Mai Anh Dang, The Data-driven storyteller at Amanotes

“Observe and try to uncover the hidden patterns about humans and life. Behind numbers are stories waiting to be told,” shared Anh Dang, the Head of Data & Insight at Amanotes.

When I was 18, I had a dream that I could pay the bill by writing. I love stories, philosophies, and subtle observations about things in life - how everything falls into places, being connected.

Then, I became a Data Scientist. I spent 2 years studying Maths in France, sometimes I doubt that I should work with words rather than numbers.

But, eventually, everything is connected. Working Data is not very far from my aspirations to become a writer: Observe and try to uncover the hidden patterns about humans and life.

Behind numbers are stories waiting to be told.

My writing career, data career, and life are actually integrated. My writing skill helps me communicate and share about data intuitively and engagingly that data should be communicated. My data thinking makes me sharp, logical and extends my philosophies about life, so I became a more efficient writer. They are parts my life. I’m so interested in writing and data that I keep spending time on them during the weekend (as hobbies).

Amanotes is my first full-time job in Vietnam. Sometimes I feel like I’m an expat, but also not an expat. I’m glad that I came back home and joined Amanotes - A very dynamic and creative environment for me. There are so many impactful things we could do, in the process of doing that we learned a lot.

There were many nights I couldn't sleep just because I was too excited to go to work the next morning to do and learn new things with the Data team.

Leadership, for me, is on-job training. My line manager coached me a lot to become a better version every day. Also, team members - continuously give me feedback. In short, I am motivated to improve myself and help others to improve themselves, just a little bit but every day. The inspiration naturally comes from that.

I love to empower people, let them take ownership, and have space to explore. We align solidly about WHY and WHAT, then it’s up to the doer about HOW.

We love to be surprised by the creativity and lateral thinking of others. I believe that it's the way we can attract and nurture the best talents.

I usually told my team that: As a (data) function, we should start with fun. For me, working is one way for an individual to live up to their principles and find the meanings and joys in life. So, it's important to have fun.

Curiosity and continuously learning is the biggest driver

Curiosity is the reason behind my love for my job (and life). I love to experiment with new things, to unlearn and rethink. Sometimes it's difficult to be new, as we are attached to existing knowledge and experiences. Our skills and know-how, in some cases, become our disadvantages, when they become a part of our identities and we start to become too attached to them. That's why I love to be in the move, exposing myself to new things, new challenges.

We always want to do more. But we can only do more when either we have more resources or we have to figure out a new way of working. We can't do more with the same number of people and the same way we used to work.

At Amanotes, every day we mix intuition with logic, music with science, and magic with mathematics to create the best products in the world for users.

If you're a music lover and also have a passion for data. Join us!

Learn about careers opportunity at Amanotes HERE