Archit Sood
Role: Senior Solutions Engineer
Joined: August, 2021
Home: Vancouver, BC, Canada
What were you doing before joining Datajoy?
I was working at a People Analytics company called Visier. I was there for 5 years, where I held many different job titles, such as, Software Developer, Data Management Engineer, and most recently, Business Intelligence Consultant.
As a Business Intelligence Consultant, I lead the implementation of Visier’s workforce analytic solution for several different HR topics, such as, Demographics, Movement, Talent Acquisition, and Compensation for several Global 2000 companies. I designed and onboarded different clients’ problems by transforming large amounts of raw data into clean, thoughtfully analysed intel using Visier’s proprietary tool, that was used for making strategic HR decisions.
What attracted you to Datajoy?
I have always wanted to work in a start-up environment (maybe I was influenced by the TV show, Silicon Valley!) When I interviewed with Ken, the Co-Founder, I felt the culture and values really aligned with my own – I could especially see the importance put on Innovation, Trust and Empathy.
The vision that Ken shared with me about the organization and my role as Senior Solutions Engineer, was really exciting. In my most recent role as Business Intelligence Consultant, I had a lot of opportunities to work on my customer service skills, but not so much on technical skills, however, at Datajoy I realised I would be utilizing both in equal capacity. Also, getting the opportunity to be closely involved with shaping a product at its earlier stages was something I’ve always wanted to do.
What does your typical day-to-day look like?
Typically, I work with customers and talk about the product and gather information as to what their needs and requirements are. After this, I use awesome technologies such as Snowflake, SQL, Python and our in-house data-modelling tool to deliver analytics that meet their business needs. Going back to the previous section about what attracted me to Datajoy, this is a prime example of getting to utilize both customer service and technical skills.
It is extremely rewarding to be able to work independently and be involved in the end-to-end delivery. In case of gaps, I get to work internally with our very talented engineering team, product team, and our very own co-founder.
What makes Datajoy special compared to other companies you worked at?
Apart from the amazing work I get to do, I would have to say the people. Everyone is extremely understanding and respectful of each other’s time. The flexibility of being 100% remote but still being so connected to the whole team is an amazing feat for a company to achieve, and Datajoy has delivered. We get to participate in really cool virtual events, such as wine and paint night and pumpkin carving and baking pumpkin pies. We also had the best off-site event that really solidified that bond as a team.
Favorite thing to do outside of work?
Growing up, I wanted to be a professional tennis player. For 15-16 years of my life, I trained hard – even though I didn’t end up becoming a professional, I still play it regularly, and it’s my favourite thing to do to unwind from a hard day’s work.
Summer is my favourite season, since I get to be outdoors a lot, and I get to go on long bike rides. Other than that, I love trying new restaurants, and enjoy a good beer, scotch or whiskey!
What is your superpower?
I love math, and I have this ability to visualise a problem in a graph / chart that makes it much easier to understand. I have tutored many people in math, and they usually get much better grades after I explain my process of working through problems.
Also, after being an athlete for so long, I have a knack for picking up most sports really quickly. Besides tennis, I’m pretty decent at table tennis, badminton, cricket and soccer.