Founder of Analytics Mentor   

For more than 20 years, I've worked as an individual contributor in software engineering, quality assurance engineering, software release management, data engineering, and analytics. I also bring more than 12 years of leadership experience across these domains where I've interviewed, hired, coached, and elevated professionals like you!

I've operated an individual contributor, manager, director, and senior leader for several top tech (Amazon, eBay, VMWare, Gamestop, and more), where I show data analysts and analytics teams how to incorporate the best practices from software development into the analytics domain.

I'm currently a Sr. Leader of Business Intelligence at Amazon where I lead 2 teams consisting of business analysts and business intelligence engineers.

I have always had a passion for helping others grow and a passion for developing world-class analytics solutions and teams. After finding myself re-creating data and business analytics training and coaching materials at the last 6 companies that I've worked at, I came to understand why analytics teams are so different from software engineering teams, and one key factor is the training (or lack thereof) for professionals entering and working in this domain. I decided to develop Analytics Mentor to help new and experienced professionals grow their careers, just as I've coached and mentored my teams and employees.

In my online courses and coaching sessions, I'll teach you how to develop the necessary skills to be one of the best professionals in the field of data and analytics. I'll show you how to incorporate best practices that I've developed for the analytics domain after working across multiple engineering roles. Not only will you learn a wealth of knowledge, but I'll help you develop your resume, prepare you for interviews, help you negotiate for higher salaries, and grow your career.

With my courses and coaching, you'll become a world-class data analyst and engineer as you learn the analytics best practices and skills that almost no other analytics team (even in the top tech companies) are using today!

My Leadership Philosophy

1. If someone is failing or making mistakes in their role, it's my fault: I take pride in reflecting inward, and work backwards from the situation, taking ownership of how I may have impacted the situation. If an employee isn't performing in their role, there could be many things going on. They could be dealing with a difficult personal issue or something outside of work. Or, there's a chance that I have failed. Everyone learns differently and at a different pace. It's my job to learn and understand those details. If I fail to listen, learn, coach, and deliver in the right manner that is best for the employee, then it's on me. And I'll fix it.

2. Assume positve intent: You never know what someone is going through or dealing with and even if you do, humans are imperfect and make mistakes. Miscommunication is easy. Great communication is difficult. Whenever you're frustrated or think there might be ill-intent, stop, assume positive intent, and have candid conversations.

3. I don't succeed if you don't succeed: I believe that there's always a push and pull to growth. I work to elevate others (pull) and as I elevate them, they elevate me (push) to make me better and more successful at the same time.

4. Keep the talent in the building: It doesn't matter if you work for me, someone else, or some other team. What matters is that we keep talented individuals in the building because talent is hard to come by. I support my team and their goals, regardless of where they go.

5. Build life-long relationships: I'm extremely loyal to my team, regardless of where they want to be and what they want to do. I used to say (10+ years ago and still today), "If you want to be a ballerina, tell me, and I'll try to help you get there." Now, I'll be the first to say that I wouldn't be a good coach for that, but, I will do my best to find ways to get you there and connect you on your journey, but I'm supportive. For the rest of your life. I've edited the resumes and provided interview coaching and salary negotiation to my own employees that were looking to leave the team because we didn't the opportunity for their new career direction. If my employer disagrees with this, so be it. I care about people and properly valued people do great things together.

This content is solely the opinion of Brandon Southern and may not reflect the opinion of any organization that Brandon has been affiliated with. Brandon does not speak on behalf of the organizations that he has worked with.