Combining breadth with depth is the key to skills development

When I first started my career you specialised. In the case of a subsurface data manager it was either as a well or seismic data expert, it was a City vs United decision. I remember being envious of the seismic guy sitting in the corner with his feet up as the tape ran, whilst I used awk to work through hundreds of poorly structured ascii well data files.

Of course we never stop learning in our careers, and the more well data I loaded, the more of an invaluable expert I hoped to become. However, this paradigm was always flawed and as the industry is evolving, so the need to broaden our skills feels like a greater weight on our shoulders. The constraints on the oil and gas industry means that there are fewer data managers, being asked to do more. Structured organisational roles are making way for flexible Agile teams. The availability of cloud technologies mean we need to understand new data engineering skills (although at least the cloud has brought back my Linux skills!). The organisations we work for are also looking past petroleum, expanding into greener energies.

This need not be a weight, it’s also an opportunity. One of the strengths of data managers is our ability to adapt and grow, borne of a response to our ever-changing environment of regular software changes, expanding data acquisition techniques and company mergers. As a manager, I recently took the Professional Agile Leadership Essentials (PAL-E) course to improve my ability to support my team working Agile projects and service delivery. One aspect of skills development that Agile can teach us is the need to be a multi-skilled individual. In Agile software development, this is learning as much about UX/UI design as Java programming. In data management, it is about pushing beyond the well or seismic monikers of the past to build a broader ‘generalising specialist’ base of data management, data engineering, science domain and behavioural competencies.

Like many in my industry, I’m a visual thinker so I need a diagram and thankfully those developers who have lived Agile for longer can provide.

That seismic data manager of twenty years ago could be thought of a pillar of deep knowledge in a single area. In truth though that’s a little unfair, most data managers are polymaths and have a broader knowledge of other data domains, basic programming, records management, data quality, etc., the T-shape. Perhaps, even with a deep knowledge in multiple domains, represented by the Greek, Pi symbol.

So where should we be? If we look at the other end-member, the comb-shaped individual, there lies the unrealistic unicorn hunted across the earth by recruiters everywhere. More realistically then is to build a key-shaped skills profile, meaning that we’re deeply skilled in one or two areas and for the rest, we’re learning.

And how do we get there? We start something new. The internet is awash with micro-learning options to help build your skills. I love broadening my knowledge, for me though, the something new must be linked to a current challenge or goal. We’ve probably all taken a two-hour python course, but as I encourage my team, try to find a real way to apply that skill, otherwise it’ll never stick and have atrophied by weeks end. Can you find a different, better way to do your next task? Can you automate something manual? Cloud providers are a great way to do this. They expand their solutions on a seemingly daily basis and the barrier to entry is low. Either your organisation has an account you can use, or most providers give you free-credits to start off. I’ll leave you to write your own bad pun about unlocking the key-shaped profile within…

Oliver Thistleton is the Consulting Lead for Sword’s Asia-Pacific Business Unit. Oliver began learning the discipline 20 years ago on service desk teams for various London-based clients. He progressed onto projects improving structured data and implementing document solutions. With the move 7 years ago to the Australia office, Oliver has worked on a broad range of projects and consultative engagements including maturity assessments, governance definition, data quality improvement and application/data lake solution implementations. Oliver enjoys giving back to the discipline through his volunteer role as Co-Chair for the PPDM Professional Development Committee and supporting CPDA certification.