Anyone work in a role that is primarily considered a knowledge management role and not majority working as a database administrator or similar? Hell, those folks, want to chime in as well? I'm still working on figuring out a career change and I would really like to marry my interest in tech writing, process mapping and improvement, and general knowledge cataloging & sharing and have a career around that. There's some skills crossover to what I do now but this kind of thing isn't directly adjacent to my current area. I am interested in hearing about the roles that folks are doing and how I might get into something like that (should it keep sounding interesting) from where I'm at now. Would like to get into something new without another four-year degree.
I know I keep starting this threads and I appreciate the folks that have played along in the past.
Business Architecture?
I'm currently working as an intermediary between the business (engineering nerds) and the IT guys (software nerds) on identifying what the business needs to succeed. Then translating it into language that the software nerds understand. Then they build the software and have to translate back to the engineering nerds what was met and what wasn't.
Previously we worked on an enterprise spanning endeavor to look at what processes and software each capability needed and which capabilities were necessary to build the next product. Part of the project was trying to identify if either the process or the software was interchangable across multiple products. If there was value in having a unique process or software implementation for the product. If the enterprise should be moving to a single solution and negotiating the outliers.
The third major project was working on aggregating and reviewing all of the artifacts necessary to make it through the gates to qualify or experimental product into a production product.
All this is for a large aerospace manufacturer who is currently not having the best reputation.
I work as a tech consultant at one of the Big-4, specializing in Salesforce implementations.
My role is currently a business analyst. Similar to Johnboyjjb above, I talk to business people and translate their needs into tech speak for the devs so they can write code to meet the functional requirements.
Previously I was a research analyst at a research and advisory firm. It involved a lot of writing and there is definitely some overlap between technical writing and being a business analyst. Process mapping is pretty important in my current role as well.
Maybe an important differentiator-do you mean knowledge worker, or knowledge manager?
In reply to Johnboyjjb :
What you're outlining, what (in brief) sounds like capturing process definition and working on improvements, sounds interesting. How did you get into that role / what are the requirements for that sort of work? Part of my thought process is that it would be nice to not be tied to the aircraft industry specifically as it is limiting (only so many aircraft companies out there) but that's where all of my professional work experience is from.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
How would you briefly define both a 'knowledge worker' and a 'knowledge manager' so that I can better answer that question? At this point the first sounds like a researcher or writer, the other sounds like a systems architect sort of like a network/db admin. How close am I?
How did you get into this line of work?
Thanks to you both for replying.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
How would you briefly define both a 'knowledge worker' and a 'knowledge manager' so that I can better answer that question? At this point the first sounds like a researcher or writer, the other sounds like a systems architect sort of like a network/db admin. How close am I?
How did you get into this line of work?
Thanks to you both for replying.
I've always understood "knowledge worker" to describe white collar work in an office. Have also heard knowledge manager but alawys in the context of IT (i.e. he guy that handles all the content that is referenced by an IT helpdesk in a Fortune 100 company). This could be because my background is mostly IT or software sales.
My boring-normie answer to, "how do i get XYZ role" is almost always to get into a really big company with the skills you currently have, show some success, and then move laterally. For my current role my company had started a back-to-office program to recruit people with my skill set and somebody reached out via linkedin.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
Good info. "Knowledge Worker" or similar and not "Knowledge Manager" is probably where I would aim, though it seems like these titles are more loose vs. what I've been doing in my career thus far. This is part of what has me looking for help.
"Go to a big company" makes sense. I'm wondering how I do that outside of working remote, which is fine with me, but there's always that part about getting started. My current company is not good about this stuff (which is partially why I'm so interested in it; I miss having the structures in place).
What would probably help me is a couple of job postings that I could tailor my resume to so I can show what I know that overlaps as well as learn about gaps in my knowledge & experience. Sort of feels like I need to search more by area of, and activity of interest, to find a req to review.
If there's anyone else that wants to chime in, please do so, as I would really like to hear about other roles and such in this area.
You're describing what organizations like the MEP do. They handle a lot of process consulting, documentation for their customers, and recurrent training. MEP organizations are pretty wide-ranging and can offer services like software consulting, Six Sigma, Kanban, process consulting, safety, and more. I know they're always hurting for people since it's technically a non-profit / NIST partnership, but the four that I work with on a regular basis (NEPIRC, MANTEC, MRC, and DVIRC) provide a lot of great and varied services to local manufacturers both onsite and at their training centers.
I work in ERP software consulting, which does a lot of what you describe as well, with a bit of technical knowledge (mostly database knowledge) that's required to get products up and running. My day-to-day involves a lot of business consulting to map workflows, consolidating charts of accounts, segmenting inventory, documenting various manufacturing processes, and explaining exactly why MRP is reacting the way it is within the system. We have a network of independent resellers who implement and handle some modifications to the product. Mostly things like modifying reports, adding additional functionality to the VAR layer of the product to help with workflows, etc. We handle a lot of the heavy-duty technical items like new feature development and the occasional borked data set from a server crash.
In reply to The0retical :
Lot of good information here, thanks for jumping in.
I am wondering how far ahead I would be if I somehow made my way into the world of database administration... I need to spend some time soon and find a job posting that sounds interesting and work out where the gaps are in what I can do today and go from there, I think. I will look up the companies you listed and see what I can work out.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
The NIST MEP centers are localized, you can find yours here: https://www.nist.gov/mep if you're interested. They're all usually looking for someone on their second or third career because those candidates bring a lot of real world skills to the position.
From a professional standpoint, I've had mixed results with database admins. There are really only two schools of them in my line of work: Those that understand relational databases and those that don't. The ones that don't can be a problem because they want treat really complex relational databases like a homegrown app and constantly try to attack the data directly. Which, of course, creates a huge problem later down the line because information didn't propagate to other tables that need it for reporting. That said, SQL is a handy thing to know in general. Databases will vary in structure, but if you can interpret a data dictionary, you can write reports and create analytics dashboards without the assistance of the software vendor. That will make you valuable in general.
Most companies over $25 million I work with have an IT manager who can create stored procedures and fix minor data errors (again SQL) but their primary function is a facilitator for the various pieces of software that make modern manufacturing companies work. Good ones often handle the training of departments on the ERP system, translate requests from departments into workable reports or software modifications, and quietly handle the things that you don't want your software vendor to know about or want to pay them to handle.
Career IT here, incl managing at a big company which felt more like project managing, so my advice is more general than specific.
+1 to the0retical's advice about the value of knowing SQL. For me it wasn't just saving time with vendors, it was saving time with our own devs and DBAs, too, who didn't have the bandwidth or the staffing to handle silly little reports that the front office or the client always wanted. Seriously though, the less beholden you are to other departments for low hanging fruit, the better you are in general. Depending on how much in the weeds you are, understanding some basic Linux commands, networking commands, powershell (or even, frankly, good old fashioned DOS and WMIC), and seeing/grasping the backend interface of a virtual host server is worth gold for a generalist.
And by "knowing SQL", I'd say that if you're sharp enough, the ability to decipher/mod existing queries (vs generate it from scratch) is good enough most of the time. It's literally everywhere and it's a relief/hero moment to not have to sit there with your hands folded, cluelessly waiting alongside the sales and HR people for "some genius in IT" to come explain it.
In reply to Johnboyjjb, Crusty :
How much are you two working in databases or other similar environments and toolsets are you two working in? Obviously there's a lot of time at a computer doing this work but it seemed like you two were not doing as much database management or similar activities yourself. Or am I confused? Feels like other folks (who are awesome for joining in on the discussion!) are doing more work in these areas than you two were alluding to.
Hmm. My current assignment is no database management. My last assignment, managing the process and tools for gate review, could be called a database but I would call it more data management. Lots of time interrogating data in databases but not really managing it myself.
As to a path, my journey was as an airplane mechanic who excelled at reading engineering drawings in convoluted scenarios, which led into a Data Quality position, ensuring the data that we run certification reports are running on good data. The Data Quality position led to a data and process architecture position which led to enterprise architecture. My formal education is in computer networking but I've had a series of bosses who appreciate that informal education and experience can be way more valuable in architecture.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
Sent you a PM.
Thanks to everyone so far.
