Sometimes we forget the humans behind the tech in our ever busy world. DSF is fortunate enough to know some incredible tech leaders across the world and has the privilege of hearing them present at our events. That being said, our Speaker Spotlight sets the stage to get to know our speakers on a more personal level and connect them with our growing community. Read the mini interview below!

A bit about Dinda: 

Dinda is an Analytics Lead at Cleo, supporting analytics across Marketing and Product Growth Squads. Previously, she was a Data Scientist at Meta (Facebook) and trivago. She has spent most of her career on marketing, acquisitions, and product growth (activation and engagement) topics, including working extensively on global marketing attribution model and automated bidding algorithm during her time at trivago.

How did you start out in your tech career?

I actually started in a project management role. Shortly after, I got the chance to work with the newly setup Data Science team, and somehow blended in as part of that team. Then I took Msc in Business Analytics before fully embarking in a Data Science and Analytics career.

What are the signs of success in your field?

The most obvious is seeing an actual result. This can be things like gaining extra revenue or saving costs through data projects.

But there’s also a more subtle sign like making data accessible and enabling others to make better decisions through dashboards/regular reporting or data storytelling. You’ll often see it in how the company / organisation becomes more data-driven and more “correct” decisions are made because they are well-informed by the data and insights.

What is the best and worst thing about your job role?

The best thing is the ability to influence the result and the success of the company through various types of work.

I personally enjoy the opportunity to use a range of skills from coding / predictive modelling to data storytelling that can really shape the direction for the company. But the nicest part of being in a tech company is the possibility of creating an “instant” impact as soon as you share your analysis. For example, I once shared an analysis on how much we were missing out on new subscribers conversion because we had not retargeted users who dropped off from the funnel. The product team went to ship an experiment for an automated retargeting campaign with a streamlined journey to let users go straight back where they left off. In a couple of weeks we saw a positive result in conversion rate and decided to roll it out!

The worst thing: most of the time we’re not the “executor” who can ship the changes required in the app / product. In my example before, I was able to influence the product team to ship the change so it was a happy ending. But there were also other situations where I was unable to convince them and so my work didn’t really lead to anything (I could not code and ship a new feature myself!). I’ve seen many analysts become frustrated in situations like this, but it’s really what pushes me to become better at communication and stakeholder management skills  – often these skills are underrated as many analysts just want to grow technically.

What can you advise someone just starting out to be successful?

First: Be curious. Tech roles are ever-evolving with its new tools, new techniques, and new domains. You might think you know a lot today but in a few months time, you’ll find something completely new you’ve never heard of before!

Second: learn how to communicate effectively. I’ve been impressed by the amazing writing and communication skills of the senior tech people (not only data people, but also software engineers) I worked with at my previous company. It never really occurred to me how much difference an effective written communication makes in getting people to take the right actions and to listen to you. So I really advise anyone, no matter how technical your role is, to learn to write and communicate better.

How do you switch off?

I play table tennis a lot at the office. I also try to have fun at work and not be too stressed. One of our company’s values is “bring good vibes” and it’s nice to have that because that means everyone will try to keep the good vibes going while trying to pursue the company goals.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Be brave! I was quite shy when I started my career in Europe (I’m from South East Asia) because I thought everyone else knows a lot more than me. I sometimes avoided sharing my work or my opinion but then a friend told me “all smart people want to work with other smart people. If you never share anything, no one can learn anything from you and we can’t tell if you’re smart or not.” He was spot on and thankfully I took his words seriously and changed for the better.

What is next for you?

I’d like to lead Cleo to the highest level of marketing efficiency. We are already ahead of most companies our size but we can still do more to become industry leader in this area.

Marketing science is something I’ve always been passionate about and currently I’m blessed with amazing people in my team. Our Marketing Analytics and Science team is growing and we continue to build the best-in-class tools to push for higher ROAS (return on ad spend) while keeping acquisition cost low.

What are your top 5 predictions in tech for the next 5 years?

  • Data roles will evolve to become more domain/skills specific. Many companies have now separated data roles by domain eg. Marketing Analyst, Product Analyst, Fraud Analyst, and this trend will continue as companies realise domain knowledge and focus enable faster progress.
  • More AI everywhere.
  • New tools and new methods will keep coming. Tech people can’t catch a break… We will still need to ensure we stay up to date on the latest tooling and methodology.
  • Growth at all costs won’t be a thing anymore. I think we all learned from the tech winter. Over the years the demand to show both app/user growth and profitability will increase.
  • There will be surprises… It’s hard to predict what will be the next big thing, but when it happens you’ll know it.

Watch Dinda’s session at the Data Science Festival here.

Thank you to all our wonderful speakers for taking part in our Speaker Spotlight!

Want to become a DSF Speaker? Apply here!