Vendors can be a great training ground for new entrants in the field. They offer a variety of positions, locations, and technologies that make for a good jumping-off point. If you are looking to break into the field or to move up in the field, my first advice would be to read Judah’s post about how to get that analytics job by immersing yourself in the community (Judah’s Post ). His post is filled with great tips to use to build your network. Next, consider working for a vendor as a great place to start a career in analytics or to take it to the next level.
When I say vendor, I don’t mean just an analytics vendor, as there are really only a handful of pure analytics vendors, and they aren’t all going gangbusters right now. But, if you think of the entire ecosystem, there are tons of vendors in the space. I’m talking about mobile analytics, testing and targeting platforms, voice of the customer vendors, email vendors, etc. Go look at the sponsor list of eMetrics or Web Analytics Wednesday and you’ll get the idea.
Here are a few reasons why I think vendors are a great place to get your start (and I’m talking from experience here).
- Sizeable staff – They have large teams of professional services, account management, and support folks who do some form of analytics all day every day. Companies such as WebTrends or ComScore have technical consultants, data analysts, strategists, account managers, tech support, trainers, and sales engineers who are all responsible for helping the customer base learn the tool, use the tool, and be successful. This means there are often job opportunities at vendors, even when in-house analytics staff at non-vendors aren’t growing.
- On the job training – Vendors will teach you what you need to know to be successful. The experience won’t always be fun or pretty, but you can bet that by the time you’ve worked with a few customers, you will know A LOT about that product, analytics, data collection, tags, and everything else you need to know. Some vendors do this methodically with a rigorous onboarding process. Some do it by throwing you into the deep end. Either way, if you make it out the other side, you are now an expert! Vendors will often provide opportunities to participate in industry events (such as eMetrics) and will often pay for you to go (especially if you spend time at the exhibit booth).
- Integration points – Most vendors claim or actually do integrate with other vendors in the space. The email marketing solution should be able to pass data or accept data from the analytics solution, the content management system should be able to publish tags, the testing solution should be passing test data to the analytics solution. Sometimes these integrations are klugey and sometimes they are easy. But either way, by helping out with an integration for a few customers, you’ve just learned a bit about some other part of the industry. Cha ching.
- Big names – All vendors thrive on growing their referenceable and recognizable account names. You too can grow and thrive on that as well. If you get to help large companies measure mobile or realize ROI, you’ve got a great story to tell. Those customer names can go on your resume and can also help you build your network.
- Industry connections – The product manager, the marketing manager, the CEO, and the VPs at these vendors are industry thought leaders. They are networking at industry events, they are leading panels, and they are writing white papers. In your time with the vendor, you will rub shoulders with some big names in the space. Get to know these people and learn what you can while you are there, and keep in touch with them when you or they move on.
- Work from anywhere – Most vendors’ professional services teams are global, which means you don’t have to live in Utah to work for Omniture. This means, for the right job, you can work on a remote team and work in your bathrobe when you aren’t on the road.
- Subject matter expert – Vendors are always looking for a competitive edge either with the product or their people. If you come into the team with an expertise, say in Search, Marketing, Javascripting, or what-have-you, you can quickly build a reputation as well as a niche. If you come into the role green, you can build an expertise on the job by the customers you take on, the projects you volunteer for or the late-night studying you do on your own.
- Peek under the hood – Being able to see how the product (and company) actually work is invaluable. Knowing how the products really work, what they do well (and not so well) helps you design and deliver better solutions – as a vendor, agency consultant, or in-house client analyst.
- Vendors pay more – According to Eric Peterson’s Web Analytics Salaries 2007 report, web analytics vendors pay the highest salaries. He gives some reasons and numbers to back it up.
So there’s the good news. But it isn’t all sweetness and light. There are definite caveats to everything I just said above. Here are some of the things to keep in mind when you are evaluating a job with a vendor:
- Burn and churn – Some vendors hire staff and bury them with work or travel or utilization targets and spit them out. Try to figure out their turnover rate and also meet with who has been with the team the longest. You don’t want to work for a team that is a revolving door, because you’ll be picking up the slack and the people that came before definitely were onto something.
- Road warriors – Consultants at most vendors (and agencies) are required to travel to customer sites to do the job. Know before you sign how much travel is expected (and add 20% to whatever the recruiter tells you) and make sure your personal life supports that amount (or a little more).
- Financial Health – Obviously times are tough and there are many vendors who are laying people off as I write this. You need to make sure you get a handle on the vendor and their financial footing before you join the team.
- The product and services – Not all products are created equal. Do not work for a product that you do not believe in or for a team/company that has a bad reputation. Don’t believe everything you read about the vendors, but certainly do your due diligence. Go to analytics events (WAW, etc.), check the message boards (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/webanalytics/), and blogs and ask around. Find out the word on the street about the vendor from customers, prospects, analysts, etc.
Times are tough and certainly anyone with an open position will be looking for the right fit. That’s where Judah’s post is critical – build your network, your resume, and your skill set as much as possible where ever you are right now. There are opportunities out there. At the time of this posting, I see 4 analytics positions with Omniture, 3 with WideMile, 5+ with ComScore, 2+ with Interwoven, SiteSpect is hiring (where I used to work) as is WebTrends (where I currently work)…you get the idea. If you want to make a leap into analytics, I’d say a vendor is a good bet.
