What's your job about?
Currently, my employer is working on data engineer tasks such as developing and testing data mainly called “Enterprise Data Warehouse”, in which my responsibility is looking after data & working on the data model internally, and categorizing data classification documents from the data model.
In my EDW (Enterprise Data Warehouse) team, I was assigned to give a few tickets related to the data model before we could move to the data classification state. For the data model, I reviewed and added these missing definitions using Excel and Power Designer Software. I need to research and gather data to find these clear definitions related to the data source, and then I add them to Power Designer & Excel. I usually ask my colleagues in my EDW team if I am unable to research data due to not having enough substantial information or finding some odd data in the sheet. I found that they were more like agile projects, which I was doing; therefore, I felt like I was exposed to an agile environment and found it flexible to manage these agile projects or know what to prioritize. I have a few daily meetings, for example – EDW Stand Up (every day), EDW Planning & Refining (every week), and Emerging Professional Meeting as well. There was an NZSL & Māori corner meeting where we all learned new signs and Māori language, it was really fun for me! I found that these meetings were useful; they helped me to understand what & how they have done their tasks from EDW Stand Up, and I can always ask for their help/support from EDW Planning & Refining meetings. Every time I update my tasks, I let them know what I was doing and what happened in the EDW stand-up meeting.
What's your background?
I grew up in Auckland, NZ, then moved to Sydney, Australia, and I moved back again to Auckland a decade ago. “Yes, I know life goes up and down, in my opinion, and changes most of the time."
Firstly, my schooling time was done mainly at Deaf Education/Schools. Later on, once I got to teenage age, I preferred to continue my education through tertiary and straight away started with the language, “English of course." I then moved on to find out about the digital world and computing systems during my time at Unitec, it was very interesting how hacking works, and it made me realize how important it is to protect data in companies’ networks from digital thief and steal their valuable credentials unfairly. Baring my mind, I knew it could not be an easy path for me, especially as some barriers were always in front of me to pass through. I must say I have overcome so many of those barriers, which I am so proud of.
After graduating from Unitec, I ended up getting an internship job at NZSE (New Zealand Skill and Education). I believe it was a significant moment for me to realize how much I could have done better if I had been given opportunities at the workplace with better accessibility, such as having an NZSL interpreter, using speech-to-text applications, and using captions via Zoom/Teams that would make my work performance more effective and flexible. So, I decided to study Bachelor of Arts, Deaf Studies at AUT to learn so much more, regarding my Deaf identity and perhaps a better opportunity or chance to move up and pass through the chapter in life.
“I believed that it would be the most significant help for me to understand how to adapt better to the work environment.”
I applied for the Emerging Professional program through MSD, which was held at AUT for the presentation. That was a long chain of events that led to landing my job, which was from Be.Lab to Microsoft and MSD. I have been working at NZTA since February, which is 7 months. Also, I should mention that I was employed, working for Zero Company for about 3 months, exactly a month before starting at NZTA.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, I believe it is possible, if they have a research & problem-solving background and skills for data model tasks and are keen to learn new skills, it will be more effective in the work environment. One more thing is to understand how SQL and database factors work, which is very important. When I started working at Enterprise Data Warehouse, I knew little about databases and SQL in my background, however, over time, I gained new skills by learning through focusing and understanding these technical factors better, and it made me realize that it is quite useful for my security perception that can be helpful about data security.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I found that I love researching and being curious about new data when I was doing my Excel task, and seeking to ask a few questions with people to gain some interesting information sometimes surprises me! That was why it was fun for me. I found that the transport company I was working at was very interesting because, while I was researching and collecting data, there was some interesting data about how transport works and new ways to deal with transport in general.
What are the limitations of your job?
I believe my biggest and only limitation is having no interpreter sometimes or in some areas of my work. If there is no interpreter, then “Oh well tough,” I will have to type in the chat during the online meeting while I can read the captions (speech to text) in Teams. Sometimes I must rely on my team to ask for help or support if I am stuck on my current task.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...
If I meet myself at the university, I advise him: