Many of us have not taken a direct route to get to where we are in our careers today, nor should we expect a circuitous route to suddenly become straight once we’ve landed at JMP. We want employees to know they can move from one type of role at JMP to another! But making a big transition is not always easy so we want to gather stories from you; we want to learn how you moved around in your career, from A to B (or to C or D).
Let’s learn about Wendy’s career journey.
What’s your current role at JMP?
Systems Engineer for North Central (Minnesota and 6 surrounding states in the upper Midwest)
This is a recent photo of me. I was working for Teradata at the time as an Advanced Analytics Consultant.
Describe what you like most about it.
I like the variety of customers, industries, and problems I get to learn about. I enjoy learning new approaches to solving data analysis challenges and seeing how they are being applied to various problems.
Did you work at SAS before joining JMP?
No.
How long have you been at JMP?
4 years
Did your college or university degree(s) relate to your current role at JMP?
To some extent, yes. I studied Biomedical Engineering and a lot of my customers are engineers. The process of solving problems is something that I learned in my undergraduate degree that has been invaluable to me in my career. I have a Master’s Degree in Applied Statistics which has been more directly related to my current role where I have to use statistics and statistical thinking regularly.
Wendy with two close engineering friends at Duke.
Outside of your time at JMP, what was your a) first job, b) best job, and c) worst job?
My first job was as a biomedical engineer at a medical device company making stents, catheters, and balloons. My best job has been teaching group fitness but it is more of a hobby than a job (I am still doing this currently). My worst job was working at a large retailer where navigating the organization and being successful required political savvy. I did bus tables at a diner in high school for five days before I quit because of the work/pay ratio. Shockingly I got 'Employee of the Week' the week that I quit!
Have you made a major career transition? If so, what was it and how did you know you were ready for a change?
I went from being a biomedical engineer to a statistician in 2008. I really enjoyed statistics so I got an M.S. while I was working as an engineer and transitioned to a statistician at Procter & Gamble. I made this change because I thought it was exciting and powerful to be able to interpret data, and I wanted a career where I could be an asset across many industries.
Did you have any concerns about making a change? If so, what were they?
I was concerned about whether or not I could convince an employer to hire me as a statistician/data analyst given I had no past experience in that role. I created a functional resume which was key, interviewed well, and got a little lucky that they were willing to take a bit of a chance on me.
What were the first things you did when you decided that you were ready to change jobs?
I applied to local universities where I could complete an M.S. in applied statistics while working. I spent time shadowing a Quality Manager to learn more about statistics in my job.
Before deciding on the new role, did you spend time with someone who does that job? If so, how was that experience?
Yes. The Quality Manager was a great mentor and very willing to help me learn alongside him. I also had the experience of being mentored by a biostatistician at the Duke Medical Center when I was in undergraduate doing research at the Eye Center. This earlier experience is what planted the seed in my mind of
Who were the people that were instrumental in helping you make the job switch successfully, and how did they help?
I applied to local universities where I could complete an M.S. in applied statistics while working. I spent time shadowing a Quality Manager to learn more about statistics in my job.
What advice do you have for JMP employees who are thinking about changing their roles?
Go for it. Some things are just things you have to try before you know if you will like the change. Write a good functional resume if the role is really different because you can show how you are capable and have experience doing different aspects of the new job even if you did not have the job title and it is a career change.
This is a photo taken of Wendy and her classmates (Duke Class of 2000) at their five-year reunion. "There was lots of variety in our undergraduate degrees (biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and political science) and even more variety in our professions today," Wendy said.
Because we love good stories, we want to learn about how your career evolved and tell these stories to our colleagues—the evolution of your career that has ultimately brought you to JMP or even how once arriving at JMP they made a major transition.
Please take the six-minute survey.
