Alteryx Career Backgrounds

[James_Lai]

Hello all!

As an Alteryx learner enrolled in an Accountancy Program, I am excited at all the possibilities of utilizing this platform when I enter the exciting field of public accounting. I was curious about the backgrounds of the typical Alteryx user like yourselves? What industries do you come from? What roles/titles do you hold? Have you found your knowledge of Alteryx has allowed you to progress faster than your peers?

Best regards,

James

[AlteryxUserFL]

I'm a Sr. Finance Associate at a large company in the pharma industry. I started as an analyst a few years ago and now manage a 4 person analytics team. I have seen many people progress, including myself, and it has very little to do with knowing how to use a certain tool. Successful people are quick learners who prioritize producing quality work and connecting with influential people in their organization.

Alteryx is an easy tool to learn if you have the right background so knowing how to use it won't be a big help to your growth potential. If you can find an organization or team that is not using Alteryx / has an unstable process, you could use Alteryx to automated work and reduce headcount which can be a big win. I was able to do that which was extremely helpful to my career, but the key is finding the right organization / team. At the same time, while Alteryx made this easy to do, I could have done the same thing with python, Spotfire, Databricks, or a number of other tools. Always be looking for ways to automate as much as your job as possible as it is a great way to be noticed.  

[Zaguls]

Hey James,

I've been in public accounting for 4 years and industry for 6 years, and am currently a lead analyst at a technology company.  I am echoing the other response, that Alteryx is a great tool, but being good using a tool may not open doors in a career.  In my experience its actually the opposite, if you're good at things others aren't you are going to get pigeon holed into that role because they won't want to sacrifice that productivity to move you to management, especially in public accounting where billable hour %s rule the day. 

The main skill to advance your career in accounting is networking, you only need to be competent for stable employment.  Advancement though is driven by nepotism; especially at the Big 4.  Who you have lunch with will matter much more than what you are capable of or do on a daily basis.