How can you find a mentor in Business Intelligence (BI) outside of your industry?

Your network is everything. Connect beyond the work, seek opportunities to build that network through co-workers, former supervisor and networking associations.

Finding the right Mentor is tougher compared to finding a Life Partner. But having a Mentor is very critical as he/ she can make/ mar your life. One needs to be very clear what is expects from the mentor - Is it only related to BI work - tools, approach, problem solving? - Is it related to Business understanding and thus breaking the problems? - Or is it more of Career mentorship? Based on this start following people (online), start meeting them in conferences, see how they react/ respond to your queries before you start freezing him as your mentor

Firstly, understand your knowledge gap. Reach out to wider group of people who are in academics or research. You will find the latest perspective from them.

Attend BI and data analytics conferences, workshops, and seminars. These events are great for meeting professionals from various industries. Make connections and express your interest in finding a mentor.

BI is as good as the previous activities and preparation for this initiative in n any organization which aims to achieve buisness that takes its decisions and crafts its strategic objectives relying upon analytical review of its performance and the results AI driven tools works hand in hand with ML. Right after you build the correct foundation for a data warehouse gy l

With emerging market of Data Analytics, Business Intelligence and Online Coaching, every other person is now trying to be a Coach/ Mentor Truth is not everyone can be a Mentor/ Coach Best Strategies: - Follow people on various Social Platforms to check what information they are sharing - Meet them / Listen to them/ Ask Questions to see if they fit in your Mentorship qualification - and you are ready to follow them, their behavior, approach, methodology - Try this with atleast 10-15 expert in your area of business/ domain to shortlist 2-3 whom you can trust - Follow them blindly, seek as much advice as possible and wait to see positive results

Coming from a civil engineering background, switching to data without a mentor was a difficult part. I found hundreds of like minded people on LinkedIn and WhatsApp groups. Regularly connecting with them over different topics helped me in so many ways. Instead of 1, I found a lot of mentors who were expert in various domains.

In the search for successful examples in other segments, broad networking is essential, without barriers or prejudices, as knowledge is present online and offline. On social media and at specific events, learning is always more intense. Keeping an open mind is essential.

To find your right mentors, I would recommend: 1. Be part of a community. It can be online (LinkedIn, GitHub, Reddit, Stack Overflow, etc.) or offline, like a students group at your school, work or university. 2. To be helped, help: You can know a lot of valuable people by generating value to them in LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. Find a topic that you like and understand, and answer some people's questions on that. 3. MOOCs: When you take an online course (Coursera, EdX, etc), there is a community where you can also find people with great contributions. And you also learn a lot with the course itself. 4. Influencers: find the best people in the area you want to develop and follow them. 5. Networking: invest on events, both offline and online.

"If you don't ask, answer is always NO" So the best approach is to ask (either during Conference, or DMs or even dropping an email) Make sure you are sharing the required problem with as much details, data or business context as possible else be prepared to hear generic answers which might not solve your challenge

It is necessary to have an adequate professional profile to perform a role like this in BI. Communicating is essential as it will be necessary to establish a relationship so that the flow of information exchange is increasingly effective. In general, potential mentors will be happy to help, but it is essential that they realize that they will also receive knowledge in return to enrich their own experience.

The relation with Mentor should be stronger than the relation with anyone in the world. Most importantly, you need to have complete and blind trust on them and try things as advised. A proper 2-way communication is the best approach to have a strong relationship with your mentor. This communication should include - Discussing challenge - Solutions - Way outs - Gratitude - Appreciations - Thankfulness - Feedback - Suggestions

The relationship with the mentor needs to have a lot of mutual trust, which is built over time. Both parties need to feel respected and prestigious. There are many ways for this to happen, but trust is an exercise that takes time and investment. It will not be in the first contacts that great insights will emerge.

Knowledge does not take up space in you. Also, when you share, you never reduce your own knowledge. More than that, the mentor may often want to share something that you don't need and imagine you will never need. However, listen carefully and try to learn as much as possible. Many times in Life, we learn things that we imagine we will never use, but Life teaches us that things are not quite like that. Suddenly, we find ourselves in situations where that learning is worth a lot.

"There is no fun in learning if you can't teach" Which means once you have learnt something from your mentors, executed, seen positive results and heard appreciations for your work, you shouldn't end there only - Keep discussing new challenges - Do Appreciate show Gratitude to your mentor - Share with new aspirants about yourself or your mentors - Make sure you thank your mentor publicly for him to be proud of

Networking, both online and offline, emerges as a cornerstone. In the era of data analytics and BI, the statement that "your network is everything" couldn't be more accurate. My professional growth has often been catalyzed by connections made in online communities and industry events. The act of reaching out and asking is where the courage lies. The adage "if you don't ask, the answer is always no" encapsulates the essence. I've learned the importance of framing queries thoughtfully, ensuring they resonate with potential mentors, showcasing not just what I seek but also what I bring to the table.