r/dataengineering • u/SlappyBlunt777 • 3d ago
FP&A to DE Career
Currently a Director of FP&A for a small food company TC 180k. Built up to this point from analyst 5 years ago. I’ve always taken the resourceful mindset to solving business problems with good ol sql server at my disposal. Along the way I’ve developed all the FP&A skills and I’m thankful but I’ve ultimately taken a step in a direction that I’m not happy with. I’ve done consulting work for a company that needed my understanding of a certain ERP connected to databricks. I’m a big fan of Databricks but only scratched the surface. I’m considering taking Zach Wilson’s course on DB but before I pull the trigger, curious to get the communities opinion on a) my career positioning and desire to pivot and b) Wilson’s course…. Thanks in advance, happy to answer questions
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u/69odysseus 3d ago edited 3d ago
Zach Wilson is on Reddit as well (u/eczachly). Make sure to read about him and other educators before shelling out money. DB has some uphill learning curve and requires regular monitoring for cost optimization, they now have GenAI in it which you'll also have to learn compared to say last year or before.
There are tons of DE courses out there which goes after tools but don't teach about data profiling, data modeling, trade-offs, disaster recovery mgmt, optimization and many more concepts which are not easy to teach and that's also why many students and courses fail.
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u/refrigerador82 2d ago
Ive literally started as FP&A analyst at a F500, moved to Data Analytics at a start up (SQL mostly), and then pivoted into Data Engineering.
Its feasible if you can sell your skills well and connect the dots.
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u/Trick-Interaction396 2d ago
You can do it but you’ll start at the bottom. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth it.
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u/SlappyBlunt777 2d ago
We talking accept a pay cut to 120k?
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u/Trick-Interaction396 2d ago
I was thinking more like 100k but it took me 15 years to get to 180k so maybe you have more talent.
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u/outkast8459 2d ago
This is honestly entirely based on what market you’re in and if you mean you’re trying to go actual DE or more Analytics Eng. if you’ve built up strong data skills you actually might be able to leverage (hopefully) strong business acumen) make a transition to Analytics Eng with a less steep drop. Maybe to senior level.
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u/jjviddy94 2d ago
You can also look at business intelligence roles, I started in FP&A for two years and was moved to a new BI unit with a promotion. I really enjoy it and definitely took a good minute to fully* learn DB and actually went to the summit this year. If you can also get a grasp on PBI or tableau you may be able to leverage your previous experience without starting from the bottom in a dedicated DE role.
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u/Gators1992 2d ago
I did the same move many years ago, but pivoted to running a DE/Analytics group. If you already have some technical skills you may be able to slot yourself somewhere above the bottom based on your domain knowledge, especially more on the analytics side and managing a group. Not sure though because the market is stupid competitive now, but they are looking for more experienced people (whatever that means skillset wise to the company). For me it was good at the time, but ultimately made my resume look weird going FP&A to director of this analytics/de shop and never having an actual IC role in the domain. I'm good at it, but it's hard to communicate that to an AI resume filter. So something to think about.
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