From Data Analyst to Data Platform Engineer within a year

I’ve only been at Vanderlande for about one and a half years, but things have moved quickly. I joined the company for a completely different role, which was to create data dashboards. However, my manager gave me the opportunity to do something new by working in the Azure Cloud environment. Now I’m part of a team dealing with exciting concepts like data mesh – offering a new approach to make data more accessible by connecting the data’s owners, producers and consumers.

My new role is helping me to fully understand the world of data from the inception to the end users – although I’m actually working backwards! I started building dashboards that help our customers make business decisions, and now I’m creating platforms that store the data needed by our in-house teams to build dashboards.

The change in roles has certainly been my biggest challenge since joining the company. My colleagues and manager have been extremely supportive, helping me to settle into the job. This reflects the positive vibe at Vanderlande: everyone is welcoming, open and keen to help – even if they are working on different subjects.

I’m extremely passionate about football. For me, being in a positive working environment is like being in a well-coordinated football team. If a key player is absent you have to cover their position, additionally you have to back each other up and work as a unit to achieve success, which aligns with the ethos at Vanderlande.

I was the one of the early employees to start in the ICT department here in Pune – now there are over 50 of us and that number is growing. I’ve enjoyed taking on numerous responsibilities from the start and have talked to many stakeholders. Meeting people, understanding the business and taking on new ideas have certainly helped me grow professionally.

In the future, I would like to learn people-management skills while keeping my technical knowledge up to speed. The working environment here certainly gives me confidence that I can fulfil my career objectives. Management provides great support, but also helps people to take ownership, allowing them the freedom to implement their own ideas.

Outside of work – as well as following Arsenal football club – I like to draw and paint. I create pictures using the stippling technique, which is about adding paint with dots, not brush strokes. In some ways, it’s like building up data – the dots are like data points and they reveal how complex the system can grow when you see the dots in the whole artwork. In the end, it’s all about the data!