The pandemic showed us who the truly essential workers are and it led many professionals to question what purposes they served with their work.
Even if you’re not directly saving lives, I’m convinced your work matters and I want to dig deeper into this topic.
How valued are your skills?
If you work in data or tech, chances are that your salary is much higher than that of nurses and doctors – at least here in the UK where a junior level Data Analyst with a couple of years experience can easily earn more than a GP.
This makes me uncomfortable because essential workers should be paid a lot better. The current situation also gives us all an opportunity to assess how valued our skills are by those we work with and those we serve.
If you’re a data analyst or data engineer, you have huge potential to help companies tackle some of their biggest data challenges and help them navigate the complexities of ever-growing data volumes and the intricacies of interconnected systems and tools.
You as a professional can make a huge difference to the people who use data and systems every day to do their jobs and that is important to keep in mind.
Have you recognised who you’re helping?
After a couple of years of co-hosting #MakeoverMonday, I was able to see clearly that my work was having an impact. Sure I didn’t cure cancer or save the oceans, but I helped people develop skills and visibility that ultimately gave them better career opportunities.
Those opportunities can and often did turn into real outcomes like higher salaries and better job satisfaction – both great ways to help people support their families and lifestyle. That’s pretty good if you ask me.
So next time you feel doubtful whether what you’re doing matters in the grand scheme of things, go beyond the dashboard and data pipelines and think about the flow-on effects of your work.
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Who are you helping?
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What do you enable them to do?
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What are the results and impacts further down the chain?
Have a great week!
Eva