch your career to data analytics, and what was the process like?

Joon:

After having spent the first few years of my career in a role with major focus on engineering, I stepped into a new business function that provided project governance, which is essentially when my data journey started.

At the start, it was a job, which became an aspiration that later turned into a passion when I discovered Tableau, and a career path as a data visualisation professional.

I first found out about Tableau through work colleagues who suggested that I give it a try to do my reporting. Interestingly, for someone who had no prior experience using a BI tool, I found Tableau to be quite easy to get started.

In hindsight, I feel that is what attracted me, and made me feel more inclined, to take Tableau learning to the next level.

Once I fell in love with Tableau, it became a new hobby, and at that point, not only was I working on my routine reporting, I offered to create dashboards to other teams in the organisation that would help automate their work processes.

Jason:

That’s awesome, Joon!

What were some specific challenges you faced when making that switch – and what were some of the things you did to overcome them?

Joon:

Steep learning curve. Not having any past experience in data meant everything was new and everything had to be learned from scratch.

I did what most people would do – online courses were the easiest way to build the foundation. I leveraged on the new learnings to take on more challenges by proactively going to the stakeholders and offering to help where I can. I feel doing so is what helped me to fast track my learning progress.

Jason:

What would you recommend to someone who comes from a similar background as you – perhaps someone who is thinking about transitioning from their current career into a data analytics one?

What can they do to help themselves learn the skills and land a job?

Joon:

I feel the most important element is going to be the opportunity piece. Finding support from your leader to help you gain exposure to the world of data analytics is going to put you on the right path. This can mean stepping beyond your immediate responsibilities to offer more value to the business, while learning from the granted opportunity.

Upon discovering Tableau, I wanted to explore data visualisation to a greater degree and one way to achieve that was to get involved in projects outside my immediate domain to expand my exposure. Recognising there were opportunities to help adjacent teams uplift their productivity by giving them the insights necessary in a visual way, I sought permission from my manager to undertake such side projects, who was very supportive of my desire to learn something new.

To this day, I am so grateful to my management for giving me that opportunity to step outside my area of responsibility to explore, which ultimately has been the cornerstone in my career development. Having that support from your manager is going to be the key.

Jason:

Is there anything you would do differently with the whole experience? Or is there any advice you would give to yourself back then?

Joon:

One advice I can share with anyone aspiring to step into a career in data analytics (or any other field) is recognising that our lives change only when we “do” the things, which will take us closer to realising that dream. Proactively seek new challenges and never shy away from opportunities.

In my case, I used to take passive stance on many things in life. However, upon discovering Tableau and realising that this is what I love doing, I started to change. I started to think about helping others on their learning journey as I too have been helped along the way by so many kind-hearted individuals.

Getting involved in the Tableau Community Forums activities is such a rewarding and fulfilling experience as you get to see the positive impact that you can have on other peoples’ lives. It was also due to this engagement that has given me an opportunity to participate as a Tableau Ambassador, which once again has been a huge learning experience for me and one that taught me an important life’s lesson. Our lives only change when we do.