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How do I find complex issues that are more than monitoring a shared inbox or adding updates to a basic spreadsheet? These are the tasks that bore me to tears, but these are the projects that are assigned to me by my manager. How do I find projects that are actually challenging and requires one to plan, coordinate, and execute a solution to a complicated problem?
Forget monitoring inboxes and things. The best way is old school – talk to people. Be social with those in other depts. Find out what they’re working on and tell them what you’re working on. There must be tons of other analysts in this large org. Talk to them, it’s fun. And talk to others, not only analysts.
Edit: Much of it is about networking on an old school level. The majority of interesting projects won't be posted to a mailbox, they'll be talked about. I have tons that I know of and am interested in and can help with but time precludes me from participating on most of them so I choose using a careful balance of personal interest and professional exposure - for example, there is a project I know of where the exposure would be good for me (I think) but my interest level is low. So I pass it up for something that provides a still very good but lesser level of exposure but one in which my interest is high.
OP, I was going to suggest a total career change, but I reread your post and realized that's not what you want. However, have you considered a total career change? I was going to suggest one if you did.
Years ago I got a job supervising a new project. I was in charge of that project in the states of AZ, NM, TX, OK, AL, MS, FL, SC, NC, GA. Something like that. Any time there was a problem (and that's all it was - one problem after another), I heard about it. Sounds interesting, but the reality of it was that the situation was more screwed up than you could possibly imagine. Fortunately, the powers that be finally realized it was all a disaster and ended it all. I went on to another job, but thereafter, I was always amazed that most of the rest of the world seemed to function in a more "normal" manner.
The moral of the story is: be careful what you wish for.
OP, I was going to suggest a total career change, but I reread your post and realized that's not what you want. However, have you considered a total career change? I was going to suggest one if you did.
A total career change? No way. The OP is dissatisfied because he’s hungry. That signifies the need for growth and development in one’s career, not a change.
Data, analytics, reporting, etc. in healthcare is huge and my projection is that it will get much much bigger. And that projection is backed by pretty much everyone who is anyone in the field. OP is saying he doesn’t want to get left behind with junk work that impedes his growth and marketability. He needs to be on more cutting edge type work projects, not a career change. Healthcare is a conservative industry so what is cutting edge here was cutting edge 5 years ago in other industries. But the implementation of those cutting edge methods into a healthcare setting is still very cutting edge (if that makes any sense).
OP is hungry for more, that’s a good thing. And he indicates that he’s hungry for more for his own edification rather than just making $ (which I’m sure is also important). We need people like him in this area. A career change would be nuts – what he needs is a place that’ll exploit his desire and thirst and milk his potential.
All I can say is that I guess we're all looking for different things with regards to life and work. I guess I just want to feel like my work actually matters in this world. I want to feel like I've been challenged, so when that next interview comes around, I have something to say that can set me apart from the "I filed paperwork" crowd. Doing mentally challenging work is important to me, because otherwise I don't feel like I'm living up to my potential and that is a source of anxiety for me.
Yeah, I understand what you're saying- I felt that way years ago. Matter of fact quite a few (not all) of my younger co-workers feel the same way. They want their work to be important... it's one of their major complaints about my line of work. Sure we design the parts that allow aircraft to fly- but in this industry the job is broken down and split up among literally HUNDREDS of engineers, so that any one person's job isn't really all THAT important.
About half of the 20 or so new grads I started with are still here in the same role (like me). Mostly people who aren't too ambitious and who frankly just want to make decent money for an easy job (like me). Sure a few washed out because they weren't smart enough, but several have just moved on. One gal changed careers and is now a vet tech... talk about a massive pay cut but I imagine it's meaningful to her or something. Another gal is on the fast-track to upper management (competent enough engineer and all, but her primary qualification is that the looks like a model with nerd-glasses). Two guys have moved on to different engineering jobs within the same company where they will work harder (and hence learn more) for less money. Doesn't seem like a good deal to me, but there's no accounting for taste
In my opinion there's often a trade-off. A lot of people WANT meaningful work within their chosen profession- and that can be hard to find for folks like engineers and data analysts. (Maybe not so difficult for MD's? And social workers?). So in my experience the meaningful, well-rounded jobs (physical test engineer or manufacturing engineer for example) often pay LESS money for MORE work. Because few people *want* to be a paper-pusher. Matter of fact in my industry, some of the most stable and well-compensated jobs are things like Stress Analyst and Systems Safety Analyst... where you're basically working with engineering-related spreadsheets all day, never doing any real design work let alone anything hands-on. They pay more because it's hard to find people who actually want to do that boring work all day. Matter of fact I've been seriously considering a move to stress analysis (system safety analysis may be a bridge too far for me).
A total career change? No way. The OP is dissatisfied because he’s hungry. That signifies the need for growth and development in one’s career, not a change.
Data, analytics, reporting, etc. in healthcare is huge and my projection is that it will get much much bigger. And that projection is backed by pretty much everyone who is anyone in the field. OP is saying he doesn’t want to get left behind with junk work that impedes his growth and marketability. He needs to be on more cutting edge type work projects, not a career change. Healthcare is a conservative industry so what is cutting edge here was cutting edge 5 years ago in other industries. But the implementation of those cutting edge methods into a healthcare setting is still very cutting edge (if that makes any sense).
OP is hungry for more, that’s a good thing. And he indicates that he’s hungry for more for his own edification rather than just making $ (which I’m sure is also important). We need people like him in this area. A career change would be nuts – what he needs is a place that’ll exploit his desire and thirst and milk his potential.
Here's the situation I'm trying to turn around. At my last job with my former employer, my official title was "Data Analyst". That was in telecommunications. I enjoyed that position a lot more than my other positions, because it required me to complete some pretty challenging data analysis projects. That employer was bought out, though, and the new company pretty much chased away our entire department. That's when I found this new position (Senior Analyst) with a major healthcare company. The job description that I responded to indicated that this position would consist of projects and data analysis. Even as part of my interview, there was a challenging data analysis component, which I really enjoyed doing. I (wrongfully?) assumed that this position would consist of that type of work. I was pretty excited about that.
Now that I've actually started the position, I've had almost no data analysis projects thrown my way. The only true "data analysis" I've done in this role is by putting together a daily report to measure workload, forecast, and some metrics for our team of three. That was something I created entirely on my own. The projects that I've been assigned by my manager include:
* Monitor shared mailboxes
* Update a very basic spreadsheet with data; no analysis, literally just basic data entry
* Review documents and make sure our Salesforce database matches it
* Create a checklist to be used for review of aforementioned documents (this was a little more interesting, because of my strong background with Excel programming)
I know these are tasks that need to be done, and we actually have a Specialist who I thought was supposed to take lead on these types of duties. However, as you can see, they are extremely remedial tasks that I'm assigned. They're paying me a heckuva lot of money to do these remedial tasks. Not only am I mentally bored of these, there's really not much of it to go around between me and the Specialist on the team. So I sit around here bored most days, getting anxious by the thought of my skills wasting away because I'm not using them or developing new ones.
I have explicitly stated to my boss that I would like to do more data analysis type work, but I've gotten no word on if or when those projects will be available to me. In the meantime, my duties consist of the tasks I've stated above. That's what I'm trying to change in my current role, and what I'm trying to avoid falling into when I look for new jobs.
Hopefully that provides some clarification.
Last edited by Mr. Analyst; 12-22-2015 at 02:21 PM..
There must be many depts internally that have data people. Focus in on those. Get to know them and their work by any means you can. That'll help you make a move.
Send me a PM if you care to with the name of the org you're with and maybe I can give more specific thoughts. Ultimately however, I'm not sure what I can say to help other than relay my own experiences and how I got where I am - a combo of competence, education, luck, good resume/cover letter/interview skills, networking, and developing a nose for how to make friends in good places (i.e. always plan ahead).
I don't mind exchanging info but don't want to do it publicly.
Count your lucky stars you have a well-paying job that sucks your soul so you can save/invest for a future doing something that doesn't suck your soul.
Count your lucky stars you have a well-paying job that sucks your soul so you can save/invest for a future doing something that doesn't suck your soul.
So according to that logic, I should sacrifice fulfillment and happiness in the first 60 years of my life to benefit me in the last 20 years (if I'm still around or able to actually live)? I don't think I agree with that cost/benefit analysis.
Stop viewing your career as a means to obtain satisfaction and look at it as a means to pay bills and pursue satisfaction in other pursuits.
Well what's wrong with thinking work can be satisfying?
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(system safety analysis may be a bridge too far for me).
