After a short course in data at university alongside her undergraduate degree in maths and economics, Ausrine kickstarted her data career with an internship at BMW where she taught her colleagues how to use Tableau software. She shared with DataIQ her passion for data and what non-technical people can gain from becoming data literate.
“My data journey began at university. A maths and economics undergraduate, I was arguably more predisposed to data than some and, after taking a short course on the subject, I was hooked! However, it very nearly wasn’t so - I had originally contemplated studying philosophy. In the end, I opted for maths and economics as I thought it would better serve my career goals in a crowded jobs market. But having interests that spanned arts and science did help me understand that not everyone felt so comfortable handling data or was so naturally attuned to its infinite possibilities.
Now, alongside my current role as a business intelligence engineer at one of the world’s leading technology companies, I am a Tableau ambassador. I was a student Tableau ambassador originally and I organised and led Tableau workshops on college and university campuses. One of the things I really railed against was this idea that data was optional – that it was a “nice to have” or the preserve of those like me studying things like maths and economics.
There are two ways of looking at this. The first is that data is playing an increasingly important role in all our lives and that this is permeating the jobs market and society at large. Where it isn’t already, soon data literacy will be a fundamental skill, not a distinguishing attribute.
It’s not black and white: the world isn’t just divided into those who do data and those who don’t. I have made it my goal to introduce people from a non-numerical, STEM background to data. I even helped people use data on their dissertations! Data analytics is a universal skill.
The other way of looking at it is that data really does have endless possible applications. Rather than try and convince people of the importance of data in the job market, I like to meet people where they are and start with their interests.
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