Each one of us has a different professional journey, and sometimes that involves a nudge in the right direction. Every once in a while, you don’t choose a profession, but it chooses you. That is how Ana, our BI & Data Analyst, became a part of our #OutstandingTeam.

She started as a telecommunications student, dreaming of working in Makedonski Telekom. Even though things didn’t turn out as she planned, they turned out just right.

Find out about her career journey below.

Your Singular story, tell us a little bit more about you, your education and how you started doing your job

My professional development in this direction and this area happened unplanned and very spontaneous. As a Telecommunications student at FEEIT (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, Skopje) I had a great desire to work at Makedonski Telekom (at that time that was a dream of every telecommunications student). That is why I applied for an internship, even without knowing what my job position and responsibilities are going to be. So, in 2015 as a final year student, I got an internship at Telecom. I worked in the Customer Relationship Management and Customer Experience Department. The initial idea was to work in Data Science, but according to the needs of the market at that time and circumstances, most of the time I worked in Campaign Management and Data Analytics.

In 2016, after graduating, I got a job at Makedonski Telekom in the Market and Business Intelligence Department. Initially, I was a Collaborator for Data Search, and later a Specialized Worker for Data Mining.

I worked there until 2019 and then my Singular story started. 🙂

Interestingly, I had applied in Singular for a completely different job position. During the interview, they suggested my current job position because they thought it would suit me better. And of course, they did not make a mistake and I am very grateful to my lead and manager for that.

I can say, that in a way, the work chose me. So even though I did not choose with intention what to work and in which direction to move my career, things turned out exactly as they should be. I found myself here and I can proudly say that I have been working in Singular for almost 3 years at the position of BI and Data Analyst and I’m very happy and satisfied.

Which technologies are you working with?

I mostly work with MySQL for storing and data manipulation. It is also primary for getting acquainted with the data and their structure. I also work with PostgreSQL.

We use Redash as the primary BI tool, to explore, query, visualize, and share data from any data sources. As a BI tool, we also use Metabase for various reports.

We use Grafana to monitor our BI systems.

There are also other tools and technologies that we use to create, maintain, and upgrade our BI, such as Docker, Redpush…

The most challenging part of your work

To be a great BI Professional, you must be constantly present in both worlds, that are part of Business Intelligence (Business and Technology).

Also, we must be constantly aware of all the things that are happening, all the changes in the applications, changes and upgrades in the databases, etc. Because even a small change can lead to wrong numbers in the reports and give a wrong picture.

In short, we must be aware and familiar with everything that is happening in Singular.

Another challenge is the following: When users narrow requirements they don’t always know what data is available and the capabilities of our system. The challenge is to ask the RIGHT questions and dig into the available data to answer those questions. BI isn’t simple reporting. It’s learning what the business doesn’t know and sometimes answering questions they didn’t know they could ask.

The most important skill a person should develop to be successful in this role?

I would say that the most important skills for this job are good communication skills and of course creativity.

But it is also very important to keep up with all the new technologies and trends in this field. And to have a desire to learn new things.

Many people need data for their day-to-day work and for better decision-making, so I think these skills are essential in providing the best data-driven experience.

Thanks to Ana for sharing your career journey and for being an integral part of Singular. You never know what life has in store for you, be prepared for anything and you can be surprised by the results you get.

Are you also a BI & Data Analyst? Or do you have other aspirations? Don’t worry we’ve got a place for you. Check out the available positions and maybe you can be the next one on this blog.