In this edition of One ethos, One culture, we present Yanett. She transitioned from her career in astronomy to Data Science at Metyis where she is now a role model for future women leaders in the data discipline.
Meet Yanett, our Data Science Manager in Amsterdam
Why Metyis?
I joined Metyis because I was looking for a change and a new challenge. After working as a researcher for many years, I was eager to jump into a new career path and consultancy was very appealing to me, especially because of its fast pace, the opportunity to work on very diverse projects and interact with various clients.
In my pursuit of new opportunities, I came across Metyis. I liked the model of work that Metyis has, where they become partners with their clients. This was quite different to what I knew about more traditional consulting companies.
Throughout the interview process and after talking with many people in the company, I realised that the work done at Metyis is both compelling and challenging. It was apparent that there are many opportunities to grow and learn within the company. This was very appealing to me, and indeed after two years in the company, I can say that joining Metyis was the right decision.
Tell us a bit more about yourself.
I was born in Santiago, Chile. When I was young, I loved both art and science, and I studied oil painting for several years after finally deciding to pursue a scientific career. I studied astrophysics at the University of Chile, where I completed my PhD. I always loved to travel, and luckily for me as a researcher, I had the opportunity to visit many places and experience different cultures.
After my PhD. I spent the following years as a researcher in Australia, where I got married. I then moved to Leiden, working at Leiden University. I fell in love with the city and the Netherlands and their culture as a whole. So, we decided to stay for good. So far, my chapter in the Netherlands has been fulfilling both personal and professional. My two-year-old boy was born here. He keeps me busy and entertained, and I am looking forward to seeing him grow and getting more immersed in the Dutch culture, which has some of the happiest kids in the world.
What was your path to your current role at Metyis?
As someone that made the jump from academia to the consultancy world, I joined Metyis as an analyst because my business experience was limited at the time. I quickly picked up the business side of the job, and after a year, I got promoted to Associate. I then started leading more complex projects and interacting directly with clients. Now, I am overseeing several workstreams and working with different teams, and after a year as an Associate I just got promoted to Manager.
Why do you think it’s important for more women to join the bid data field?
In an ideal world, the question shouldn’t be whether women should join the big data field, but rather should be a given that roughly half of the data team would be women in any tech company. However, to reach that point, we need to incentivise more women to go into these fields, especially highlighting women in leadership positions.
Our future generation must see women in different career paths in tech companies. Like someone once told me: “you cannot be what you cannot see”. So, this is very important to keep in mind to close the gender gap. Similarly, closing the diversity gap is also a challenge for our generation. The more diverse a team is, the better they perform – this has been shown in many companies where diversity usually goes along with top performance and higher revenues.
What first sparked your interest in working in this field?
My love for data started with my love for science. Since I was a kid, I always loved math and physics, so later on, I decided to study astronomy because of that.
As an astronomer, I enjoyed the most working with big data, analyzing thousands of objects to determine their properties. That passion evolved into working with big data in general. I really enjoy the task of finding hidden pattern in the data, searching for relationships, and in general knowing that I can help businesses to understand their data universe better and use these insights to help them grow.
What are the biggest privileges of working with such multidisciplinary and diverse teams at Metyis?
Working with people from different countries and backgrounds at Metyis has been an excellent experience. As a foreigner myself is excellent to work in a truly international environment. I am continuously learning from my colleagues, not only about technical knowledge but also about their culture.
I genuinely believe that a diverse team is a key to top performance. You can immediately see how, when you put together a diverse team, and you get better ideas and more innovative solutions to the problems at hand.