Was macht ein Business Intelligence Consultant? Manuel Osterbauer von Trivadis Delphi

Background

How did you get into consulting?

I found my first full-time job after graduation. Through a recommendation I then got to my first consulting job, where I realized that it was fun, and through the feedback of colleagues and customers, that I was doing well.

Which programming language fascinated you first?

Java / C# (the elegance of object oriented programming languages)

How old were you when you started programming?

14 years (HTL EDVO)

“programming language” Hamster (similar to Scratch)

How did you get into programming?

I attended the HTL EDVO in Wiener Neustadt and the FH Wiener Neustadt where I learned programming.

Your DevJob

Which challenges are there specifically as a business intelligence consultant?

Being able to satisfy the customer every time. That needs a mix of quality, budget, time, responsibility and customer service.

What to you like the most about your Job as business intelligence consultant?

The variety of roles you can fill for your customer. You can be a requirements engineer, developer, architect, project manager or Scrum Master/Product Owner.

What is your role as business intelligence consultant about, really?

All customers possess data which they want to evaluate in order to make better decisions. Here is where a BI Consultant comes into play, consolidating, harmonizing, and historicizing this data, and finally preparing it visually so that the customer can make better decisions with it.

The specific customer order always depends on the project, i.e. whether a new DWH with data marts is to be set up or an existing DWH is to be extended or optimized.

The data can be stored on-premises or in the cloud.

Using ETL tools or similiar features of a cloud, data is moved, transformed, enriched and historized.

The data processed by ETL is visualized in dashboards or reports using a BI front end tool.

What are your preferred technologies?

Everything around BI Backend:

• ETL Tools, like SSIS or Talend
• SQL dialects like TSQL / PLSQL
• (DWH architecture / modelling) e.g. with a DWH automation tool like biGenius

Tips for beginners

How do you start programming and what shoud you start with?

One should not begin programming straight away, but rather attempt to comprehend the reasoning behind it; in other words, what is programming and what components make up a programming language.

If you have understood this basic concept, I recommend trying out a visual programming tool like Scratch to get a feel for it and see if programming is something for you.

How do you start consulting and what shoud you start with?

I don't think there is a basic recipe for how to start, but you can consider whether you are someone who likes to communicate / work with customers / strangers at the beginning. Furthermore, you can consider whether you are an extroverted person, which is beneficial for a consultant.

If you enjoy receiving and implementing requests, and you get good feedback, then you will know if you are suited for the job.

Which skills should you bring as a business intelligence consultant?

• Good language and rhetoric
• Being able to say no and giving critical feedback
• Technical know-how that is relevant for the customers order
• quality awareness, endurance, tenacity

What education is useful to become a business intelligence consultant?

As there is not a “perfect” education to become a BI consultant, a mix of technical, IT-driven education (HTL, FH, Univeristy) is recommended. Furthermore, economic education can be useful to understand the customers.

How do you stay up to date?

• Through the completion of customer orders
• Trainings / certifications
• Self study