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Broadly writ, we're all in the business of data work in some form, right? It's almost like we're all swimming around in a big data lake, and our peers are swimming around it, too, and so are our business partners. There might be some HiPPOs and some SLOTHs splashing around in the shallow end, and the contours of the lake keep changing. Is lifeguarding…or writing SQL…or prompt engineering to get AI to write SQL…or identifying business problems a job or a skill? Does it matter? Aren't we all just trying to get to the Insights Water Slide? Katie Bauer, Head of Data at Gloss Genius and thought-provoker at Wrong But Useful, joined Michael, Julie, and Val for a much less metaphorically tortured exploration of the ever-shifting landscape in which the modern data professional operates. Or swims. Or sinks? For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

ABOUT THE TALK: Regular, metrics-focused business review meetings are a common practice in all types of companies, and getting an effective one up and running is a common task for new data leaders. There are many blog posts describing what an ideal end state looks like, but few discussions of building up to that state from an MVP version. In this talk, Katie Bauer shares about how her team built their executive metrics review process at GlossGenius, where it is today, and where they would like to take it next.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Katie Bauer is a data leader who focuses on delivering actionable analysis, scalable data infrastructure, and building strong stakeholder relationships. She is currently Head of Data at GlossGenius and has previously led and built data teams at Reddit and Twitter.

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You've got some solid experience under your belt, and you're starting to feel like you're ready to move into a data leadership role. What does that even mean? Shifting your keystrokes from SQL to slide decks? Maybe (but maybe not). Katie Bauer, Head of Data at GlossGenius, has held multiple data leadership roles over the course of her career, and she penned a thoughtful post on the various tactics she employed to find a role that is a good fit. She wrote the post so that she wouldn't have to keep repeating herself when data folks in her network reached out for advice. But that didn't stop this podcast from reaching out to record a lively discussion on the topic! For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.

We talked about:

Katie’s background What is a data scientist? What is a data science manager? Quality of the craft How data leaders promote career growth Supporting senior data professionals Choosing the IC route vs the management route Managing junior data professionals Talking to senior stakeholders and PMs as a junior The importance of hiring juniors What skills do data scientist managers need to get hired? How juniors that are just starting out can set themselves apart from the competition Asking senior colleagues for help and the rubber duck channel The challenges of the head of data Conclusion

Links:

Jobs at Gloss Genius: https://boards.greenhouse.io/glossgenius

ML Zoomcamp: https://github.com/alexeygrigorev/mlbookcamp-code/tree/master/course-zoomcamp

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Katie was a founding member of Reddit's data science team and, currently, as Twitter's Data Science Manager, she leads the company's infrastructure data science and analytics organization. In this conversation with Tristan and Julia, Katie explores how, as a manager, to help data people (especially those new to the field!) do their best work. For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podcast's companion newsletter, head to https://roundup.getdbt.com.  The Analytics Engineering Podcast is sponsored by dbt Labs.