by Angela Guess
Sarah Fister Gale recently wrote in Chief Learning Officer, “Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. prides itself on being able to bring cutting edge technology and talent to its clients… The volume and complexity of data management and data science expertise required on client projects often exceeds the skills available in the company’s ranks. Further, Ashley Lanier, program manager in the company’s strategic innovation group, forecasts a long term demand for these skills. Competition for this kind of talent is intense, and universities aren’t graduating enough experts to fill the need. ‘Without qualified data scientists, business leaders don’t trust the information they have available to make decisions,’ she said. ‘The talent we needed didn’t exist in the marketplace, so we decided to build it’.”
Gale goes on, “Their solution was Tech Tank, a yearlong learning and development program targeting high-potential junior employees at Booz Allen who have the basic skills to succeed in technical roles but need more development to get to the next level. The program would provide these high performers with a foundation of knowledge as well as access to like-minded peers and senior staffers who could help them forge a data science career path at the company. ‘We started by identifying the desired outcome — what do we want them to achieve once they graduate? — then we worked backward from there,’ Lanier said. The primary goal was to create a pool of trained apprentice-level data scientists who could move quickly into client-facing roles. The team determined that a boot camp-style program wouldn’t be enough; candidates needed intensive training to translate their basic math, science and computer skills into data science expertise. ‘Our clients don’t need someone with two weeks of training in Python, they need experts’.”
Photo credit: Booz Allen Hamilton