What a Senior Analytics Solutions Associate at Top Financial Service Company Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Financial Services Industry
Sean, a Senior Analytics Solutions Associate, emphasizes the critical yet often overlooked importance of documentation in the financial services analytics field, wishing he had understood its significance earlier in his career. He notes that inadequate documentation causes significant delays for others taking over roles ("people will be...really lost") and even creates problems for the original creator when revisiting past work ("I'll totally forget...the code").
Coding, Data Analysis, Documentation, Project Management, Software Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sean Scudellari
Analytics Solutions Associate Sr.
Top Financial Service Co.
San Jose State University
N/A
Business Management & Admin
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Data and Analytics
Video Highlights
1. Thorough documentation is critical for successful knowledge transfer and efficient future use of created work.
2. Failure to document work can significantly hinder others' ability to understand and utilize existing projects, leading to wasted time and resources.
3. Effective documentation is not only beneficial for team collaboration but also crucial for personal productivity, ensuring one can easily recall and utilize their own work in the future.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone had told you before you entered the industry?
The importance of documenting your work is something I wish I knew before starting these jobs. Often, when someone leaves a role and another person takes over, the new person can be very lost.
This happens because the person who left didn't document how they did their job or performed specific tasks. As a result, it takes a long time for the new person to catch up and learn what needs to be done.
In my personal experience, I've sometimes built something and then have to return to it a year later. I'll have completely forgotten the code I wrote and what it does, because I didn't document it properly at the time.
Some people are too lazy or don't want to put in the effort to document as they work. They just want to build and finish. But without proper documentation, someone else won't be able to use what you've built, or you might forget how it works when you need to refer back to it later.
So, understanding how important documentation is, is one thing I wish I had realized more coming into this.
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