Climb the Career Mountain
TL; DR
My career began in Seattle, unexpectedly transitioned from academia to a research role at Amazon, where I embarked on a journey in the tech industry. I found different mentors, coaches and sponsors who help me navigate the dynamic professional realm.
Veronika - The Mentor: Veronika, a mentor, reshaped my perspective on data science and machine learning. She emphasized practical problem-solving over complex methods, inspiring me to become a data scientist who applies methods wisely to solve real business problems.
Kim - The Coach: At Microsoft, a coach named Kim provided invaluable guidance. Through active listening and thoughtful questioning, Kim helped me overcome challenges and gain confidence.
Liberty - The Sponsor: Liberty, a sponsor, not only provided career opportunities but also became a friend and mentor. Through hiking recommendations and professional collaborations, Liberty supported me on both career and outdoor adventures.
I also benefit from curiosity, continuous learning, and creating a robust professional network. I am paying it forward by engaging in mentorship, teaching, and advocacy. The career journey, much like a challenging hike, embodies resilience, collaboration, and a commitment to helping others on their career adventures in the world of technology and data science.
My first post-graduation job started in Seattle, where one of the most popular activities is hiking! As a city person, I learned to appreciate hiking and mountains. Mountain-climbing assembles the journey of my career growth. One of my learnings was that I always hiked with a group, which makes the journey much easier and more fun! In my career, I have also cultivated a network of women who support me along the adventure. They are my mentor, coach and sponsor! I will share a story of each in this talk.
I counted the beginning of my career when I attended graduate school. I moved to the US in 2009 to get a doctoral degree in psychology so that I could become a professor one day. Four weeks before my dissertation defense in late November 2014, I was approached by an Amazon recruiter for their open positions. I did not think too much but agreed to go on interviews. Well, I did not have much to lose as I did not have time to prepare. And I have never been to Seattle! Definitely, do not recommend the attitude to anyone who is serious about job interviews!
Three hours after completing the dissertation defense, I flew to Seattle for the onsite interviews happening the next day. I got an offer two days later! After consultations with my advisor, faculties and family and reflection, I decided to accept the offer to work as a research scientist in the operation HR department, which started my journey in tech and forever changed my career in a positive way.
After six months at Amazon, I made another bold move to become a data scientist. Back in 2015, data science was still an emerging field, which was little known outside a handful of large technology companies. I was fortunate that Amazon provided me with intensive technical exposure and a rare opportunity to make a significant career change towards a technical role.
However, the adventure of career change is always an uphill battle, just like I am consistently climbing the mountain. When I started hiking, I found a mentor to guide me, who gave tips on how to start, where to go, and what I need to learn based on her experiences.
I need a mentor who could help me navigate my career! Mentors are people who advise you, share their experiences and offer suggestions for your problems. University of Washington research in 2017 showed that female engineering students who paired with a peer-female mentor have higher satisfaction, confidence and retention than those who did not have one.
Veronika is my most important career mentor. She was introduced by one of my friends at Amazon. While I was talking about some technical challenges that I faced during work, my friend mentioned a brilliant female data scientist that he worked with and kindly made an introduction! I asked for formal mentorship with Veronika after the first call, and set up biweekly meetings later.
I felt a strong connection with Veronika from the beginning, which I did not experience with other mentors. Both of us migrated to the US in our 20s. Both of us completed our doctoral degrees here. We work in an area that is predominantly alpha male. We are, usually, the only women presented in the technical meetings.
Because of the career pivot, I needed to learn lots of technical skills from scratch: cloud computing, data engineering, data pipeline, data warehouse and even programming. I only took two computer science classes as an undergraduate student in psychology. Feeling overwhelmed is a serious understatement! Veronika helped me identify resources and areas that I could improve, and shared how she kept up with the rapidly growing field of machine learning.
Veronika expanded my perspective on how machine learning can impact business. I used to view that machine learning is about sophisticated engineering, modeling and performance. I always tried to use big, shiny and complex methods in work. Like it is the only way to show that I am a skilled data scientist. Veronika shared her experience of running a regular regression model to discover important factors in packaging reduction, which led senior leaders to make crucial decisions in their processes. “It is not always about running a deep learning model or optimizing engineering performance.” She said, “It is more about how to help business solve problems - how to scope research questions, how to find and understand data, how to test assumptions and how to choose a method that helps the business.” I am so inspired to be a data scientist who can wisely select and apply proper machine learning methods to solve problems so that business can make meaningful changes.
After more than three years of data science, I began another journey at Microsoft as a data and applied scientist, where I encountered my first career coach Kim Griffiths. Kim and I met on my first day in the company! She was one of the hosts for new hires. Once the session ended, I scheduled 1:1 with Kim at a later time, because I wanted a mentor to help me navigate a new role in a new company. During the meeting, Kim told me that she is a certified career coach and is happy to be either a mentor or a coach for me. After she explained the difference, I decided to have her as my coach for 10 to 12 sessions.
During the process, Kim actively listened to my problems and asked clarification questions, which helped me think clearly, identify opportunities and develop solutions on my own. One example is how she guided me through a stressful time period during a coaching session. I tended to spin on a problem non-stop when I was unable to think through solutions. I brought up the topic with Kim. She listened to what I said and asked me to imagine that I was the pilot on an airplane. “Hold onto the wheel tightly, put your feet on the brakes and gas. Remember to breathe. Where did I want the airplane to go?” Kim asked. “How could I make it happen? What could prevent the plan from getting there? ...” After answering the questions one by one, I felt much calmer and more confident that I can solve the problem as I had a plan!
Even though I never had a mountain-climbing coach, my fitness coach helped me tremendously create fitness goals, build healthy habits, and gain physical strength and agility. He prepared me for climbing more challenge routes with physical endurance and mental strength. I feel more energetic and relaxed on hard hikings nowadays!
The first time that I heard about sponsors was during an internal female tech group at Microsoft. Who is a sponsor? Sponsors are those who connect you with breakthrough career opportunities, support and promote you for career advancement, and even look for your next stretch assignments.
Liberty Munson is my sponsor for both hiking and career development. She is so passionate about nature that she ended email signature with the quote “There’s no such thing as bad weather…just bad gear. Go outside.” Liberty spends most of her weekends on hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing dependent on the weather! For my hiking exploration in the pacific northwest, she helped me to find a hiking route that fit my needs and recommended a hiking route that I can try out, when I did not know which hiking route is good for beginners or which hiking route is more scenic.
Liberty and I were introduced by my first manager at Microsoft, who considered Liberty as a great connection for my onboarding. We were probably the only two psychometricians in the whole company! During our first meeting, I found out that Liberty and my academic advisor graduated from the same doctoral program. Yes, psychometrics is a very small circle! Everyone pretty much knows everyone!
Even though there was no formal mentorship or coaching relationship, Liberty and I still kept meeting regularly, as we were working on different teams under the same organization. We talked about psychology, certifications, and research, while walking around the trails near the Microsoft campus; or we chatted about hiking and food when running into each other in the kitchen.
During my second year at Microsoft, we talked about what projects we were planning for the new fiscal year. Liberty mentioned that her goal is to use machine learning to innovate the Microsoft certification program and she explored some options outside our company. “Well, you are speaking with a data and applied scientist. I want to help!” Liberty and I started discussing what applications are possible and what priorities will be for her program. Eventually, we scoped out a project together on utilizing natural language processing models for certification development. We aligned on the goals, laid out detailed plans, identified barriers and risks and wrote a proposal. We pitched it to our managers, and got approval. Once the execution started, Liberty and I met biweekly for updates and discussions. The project led my career into an advanced and specialized domain of machine learning.
How did I build my own network? I summarized it into three things. First, be curious and learn. Understand what crucial problems the organization needs to solve, how my experiences and skill sets can bring additional value compared with others, and which leaders are helping grow female talents and fill female leadership roles.
Second, create a network map. A network map is a way to systematically track our network. One of my managers at Microsoft kept a detailed spreadsheet with all stakeholders whom our team interacted with, in a frequent or rare manner. I learned to create my own network map at work - who are my stakeholders, collaborators, mentors and sponsors, what areas that they care the most, where our interests overlap, how I can help them and where I can contribute to, etc.
Last, ASK! I understand it could be uncomfortable to ask to be assigned to high-visibility projects or to lead a new initiative that you want. I usually frame the ask from a perspective that I can bring unique value to the project or the team. I want to help and I can help! It is also easier to ask whom I should connect with, or who could help me, or even ask for a referral. You would be pleasantly surprised by how many people would be happy to help.
About four months ago, I moved to Facebook as a senior user experience researcher. I started to think about what type of leader I am going to be in the new role. I see myself as a servant leader, who values humility, empowerment and trust to peers, employees, and customers. It is my responsibility to pay it forward so that females, minorities and immigrants would have more opportunities and better experiences than what I have. I cannot be where I am today without all those women’s support.
I presented machine learning talks at Women in Machine Learning at Microsoft, which facilitated learning and sharing within the group and the organization. I signed up for a career ambassador for hiring events at Facebook. Hopefully, when I am trained, I will become a technical interviewer. Because Howard Business Review published research showing that hiring managers have bias against minority candidates in tech. I also started mentoring graduate students who wanted to break into tech industries and machine learning while I was teaching at my graduate program.
When I look back, hiking is a relationship building activity, as I always hiked with a group. To climb the career mountain, I found my mentor, coach and sponsor through creating a network. I also learned to pay it forward to help others. I hope my personal journey will help your career adventure in machine learning and technology industry!