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Charting Your Career Growth

Chengyin Eng

Senior Data Science Consultant, Databricks

Women in Data Science, Chicago 2022

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Personal Brand

Priority Developmental Areas

01

02

AGENDA

Construct your own mission statement

Identify priorities and set improvement goals

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No goal = Efforts are beautiful, but scatter everywhere

Image source: Fountain Products Overview

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Focused goal = Efforts fulfill a specific purpose

Image source: govtech.com

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Personal Brand

Introspection + Outward Projection

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KNOW YOUR VISION

VISION

I want to be a leader in the Data + AI space.

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Construct your mission statement

Personal mission statement �= �Personal constitution

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Construct your mission statement

Each of us has a center.

  • Security
    • Our worth, identity
  • Guidance
    • Source of direction
  • Wisdom
    • Our perspective on life
  • Power
    • Our capacity to decide and act

PRINCIPLES

Reference: 7 habits of highly effective people

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Questions to Ask Yourself

  1. Who are you today?
  2. Who do you want to be? (vision)
  3. Are they the same people?
  4. What drives you?
  5. What in your life have you been most deliberate about?
    1. What outcomes do you see?
  6. What is your personal mission statement?
    • What do you want to be? (character)
    • What are the top 3 things you want to do consistently? (contribution)
    • What are the values or principles you want to use to achieve 6a and 6b?

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Vision + mission = personal brand

VISION

MISSION

I never compromise with honesty. I welcome different perspectives, etc.

I want to be a leader in the Data + AI space.

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A more technical example

VISION

MISSION

I learn one DL area and implement one method from scratch every quarter. I seek feedback from others.

I want to be a leader in deep learning.

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How to identify priorities and set improvement goals

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Use 2x2 matrix

Example on everyday tasks:

​

URGENT

NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT

Submit tax return form

Organize my closet

NOT IMPORTANT

Answering a call from someone

Finish the Netflix series

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Focus on Quadrants 1 and 2

Goal: I want to be an NLP expert.

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URGENT

NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT

- Count- vs prediction-based

- Transformer architectures

Improve stakeholder relationships�(LONG TERM)

NOT IMPORTANT

Reply to emails

Computer Vision

Reinforcement Learning

(ELIMINATE)

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

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Ideal focus quadrant: long-term goals

Results of focusing on each quadrant:

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URGENT

NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT

Stress, burnout, always putting out fires

Vision, perspective, balance, control �(LONG TERM / SHOULD DO)

NOT IMPORTANT

Short-term focus, out of control, crisis management

Stagnant

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

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Use 2x2 matrix for soft skills as well

Goal: I want to be seen as a leader.

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URGENT

NOT URGENT

IMPORTANT

Check: Do I project confidence when I speak?

(MUST DO)

My speech should be engaging

(SHOULD DO)

NOT IMPORTANT

Provide resources

(COULD DO)

Incorporate humor

(SHOULDN’T DO)

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Now that you have goals,

how to track them and accomplish them successfully?

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How to track technical goals

  • Identify 1-2 goals to focus on for every 3-month period
  • Identify likely barriers
    • Create your experience map
  • Identify milestones (what)
    • Goal: Be a NLP expert
    • Milestones:
      • Understand count- vs prediction-based approaches
      • Able to teach others about transformers
  • Identify critical drivers (how)
    • I will take this online course to accomplish #1
    • I will schedule a meeting with my coworker to teach #2

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How to track non-technical goals

  • Identify your personality traits and baseline behavior
  • Which behaviors are most important for you?
    • List 3 activities to improve them
  • Identify your derailers
    • Plan to recognize when they might show
    • “Responsible” = “Response” + “able”

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Encouragement

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Run your own race.

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“The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.”

  • Julia Alvarez

Writer, Poet

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Take-home exercise

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Take actions*

  • Write your mission statement
  • Write your 2x2 matrix
    • What are you saying “yes” to that you should be saying “no” to?
  • Ask someone
    • “What should you start, stop, or continue doing to improve?”
  • Invite trusted ones to be your accountability partners

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*Refer to the Appendix slides for more guidance and resources.

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Slides are available at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyeng/

Website: https://www.chengyineng.com/

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Reference

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Recommended books

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R.Covey
  • Steps to High Performance, Marc Effron

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** Some tips in this presentation are referenced from these two books

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Appendix

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A more technical example

VISION

MISSION

I learn one DL area and implement one method from scratch every quarter. I seek feedback from others.

I want to be a leader in deep learning.

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How to know what’s important + urgent?

Ask

  • Trusted people
  • Reach out with a thoughtful email
  • Ask for feedback

Observe

  • Read
  • Who you admire
  • Find someone on LinkedIn with the title you want – reverse engineer

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Individual Contributor

-> Leader

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How to be a leader you admire?

  • List leadership attributes that you admire
    • (Likely draw from your mission statement)
    • Include how you want to exude them
  • Observe
  • Ask
  • Inspect yourself regularly
  • Connect

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Put yourself out there

Increase your circle of influence

  • Give presentations
    • Speak up at meetings
  • Write regularly
  • Okay to be vulnerable

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Before you speak

  • Prepare for meetings
    • What goals should these meetings accomplish?
    • What points do you want to convey?
  • Rehearse your presentations��These are opportunities to exhibit your personal brand and increase your circle of influence.

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Seek commonalities

Read the room

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