Joanita Mateus: changing career during pandemic

Joanita Mateus, 39, from Lisbon, holds a degree in educational psychology and used to work with children with disabilities, but with the onset of the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, she had to switch jobs. She moved to a back-office position at a supermarket chain where she worked in closed contact with a team handling analytics and data. She found their job very interesting and that was when she decided to take a course in data analytics.

Switching to data analytics

Data analytics is a field which is growing rapidly, particularly with the development of artificial intelligence and machine-learning. “There’s a lot of demand for expertise in this field,” says Joanita.

Naturally, I had some doubts about switching jobs, but I was confident at heart. I was also afraid but I felt it was the right thing to do, right from the start. ”

- Joanita Mateus

Looking online, Joanita found a data analytics bootcamp at Ironhack, which ran for two months in the summer of 2021.

“It was a very intense experience. I had to work full-time, 8-hour days, running many projects, but it was very interesting. It gave me lots of skills I didn’t have before,” she adds.

And she probably wasn’t wrong. By November, Joanita had started a new job with a data analytics company. “It’s better paid, better benefits, better working conditions and most importantly, I can work from home, which wasn’t possible before,” she says.

Better than a normal loan

“Everybody in the family helped me during that period. Luckily, my daughter is older now so she’s more independent.” The bootcamp however not only required time, but also money so she turned to the Jose Neves Foundation for support in order to finance her endeavour.

With EU-guaranteed financial support from the Foundation (ISA FJN), backed by the EIF, Joanita was able to pursue her plan. “It’s better than a normal loan because repayment starts only after I find a job,” she explains.

Lifelong learning

While her new skillset has opened up this new career opportunity, Joanita is very conscious that learning never really ends in this field. “I want to grow in this job, and while bootcamp gave me a great skillset, I still need to learn many tools on the job. In this area, you need to be up-to-date, constantly updating your skillset. There are always new tools because technology moves fast – and that’s exciting. Now I’m learning a lot, gaining experience, but, with time, I hope to be in position to analyse data and build a story around it and find myself in a more client-facing position.”