You've seen the pictures of people working on their laptops in beautiful, exotic locations. Exploring the world while you work – the digital nomad lifestyle is nothing new, but it's getting a lot more common, in particular since we all learned to work without an office over the last years. And the data analyst job is well suited for this lifestyle.

In this episode, I talk with Melanie Dietrich about the benefits and challenges of working as a digital nomad data analyst. She also shares her story of breaking into data, coming from a business background. And how we can work on closing the gender gap in tech (and data).

Key takeaways:

• Finding the right accommodation is a challenge when working on the go. You want a good desk and good wifi, but that's often not obvious from the descriptions on Airbnb.
• Going to a coworking space means additional expenses, but can help to connect with the local community of digital nomads.
• For internet access, it's good to have backup options. SpaceX Starlink works great for van life, but is too heavy for backpacking.
• Coming from a business background (audit consulting), Melanie wanted to move beyond Excel and taught herself data analysis with SQL and Python, using online courses.
• When looking for your first job in data, it's important to put yourself out there and demonstrate your knowledge. Networking is key.
• Helping business users solve their problems establishes your role in the team. Become the go-to person for their data questions and teach them how to use the available data tools themselves.
• Data science skills (e.g. machine learning) are often not so relevant in daily work. Data engineering skills are often more in demand.
• Melanie is a co-founder of the Women in Data x Business career network. They organize events and share experiences to encourage more women to chose a career in data.

Find Melanie and and Valentin on LinkedIn.