Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Amanda Widjaja, a data engineer at Facebook. Amanda is simply brilliant, she is the embodiment of self-assurance and confidence. Her effortlessly cool attitude and open-mindedness are certainly some of her most inspiring traits.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
I am Amanda, I was born in Texas and grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia. I’m a Data Engineer at Social VR and Oculus at Facebook in the AR/VR analytics team based out of Menlo Park. In my work, I mainly focus on the social VR products; essentially the experiences that help you feel present in the moment or space. I was not interested in VR at first, I mean, I thought it was cool, but I didn’t know much about it. Then I did a demo with a friend of this experimental app called Toybox that’s used to showcase a multiplayer experience and what it’s like to be social in VR. Even though you were a head with two dismembered hands in the demo, it still felt like you two were in the same space despite the fact that my friend was in an entirely different room. I immediately saw and felt the potential of this powerful platform and wanted to work in that area of the business in any capacity. So, when Facebook launched their first Social VR app called Facebook Spaces, I jumped on the opportunity to join their team.
How did you become a data engineer?
The way that I got into it was really by chance. I actually started on the research side of PitchBook, where I taught myself SQL and grew interested in how the data flowed through the backend system into the platform. I was fascinated by how many things can be automated and just started learning how to do it. Some of the research managers had to generate daily reports and calculations manually, so I worked with them and helped them automate their processes using SQL and Tableau. Honestly, I just kept practicing and trying to automate everything I could get my hands on.
Then my manager noticed this work and transferred me over to become a senior data operations analyst. During my time in that role, I taught myself Python and eventually was writing ETL (Extract, Transform, & Load) processes without knowing it! Eventually, the Business Intelligence team had a few technical projects they needed someone to work on, and the head of the team hired me into the Business Intelligence Engineering role. This was when I started building out our own databases, internal tools, and more robust scripts to help them automate a couple of processes to make larger-scale business decisions.
Now looking back, I realized that I was doing data engineering long before even knowing what it was called!
Through my career I’ve actually noticed that there are more women in data science than in data engineering. Many of my friends encouraged me to become a data scientist, but I realize now that I really enjoy the data engineering work. Although as a data engineer, you’re not the person telling the stories and you’re farther away from the decision-making, it’s worth mentioning that without you, there is no (good) data to science. I really do love putting together good data sets, and I feel proud when they’re clean, and have high fidelity.
Now looking back, I realized that I was doing data engineering long before even knowing what it was called!
What was you most fulfilling or fun project?
My most fun and fulfilling project was actually my first Python project and it happened while I was working at PitchBook. PitchBook had great data sets with tons of information on private companies. The way that they recorded that information was by brute force, which meant manually inputted data. This resulted in many inconsistencies across the board like misspelled cities, wrong zip codes, unnecessary capitalizations and the like. I started looking into how to correct tens of thousands of data points and that was where I found Google Maps API – I then found a way to use it and essentially learned how to write and execute Python scripts from doing this project. I was amazed at how much you can learn through googling and going on Stack Overflow where the smartest people hang out on the internet waiting to answer your tough questions in the span of 5 minutes.
I think that what was truly most fulfilling about my first project is seeing what I was capable of doing when I had a goal in mind. It was the first time that I coded and after letting the script run for 2 minutes, it solved the problem of cleaning all those data points and saved us hours of manual work. That was the start my journey with coding!
What was truly most fulfilling was seeing what I was capable of doing when I had a goal in mind.
Do you have any advice for young women looking to enter the field?
This is advice that I received and advice that I give: First off, do the work and produce good results, and your value will be undeniable. Although being a woman is highly politicized, the politics of it all doesn’t have to engulf you or define you – let your work do that for you. Next, don’t be afraid to connect to others and ask for help. I was very fortunate to have had great mentors who were in senior positions when I was starting out. I always found it helpful for me to have people who are a few years ahead of me in their careers to look up to and have them help me get to that level.
I’ve had so much support and help throughout my career, which is why I pay special care and attention to giving back and saying yes when people reach out to ask for help, advice, etc. I always want to help and I am happy to give back because so many people have done the same for me.
Do the work and produce good results, and your value will be undeniable.
Do you find that women are often a minority in the industry? If so, what actionable steps would you recommend to actively combat this issue?
Yes, women are a minority in the tech industry and that’s just the truth. Facebook overall does a good job, but the technical fields and departments could always use more women. On a broader note, although we can help younger women learn all the technical skills, once they come into the workplace, they do not retain as well for various reasons. One actionable (and simple) step that I would recommend is to refer more women for technical positions. My own (data engineering team) is mostly comprised of women, and that’s because my manager and I were both referred into the roles we’re in, and then I referred another woman who is now in my team, and this referral cycle resulted in a technical team with a majority of women – which is rare and awesome! Imagine how much it would help the ratios if more women in the field took the time to mentor or refer other women in their network – this is why I get really excited when I could tap into my network and refer women into open roles in my team/company.
The reason I suggest referrals is because we see this type of pattern in male-dominated tech companies, which grew up from tech startups that get funded by venture capital. If you want to talk about male-dominated fields, I think the venture world is one to pay attention to – this is the world where they hold and deploy funds, and you can see how it’s mostly VC men who fund startups run by men, who then hire other men to help run their companies. It’s a cycle that can be disrupted by getting more women into a place where they have the power to write checks and fund companies. I firmly believe that the VC world needs more women – this could be a way to make a large impact downstream, and to “scale” diversity, so to speak.
One actionable step that I would recommend is to refer more women for technical positions.
What would you like to learn in the near future?
I have been coding quite a lot, and doing many types of projects – some small scale, and some larger scale. I am at a point where I’d like to learn how be better at influencing people, and potentially how to build and grow an effective team. Lately, I’ve been interested in learning more about organizational behavior, understanding how teams are formed, what makes them disperse, that kind of thing. It might seem trivial but I realize when you get people’s individual goals into the mix, team dynamics, and then a broader organization, all of it gets really complex and interesting to think about.
Career wise, where do you see yourself going in the future?
I never really think too far ahead, I sort of let things sort itself out and go with the flow. So far, it’s worked out for me, and I’ve always been surprised and grateful with where I was. I am still very early in career, so the possibilities are endless. I’ve always loved data and investing, so something in that realm probably. For now, I am really enjoying what I’m doing and still have a lot to learn here at Facebook.