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Career break to Business Analyst at Amazon
86 Plays7 months ago
In this episode, we converse with Sarah, a graduate of Springboard's Data Analytics program.
Sarah shares her journey of navigating the job hunt after a career break, ultimately securing a successful position at Amazon. Additionally, she discusses some innovative AI-driven job-hunting resources.
In her current role as a Business Analyst at Amazon, she translates business needs into data-driven solutions and establishes standardized analytics capabilities across diverse business lines, brands, regions, and global functions.
For everyone listening, if you have any questions for Sarah or the host that could be answered on a future episode, please email me at [email protected].
Interested in finally taking the plunge by starting your career in tech? How does $1500 off a Springboard Career Track Course sound?
Use code EPEHT at checkout to save $1500.
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Transcript
Introduction of Sarah, Amazon Business Analyst
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Wednesday again, and it's time for another episode of Life After Tech Bootcamp. Even though it's Friday for me, it's great. Maybe you'll be listening to this on a Friday. I don't know, but I am really excited for today's guest. She is a graduate from Springboard's Data Analytics Bootcamp, which she graduated from in October of 2020.
00:00:39
Speaker
Before starting a tech career, she was a stay-at-home mom and had taken a career break to raise her child. In her current role as a business analyst at Amazon, she translates business needs into data-driven solutions and establishes standardized analytics capabilities across diverse business lines, brands, regions, and global functions, executing multiple analytical projects and constructing meaningful metrics. Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the podcast.
00:01:07
Speaker
Hi, Alyssa. Great to be here. Likewise. And you are in a totally different time zone than me. So hopefully your Friday went well and you're ready to start your weekend. Yeah, I am ready to start my weekend. And my highlight of the weekend is definitely talking to you and connecting with other students from Springboard. Oh, that's so kind of you to say. Yes. That's very kind of you to say.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, after this I have a full work day ahead of me, but we all wish we could be in your shoes right now.
AI Tools in Job Applications
00:01:44
Speaker
But anyway, so I know AI is really on top of everyone's mind right now. I don't know what you see on your end, but I see just so much negativity. Like everyone's saying it's gonna come for jobs. I have a lot of opinions on that, but I think there's a lot of good things AI can do.
00:02:05
Speaker
You know, that's something you also agree with. So like what kinds of things have you discovered good to be about AI or any types of products you've seen? Yeah. So I came across an app called Tango and it basically lets you make a video resume. So you don't have to go through the hassle of uploading your information.
00:02:27
Speaker
uploading multiple forms and writing a lot of things about yourself. So just make a video about your experience and what you're looking for in a job and upload it on the app. And then the AI will match the keywords that you say in your video and apply the job for you.
00:02:45
Speaker
So I found that really interesting, saves a lot of time and they kind of run specials, I think, for new students. So that's something definitely to explore. And also LinkedIn has come up with an AI feature where it tells you if for a particular job
00:03:03
Speaker
if you have the skill set. And if you have part of the skill set, what else you need to do to get that job, to expand your skills. So that's a cool feature too on LinkedIn. It's definitely worth exploring.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yes, that is really cool. I wish I would have had something like the Tango app that I was applying. I did it the old fashioned way. Yeah, me too. Yeah, and I'm saying that's old fashioned. But so with this Tango app, are there jobs listed on there that you can apply to? I'm just curious of how, OK, you put your information into the app. It comes up with your video resume.
00:03:48
Speaker
And then let's say I want a job at Amazon. How do I use Tango to get there? Yeah, I think they have job listings as well. And if you have an interest or something, you can just upload your resume or connect with someone who is on the Tango app and is a recruiter from Amazon maybe. And then they can see your video resume and you can connect that way. Very cool. Yeah, you can definitely see how that would be a bit more
00:04:18
Speaker
humanizing and a little ironic that I'm saying like AI video, like that's humanizing, but it's, I guess it's a little bit of a step up. So very cool. Thank you for sharing those resources with us, but I'd love to get back to you and talk about your story.
From Stay-at-home Mom to Tech: Sarah's Journey
00:04:38
Speaker
What was going on before you decided to go back to school?
00:04:43
Speaker
Yes, so I took a career break. I was a stay out of mom and then I did have tech experience and I was always exploring what new is happening in the tech world, even though I was not working and I am guilty of not opening LinkedIn for like
00:05:02
Speaker
maybe five, six years that I've not opened it. But yeah, I just stayed up to date of what's going on and I just started exploring what I wanted to do to get back to working and everything. But yeah, at that time I did a Udemy course on Tableau just to see if I really like analytics. And then I really enjoyed that course and I wanted to
00:05:31
Speaker
learned like an end-to-end what happens in analytics. And I started researching different platforms, e-learning platforms that are available. And yeah, I came across Springboard and it just worked for me. That's amazing. Yeah. So when you found Springboard, was there something specific about the course that you thought might have stood out compared to others?
00:05:55
Speaker
Yes, so I was exploring courses that I could complete within five to six months and definitely fit my budget. I was not looking for anything a little high in that particular budget because yeah, there are a lot of courses in that way and they take a little more time. But yeah, Springboard fit perfectly for what I was looking for in terms of budget, timing and the kind of course they offered in terms of what they covered in the course.
00:06:24
Speaker
I felt that was just enough for me to learn because I was still a beginner in data analytics. But yeah, I did have tech background, which I could put into this particular course. Certainly. And you already had some tech experience. So do you think you just needed something to really supplement your knowledge? Because you probably knew a little bit, but you said you were a beginner at data analytics.
00:06:54
Speaker
Was that a bit of your mindset too? Yes, that that was definitely what I had in mind because I had tech tech experience. It made more sense to get into like data analytics because I could apply my prior knowledge. But yeah, I think springboard is still very helpful to other students who might not have experience if courses design in such way that
00:07:18
Speaker
It just starts from the basics. So yeah, I would say anyone can definitely do that. Certainly. Yeah. I that's a lot about how I felt because I, you know, I came from fashion design and I felt with UX UI, I had maybe 60% of the transferable skills, but I had no idea what a wireframe was and building or designing an app. Just, I didn't think that was possible. I mean, obviously now I've done it. It's not that hard. It's
00:07:47
Speaker
It's not easy, but it's not like I'm launching a rocket to Pluto or something. That's awesome. So while you were in the course, what do you think really helped you get to where you are now to be successful?
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, so while I was in the course, I think every topic that was designed was definitely helpful, starting from how to create a problem statement, analytics on Excel, and Python and Tableau, everything. So I'm using everything on my day to day job. So I would say all of it was like helpful in every way.
00:08:29
Speaker
Fantastic. And was there anything outside of the course that you did differently or just supplemented your education with? I didn't do anything like to get a job. But once I got a job, I just did a program management course from Cornell. And it definitely helped with the management skills and everything for me. Certainly, certainly. All right. So you're in the job hunt.
Navigating Career Gaps with Return-to-work Platforms
00:09:00
Speaker
I I've talked to enough people on this podcast. Nobody's ever told me that job hunt was great. It was so easy. What was yours like?
00:09:11
Speaker
Oh yeah, it was challenging because I had a career gap. I couldn't show direct experience in data analytics, even though I had the transferable skills. But I came across various return-to-work platforms, I think called Ivy Launch and a lot of return ships that are offered by
00:09:36
Speaker
Facebook, Amazon, and a lot of other companies, Microsoft as well. That definitely helps for folks who've had career gaps more than a year. It's just whatever gender you are, whatever background you're from, anything. You can apply for the return ships. It's not for a particular individual or anything like that. Just like you need to have one or two years of career gap.
00:10:04
Speaker
So that definitely helped and also my career coach from Springboard was very helpful. She always kept motivating me, gave me different things to focus on when I had a weekly chat with her. So she was very encouraging and helped me kept going on. That's amazing. I love this term, return ship. Yeah, that's fantastic. And I, I have not
00:10:34
Speaker
had a career gap ever, but I know you, you just said you did other people definitely have. I'm sure that's definitely a point of worry. Um, and you know, first of all, I'm glad that this returnship program is out there and helping people who are certainly qualified. Like it's so frustrating seeing like people need breaks in life. Yes. Not sustainable to just work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year.
00:11:03
Speaker
Anyways, another topic for another podcast, but yeah, I'd love to dive into a little bit more. What do you think kind of held you back with that career gap? Did you notice that when you were applying to jobs, do you think you got a little bit of resistance from employers? What was it really like experiencing that?
00:11:28
Speaker
I mean a lot of companies were open to kind of interview and give me the chance but there were a few companies that did ask a direct business analyst experience because the kind of tools and softwares they use is very niche.
00:11:48
Speaker
and they need experience in that particular area. And also business analysis has definitely evolved on what it was before. Right now, I think it's more of a tech slash non-tech role, but initially,
00:12:03
Speaker
when you go back a couple of years, a business analyst for more of a non tech role, like taking requirements and things like that. But yeah, it's definitely evolved. And a few companies looked for more of like a traditional business analyst, or whereas a few companies looked for more of
00:12:22
Speaker
a tech business analyst. So I wanted to find that balance and kind of have my skill set shown to the companies of where I belong. So that was a challenge that I faced. Sure. Definitely a valid challenge. But from what you said, it does give me a little hope that it wasn't so much that you took time off to raise a human. It sounded like it was just the business needs just didn't fit.
00:12:54
Speaker
certain people at all whether you took a career gap or you were coming from a different career it just it wasn't in line so it wasn't even paid to flash the word like discrimination but it wasn't it didn't even sound like that it just sounds like there wasn't a way to meet in the middle yes yes it wasn't any anything like discrimination or anything but yeah my maybe my profile didn't fit their job background that that's all
00:13:19
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, I'm fortunate and annoying because we all want to get hired, but that, I think like that's a little bit more legitimate and hopefully that can give a little bit of solace to some people who also aren't, um, working right now trying to get back into the job field. Yes. You were eventually hired at Amazon, but what I'm assuming that's still the job. That was your first job out of springboard. Yes. Yes.
00:13:48
Speaker
That was my question.
Amazon Returnship Experience
00:13:50
Speaker
I see. So what was that interview process like? How did you get in their sphere of recruiting? Yeah, so I applied for Amazon Returnship program.
00:14:03
Speaker
a return ship for a business analyst program. And I think Springboard helped me to get a referral and also prepare for my job interview. And they connected me with a mentor who was entering the Springboard students to help me on what would be the interview like. Since it was a return ship, their total rounds were I think
00:14:28
Speaker
four rounds instead of their regular five or six rounds. And it was basically the leadership principles and tech interview and then an interview with a bar raiser. So that was about it. But yeah, it can be very overwhelming.
00:14:45
Speaker
when you get an interview from a tech company, like a tech giant company like Amazon, and you have to make sure that you prepare well and do everything you can. But yeah, I think definitely connecting with a mentor and understanding how the interview is going to be was something that is, I greatly appreciate that, what Springboard did, and it helped me to get the job I am in.
00:15:15
Speaker
Certainly. Yeah. I remember my career coach really helped put a lot context to my job search. I would have recruiters contacting me daily and they would send me jobs that were clearly not, I was clearly not qualified for. And it was interesting to get her insight as to like why recruiters act the way they do. So I honestly actually want to have a recruiter on this podcast to like, yeah,
00:15:44
Speaker
just share all that, because I feel like that's such a hidden understanding of recruiting and how that works. But anyways, getting back to that, yeah, I'm really glad you have that support. I think a lot of students also feel that. The benefits of Springboard
00:16:05
Speaker
But getting back to, so when you landed this internship, I'm still obsessed with this term. This is so funny. It's not funny. It's just, it's so, it's great. I love it. Yeah, it's genius. It is genius. Because it's not an internship. You have work experience and you were a mom. That's something to count.
00:16:28
Speaker
So tell me, like, what was that? Like, is this return ship a six month program? Like, what are kind of the goals that Amazon sets for people in return ships? Do they eventually want to hire you full time? What does that look like? Yes. So that's the CIP plan. So the return ship is for four months. It's like a internship, mini internship that you do.
00:16:52
Speaker
And you are actually doing the regular job like any other candidate or any other person does at Amazon. It's not like you will be doing something less than they do. It's just from day one, you'll be given the training and things that can help you ramp up and all that support you need. And at the end of your internship, you have to present a project.
00:17:18
Speaker
what you did during those four months. It could be a paper presentation or it could be something that you create or something, a dashboard that you create, things like that. So that's the end. And at the end, based on your performance in the Returnship, Amazon will offer you a full-time position. That's fantastic. And probably so rewarding once you finally got that full-time position.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yes. So when you got this returnship, were you able, are you working in the same department that you returned shipped in or did you get to kind of move around within the company?
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah, I moved around. So initially when I joined, I was in a different Amazon area.
00:18:17
Speaker
It was under supply chain, but basically looked into supply chain of Amazon products from the warehouses to customers, just at a local level. But the team that I am now is looking at that retail at a global scale. It's a little more expanded and a bit more technical, which I was looking for to expand my tech skills. So yeah.
00:18:46
Speaker
really, really cool.
Amazon's Supportive Culture
00:18:48
Speaker
So I'd love to hear a bit about what life is like at Amazon. What's the company culture like? What's the day in and day out?
00:18:59
Speaker
Sure. I mean, it's been great. I am not complaining. And like you know, I was allocated in the United States, and I took that decision to move to Dubai. And even during that time, I was able to apply for an unpaid leave that helped me to do that transition.
00:19:22
Speaker
when I moved across countries. And even when I was in the US with working for the team that I am now, they have been very supportive in terms of understanding my tech background, where I come from, my strengths and how I can utilize them in a better way. So they are always helping me to get better. That's fantastic. I love to hear that. And especially because there's so many
00:19:51
Speaker
tough companies out there, there's so many bad managers. It's always great to hear that there's really supportive teams out there that want to foster a good community because I think in general, I don't know if you agree, but I think people want to have pride in their work, but if you're in a tough team, you know, but I've had jobs where managers were just condescending and I just didn't want to work for them, so my work
00:20:21
Speaker
qualities probably wasn't the best, but that's fantastic to hear. So what do you think are some of your favorite parts about your job now?
00:20:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think working for a global team has its own things that you can consider because my work affects the customers which are spread across the world. So I work for customers who are based outside North America, Europe and Asia and Japan and China and everything.
00:20:51
Speaker
So yeah, it's like a broad, broad horizon that I would say. And for the first time in my life, I'm actually enjoying what I'm doing work-wise. I don't want to be cliche, but yeah, it is just like I love what I do right now. And I get to innovate and build new products for my customers every day.
00:21:15
Speaker
And definitely the good feedback and the trust I'm getting from my team is rewarding and it helps me to get better every day. I love that. I think that's so great when you're finally at this place in life that's just so rewarding and that's definitely the dream.
00:21:38
Speaker
So I'd love to know, was there anything specific within Springboard that you think you're really applying now? What really prepared you to have this kind of dream scenario where you really enjoy what you're doing?
00:21:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think from the first project that I did at Springboard gave me that analytical mindset that I'm applying right now. So selecting that first project, if you're specifically for a data analytics boot camp, because I did that. So when I was selecting your first project, I would encourage students to select something on analytics.
00:22:22
Speaker
because you can see different trends, build metrics, which would help you in your full-time job. So that's something that I'm still applying, that I still do every day, building metrics, identifying trends, and seasonality trends, so something like that. Very cool. So I'd love to hear kind of where you think you'll go next with this role.
00:22:49
Speaker
or your career in general, like what's next for Sarah?
Mentorship and Career Aspirations
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah. I hope I get to get more, like kind of grow in the role I am around in terms of getting to a higher position and eventually maybe having to manage a team or something like that, that is my goal. Yeah.
00:23:17
Speaker
Interesting. So what makes you interested in people management? Because I have my hot take of, and I'm not saying this is you at all. I've noticed, you know, in my career, like I think people reach management because that's their logical next step to them. But I also feel like you really have to want to work with people and literally manage them. So I'm curious to see like why
00:23:47
Speaker
you would like to switch into management instead of working more of a product role.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think recently I've started enjoying, even though I don't mentor a lot of people, even in my team and someone asked me for any questions, any help, I love to do that. And I think I want to do that more. Mentoring is something that I definitely want to do more. And kind of that puts me in the direction of becoming a people manager and exploring that area as well.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, certainly. I mean, management literally has mentor within the definition, I think. So that's really exciting and very, very humbling that, you know, people want to give back and we need more of those people in my humble opinion. Um, so with that, you know, are you doing any mentoring work now? Like who do you ever see yourself coming to springboard as a mentor or ADP lists?
00:24:51
Speaker
Yes, I'm actually definitely excited to mentor students from Springboard, right? Because there's so much similarities maybe we have. Maybe we have had a career gap and come from different backgrounds to the data analytics bootcamp. So I'm open to mentoring and answering any questions.
00:25:12
Speaker
I think it was also supposed to be a guest on one of the sessions that we're having, but the timing didn't work out for me. So I couldn't do that, but I really felt bad that I couldn't be there. But yeah, I'm definitely open to mentoring anyone who needs help from my end. Yeah. And you know, to your point, I think having specific talks on niche areas where people have imposter syndrome,
00:25:39
Speaker
So yeah, I'm on the alumni board with Springboard and we're trying to find ways to get the alumni connected to current students and how we can kind of bolster the community at large. So we'll have to stay in touch on that because I know we definitely want
00:25:56
Speaker
to get as much alumni involvement as possible. So and yeah, if you ever have any ideas, we're we're all ears. We're brainstorming things now. So yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. And I definitely want to continue doing a lot more alumni talks. I know I don't know what it was like when you were in school, but I really enjoyed getting to talk to alumni and
00:26:24
Speaker
As part of the reason why I started this podcast was to bring stories to the masses. Like when I was figuring out how to make the transition to fashion to UX, I would find people in fashion. I would find people in other creative spaces that wanted to get to or were in where I wanted to go.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think that also motivates current students to see someone who's gone through the same journey as them and kind of have landed in a role that they like. So that that can be really hopeful for students that that are in the boot camp. I agree. And I think taking bits and pieces of what other people did. I think the common thread of everyone I've interviewed on the podcast is just
00:27:16
Speaker
Again, probably another hot take, but I think there's two different versions. People I've interviewed have all been people who saw what they were up against. They saw the challenges and they found solutions to them. Whereas I see a lot of other people. They kind of just complain and they, they can't really like work through the process. So I, I do hope bringing more stories to people will
00:27:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That's a great idea, yes. So, well, with that being said, you know, is there anything we didn't get to talk about today that you are interested in sharing or discussing with the community? Yeah, I think we covered most of it. But yeah, I don't think anything top of my mind, I don't think we didn't cover. But yeah, it was nice to share all my thoughts, which I've been
00:28:13
Speaker
trying to do since a long time. Just wanted to connect with the alumni community and the students. So thank you for that.
Networking and Referrals
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, my pleasure. And thank you so much. Well, with that being said, are you open to listeners connecting with you on social media? Yes, definitely. They can connect with me on LinkedIn. And if you need a referral for Amazon, if you're applying for any job, I'm sure I can help you.
00:28:40
Speaker
Sure. Well, would you be able to spell your name so that people are adding the correct Sarah on LinkedIn? Yes. So my first name is Sarah, S-A-R-A-H, and my last name is G-A-N-I-H-A-R. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for all of your time and sharing your story. For anyone listening, if you have questions for Sarah or myself that could be answered on a future episode, please email me at elementarypockets at springboard.com.