Insights on data team's maturity in the industry

Successful job hunting requires analyzing the market more thoroughly, such as reading your desired company career pages or checking out their blogs and social media. And the best way for it is the job interview itself. 

In our field, the maturity of targeted company's data teams is what your focus should be. Maturity in this context mainly means clear role definitions, provided responsibilities, and the team size. 

Here are some key insights to know before applying:

• Companies that have highly mature data teams

Well-defined roles, progression paths, and senior, mid & junior specialists will likely provide a smoother path for your improvement, assuming that the teams are functioning well. Such teams can usually be found in larger organizations, especially those focusing on data (e.g., Exacaster, Satalia, Euromonitor). There's a chance your responsibilities might be relatively narrow, and you will have little control over how to do things. On the other hand, such companies offer more stability and credibility.

• Companies that barely have any structure for their data teams

You could be the first employee hired to start working with their data. The downside of such teams is that it will most likely be significantly more difficult to start - there will be many responsibilities, and there will not be an assigned person to guide or help you. However, suppose you take up such opportunities and get help elsewhere (e.g., Turing College alumni). In that case, you can advance extremely quickly - both in technical skills and as a business professional. You would have a lot of freedom to choose how to use the data best to help the business, and you will likely communicate with topmost senior company employees. Thus, this is a high-risk, high-reward option.

Most companies will fall somewhere between these two. What's important is that you know the kind of company you would be joining and prepare for its challenges and opportunities.