Epical's Future Data & Analytics Professionals training program annually trains "juniors" interested in data and technology for Data and Analytics consultant positions in our changing customer assignments. Tommi Salmi, our SVP in Business Development, has played a key role in developing the program into its current form. The first implementation focused on developing the skills of junior consultants already in-house, the second test effort was done in cooperation with a client, and the third time the training program took its current form. In this article, Tommi and our latest junior consultants Mikko Kuusisto, Santeri Löppönen and Patrik Mäkelä, who graduated from the training program, talk about the program in more detail.

Carefully thought out and tailored training

Planning and running your own training program is demanding and time-consuming work for all the Epical experts who participate in making it. However, the investment is definitely worth it. Tommi considers one of the advantages of our own training program is that it increases the diversity brought by people in different career levels in the teams. Traditionally, the seniority of Epical's data and analytics consultants is strong, and we want to purposefully balance this by recruiting people who are in the early stages of their careers, Tommi states.

On the other hand, according to Tommi, Epical's training program is also developed for practical reasons. With our own training program, it is possible to take in several junior consultants at once, and with the support of more experienced consultants, it is easier and faster for juniors to grow into consultant positions. Junior consultants graduated from the program confirm that as new joiners they were able to spar with each other and received a lot of support from each other in addition to experienced consultants. Santeri points out as a good thing that a large part of the training was given by Epical's own senior consultants, in which case people get to know each other and the threshold for asking questions was lowered. As a learning environment, they all found this fit for purpose.

The training content is planned separately every year with the good cooperation of supervisors and senior consultants in customer facing roles. According to Tommi, the current and future needs of customers are strongly taken into account when planning the contents, as the training program tries to meet future demand and anticipate future trends. As a result of this work, for example, the most recent training program contained subjects for which training is available from the open market and from technology partners, and for which it is not possible to receive training elsewhere. One important part of the training content is the part where you are trained to work as an Epical consultant.

According to Tommi, teaching the role and attitude of a consultant is the most difficult. The Future Data & Analytics Professional program has tried to respond to this by including as much different practical training as possible in the training and to make it possible to follow and participate in customer work as early as possible. Work as a consultant is strongly about working with people and clients have very different personalities. Tommi tells us that in our way of doing business you have to be humble at the same time, but still dare to speak your mind. There should not be too much of either.

Why and who should apply?

There has been an increasing number of applicants for the training program year after year, and in the last round there were already almost a hundred of them. Among these, we choose the most potential ones for the consultant's job, Tommi says. When talking about what kind of people should apply to this program and why, all junior consultants mention one thing. One must be genuinely interested in data. Also, you must have the interest and ability to understand how data creates value for the customer's business and how business needs define the use of data.

Mikko feels that at Epical you can have a say on what kind of tasks you end up with. For example, if you want to shift more of your focus to reporting instead of data storage, you can do it. On the other hand, it is also possible to work extensively with the entire data pipe. Patrik adds to this that as a workplace, Epical’s data and analytics business is not niched into one or two things, but here you can see the broad scope of information management to advanced analytics and reporting and get to see different clients, environments and see different assignments. According to Santeri, the good thing about Epical is that we are a company focused on data consulting and we can offer people a wide variety of roles. On the other hand, Santeri also emphasizes that as a consultant you must be constantly ready to learn new things.

All junior consultants agree that when entering the training program it is good to know the basics of data management, such as SQL. Santeri also mentions an interest in problem-solving, thinking about complex issues and logic. Sometimes at work we are on a very abstract level, they state, and, for example, Mikko finds it sometimes difficult to explain to his family and friends what exactly he is doing for a living. However, Santeri only sees the good sides in this. Since his sibling is a doctor, there is always someone at family parties who pulls their socks off to ask for advice, but so far no one has come to ask him for help in developing data storage.

Tommi agrees with the junior consultants by nodding his head. As an employer's representative, he looks for a suitable educational background and interest in data and technology in resumes. The right type of attitude for consulting work is mapped out in the application letter and in the interviews. Previous work experience is not necessarily significant, but the stage of studies is often significant. Tommi knows from his own experience that the work of a consultant can easily carry you away, and balancing studies and work at the same time is challenging. It is common to start working while the thesis is still in progress, but basically students who are in the earlier stages of their studies in the application for a degree program have to wait until the following year.

We are recruiting for the Future Data & Analytics Professionals training program again in spring 2024. Please follow us on social media and network with us here to be the first to know!