John: My Data Analyst Career Journey

Hi John, thank you so much for taking the time. Please introduce yourself to our site’s readers.

I’m John - I work for Marriott International where I lead the data science and reporting team for the US and Canada. My team is responsible for maintaining two reporting portals, a stack of Power BI and Tableau reports, as well as doing medium and long-term data science projects. I have nine people on my team, and their skills range from heavy on the software engineering side to heavy on the business/presentation side, although they’re all very competent in Tableau, Power BI, SQL and Excel, and some are Python wizards.

If I understood correctly you started your career as a revenue manager, can you share with us how you entered the data analytics industry, and tell us about your first data analyst / analytics focused role?

So I started my career in sales working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and was better at reading financial statements than selling rental car insurance, so I had a friend help me get a role with Marriott where I worked as a revenue manager for several years. Revenue management is a discipline pretty specific to the hospitality and travel industries, and it has to do with pricing and inventory management when your inventory is fixed and has to be sold before a certain time.

I’m biased, but I love how it gives you a really good view of the business, both the demand generation, sales and marketing side, as well as managing demand, forecasting, and the challenges of operations (you can only clean so many rooms a day).

Since then, you’ve steered your career quite brilliantly, now being a Senior Director, Data Science and Reporting. Tell us more about the progression.

I moved around several analysis roles, supporting different teams within Marriott. Our limited/select service portfolio, our revenue management systems team, the Western region and into my role now. I learned a lot about the business, and a lot about how we can leverage data to impact it.

I tell my team the skills you need change from being all technical to all people as you move up through the organization. When I first moved into data, I did a lot of programming (SAS at the time, then Python and SQL), plus building reports in Excel, then Tableau and eventually Power BI. These days, I do almost all my work with people, via phone calls, meetings, etc. I’m working more on strategic and longer term projects. It’s more about making sure my team has the resources they need to do their job, and that our organization as a whole is moving in the right direction.

To move into a leadership role you need to be thinking about the business more. You’re an expert in data. How can that help the organization, and what sort of capabilities do we need to develop in one, three, five years to make that happen.

What is it that you're personally finding most exciting about working in data analytics roles?

I like knowing things, and I particularly like knowing more than other people. You can absolutely judge me for that. :) I also like to do things differently and to challenge the status quo.

Analytics allows me to do both those things - you have to learn really hard stuff, explain things other people can’t explain, and you get to challenge the way the company is doing business. Done right, it’s exciting work that’s varied and interesting, and allows you to have a larger-than-your-seniority say in the strategy of the business.

Overall, you’ve spent over 14 years in the hospitality industry - what did you learn about using data insights to make an impact in the industry?

I think the best example I have is of COVID. The pandemic had a devestating impact on the hospitality industry, and we had to furlough or lay off a huge number of folks. The people left turned to our analytics teams to figure out how to navigate the business through an unprecedented time. The work we did forecasting the business, identifying pockets of demand and how demand was flowing back was critical to making sure the company made it through the pandemic in one piece.

At a macro level, my team and my peer teams spend a lot of time trying to understand what is happening in the country, the economy and in the industry that might drive changes in our business, and how we can best address those changes. We produce a bunch of reports and dig into hotels, markets, business segmentation, sales tendencies, accounts, etc. and share that information to help guide decisions about business strategies, marketing spend, sales incentives, etc.

We also spend a lot of time looking for trends in performance among hotels we can replicate with other hotels. If one hotel has a particularly successful strategy, we find other hotels where we think we can replicate the success.

For almost a decade now, you’ve also been actively involved in academia. As an Adjunct Professor, you’re developing and teaching courses for the undergraduate data analytics/data science program. How does academia fit into the vision you have for yourself and your career?

Has it really been a decade? Wow - it doesn’t feel like that. Being a professor keeps me grounded with the knowledge people are coming into the field with, as well as the variety of backgrounds, strengths and experience people can bring to their roles. It’s really rewarding to work with students, see them pick up these complicated concepts and use them in their work.

It does help my stay on top of things that are happening in the analytics field, but I’ve seen a number of technologies come and go, while

Steering this back toward career growth - what would you say analysts who want to grow into leadership roles, must know and do to stand out and rise through the ranks?

The fundamental skills of being an analyst or data scientist haven’t changed that much. Curiosity, learning, business acumen and good communication are critical. Technical skills are important too, but the analysts that get promoted quickly are the ones who can communicate what they learned and help build consensus around a solution.

In particular, people who can bridge the gap between the technical work we do and how it impacts the business are in very high demand. It’s important work and the better it’s done, the smoother a project or initiative will go.

On the other hand, when it comes to hiring, what recommendations do you give to your students, or would you give to someone, who is looking to join the data industry and get their first full-time data analyst position?

Reach out to managers of roles you like and ask them what they’re looking for. Don’t do it with the expectations of getting a job, but do it as part of your research. You build your network, and get valuable information about how to tailor your resume to the type of role you want.

I look for some technical skills (python, SQL, VBA, etc.), the ability to learn independently, and someone who is well spoken and able to communicate clearly and concisely… But my situation is not the same as every other hiring manager. Others may look for deeper technical or statistical expertise, or stronger communication skills or more experience doing technical work.

Anything you'd like to highlight, or add? Something that is not specified above but you hear a lot, or would be helpful for people to know?

I like to try and find something I can learn, or something that interests me in every task I do. I’m always looking for little ways to build skills or improve the way I work. I rarely find something transformative, but I often find a bunch of small things worth doing.

Also - if you have the chance to challenge the status quo, be willing to do it and be willing to think differently. Listen closely to those with experience, because it is frequently hard-earned, but don’t do something because “that's the way we’ve always done it!”

An extra one: How do you see the increased availability of AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bard etc., impacting the typical data analyst role / or of someone in data analytics? Are you using AI tools to augment your thinking, analysis and overall work?

This could be an interview all by itself! AI has a TON of potential to help make coding faster, find bugs, check for errors, etc. It can also help you brainstorm how to present a concept or idea to an audience, help anticipate questions on a presentation… etc. I use it a lot as a thought partner the way I would with a patient colleague who is willing to do a lot of reading and suffer endless questions. BUT…

AI is not a solution yet - When you’re not an expert in something, AI seems very insightful and full of ideas, but when you are an expert, you can see the insights are superficial and the information often shallow, generic or derivative. It’s a fantastic thought partner, but it’s not yet ready to replace you at work, so make sure you’re double checking its results.

Oh - and it’s wrong a lot more frequently than people would have you believe. Not in big ways, but in small logic-bug creating ways that are REALLY hard to track down.

And an extra, extra one, if you’d like to share :)

What are you most excited about in the hospitality sector right now?

Right now I’m excited about the AMAZING variety of quality hotels and accommodations you can get everywhere. There are fantastic hotels to be had at every level - luxury to economy - and there are an incredible variety of home rentals and home sharing options where you can plan any type of trip or experience you want. It’s a great time to travel!

This has been great, thank you again, John. Where could people see more of your work, and connect with you?

My LinkedIn Profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnalexandercook/

Penguin Analytics Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@penguinanalytics1984