This has been a crazy year and a half.

And for many people it has not been a good one.

There’s been a lot of shakeup in companies.

If you have lost your job, or are worried about job security, you might be trying to figure out what to do.

Today I want to tell you about the need for Data Linchpins, and how you can become one.

What is a linchpin

I’m taking the term linchpin from author Seth Godin’s book ‘Linchpin: Are you indispensable?‘.

I recommend this book for any employee that wants to take their work seriously.

Basically a linchpin is defined as “someone key to an organization; the indispensable person who is difficult to live without.”

Of course, no one is truly indispensable.

I know that’s a depressing thought.

But companies fail. And people will still be let go.

But as the saying goes, there are things that matter and things that you can control.

Focus on those things that matter that you can control.

So, if you are worried about your job security, it’s a good idea to figure out how to become someone difficult to live without.

What are Data Linchpins

If you are interested in the world of Data, you might be in luck!

Data is critical to any company’s success these days.

So getting the data environment and data flow right for companies to use that data for making decisions is important.

And it can make someone difficult to live without.

This someone is what I call a Data Linchpin.

Data Linchpins are those that have adopted a habit of continuous learning.

They are experts in the field of data, of course, but they also do not hoard their knowledge.

These individuals are willing to share their knowledge to lift the entire team up.

Why are Data Linchpins needed?

Gone are the days where data professionals could be gate keepers of a static data environment.

New technologies and infrastructure paradigms are popping up and disappearing all the time.

Some of those stick, like virtualization, cloud environments and probably even Kubernetes.

Data Linchpins are needed to understand how to leverage these new technologies to ensure data decisions can be made quickly, without sacrificing the integrity of the data.

The need has never been greater for people who know how to work with data because of changes to how transactional databases are working in DBaaS offerings.

And for real time streaming for analytical purposes, and everything in between.

Conclusion

By being able to adapt and learn new technologies, and being a go-to person for helping solve difficult data problems, you can become difficult to live without.

If you are wondering how to become a Data Linchpin, first start with learning.

Make learning a daily habit.

But make sure you are focused on learning what matters.

In this way, you can become a Data Linchpin.

Actually, I call these people Data Guardians!

If you want to learn more about becoming a Data Guardian, please leave a comment below!