Timothy Sondej

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:

Before you schedule a session with me, please do the following:

1. Please be mindful of my time. I have only 1 session a week of 30min and I need as MUCH INFO from YOU as possible before to optimise our short time together. I want to help as much and as efficient as I can.
2. Send me via email/this portal 2-5 questions as SPECIFIC as possible at least 5 working days BEFORE our meeting so I can prepare and also understand whether I am even qualified to help. Session bookings without these questions I will have to decline.
3. Please triple check that I am really the person that is most qualified to help you with. There are a lot of great mentors on this site, and I have received a lot of mixed and partially vague requests for which I am not qualified for.

Hi,

I am Timothy! :)

Work

I work as a data analytics consultant in Zürich, however, I have been moving away from data science and coding towards product ownership and lean agile project management in finance. I still love and use data and empiricism to drive decisions at work, however, I am more interested in strategic decision-making, product development and empirically measuring progress rather than building the most beautiful and elegant machine learning pipeline.

Philosophy

My path in education and work has always been interdisciplinary and eclectic and because of it I personally believe in the immense strength of a career path as a well-rounded generalist in otherwise specialised domains (see also David Epstein on ‘Range’). Being able to draw from a diverse & rich repertoire of skills and experiences allows us humans to reflect on, adapt to and positively challenge the current modus operandi better than being one of the best in a hyperspecialised discipline – be it at work, university or in your personal life.

Education

By education I am a psychologist (B.Sc), philosopher of science (BA) and neuroscientist (MSc. Research). By training and career, I am a data scientist, data analytics consultant and product owner/agile coach. In the last two years, I worked as a product owner at one of the world’s largest wealth managing banks, and now as a scrum master and agile coach in a major insurance in Switzerland.

As a mentor

I can share insights and give guidance on the topic tags mentioned at the bottom of the page.
In particular though, I think that I can offer career advice by sharing insights from my own eclectic education & career path: As someone who has held 3 completely different jobs in 4 years of work experience, I have been coaching colleagues at work and clients as well as friends and acquaintances on how to
a) methodically explore your own strengths and preferences (work assessment & personality fit/preferences)
b) how to really reflect on what you need in a job & life RATHER than what you desire
c) how to prepare for and perform well during a job interview
d) approach your career questions from a methodologically sound approach, see also the non-profit 80.000 hours website on how to design a concrete career plan https://80000hours.org/

As a mentee

I am currently exploring whether a career in product development, product discovery and product management is a good fit for me. Having read and studied Marty Cagan, I believe this path to be potentially good career-fit for me. My assessment leads me to believe that such a career - with the right product and company - can be as creative, challenging and satisfying on a non-technical level as it is fundamentally scientific, empirical and truth seeking.
It is my goal to settle on my next career steps until end of this year 2022