How do we apply knowledge sharing in our teams? GetInData’s internal initiatives

Knowledge sharing is one of our main missions. We regularly speak at international conferences, we contribute to open-source technologies, organize webinars (check our GetInData YouTube channel), organize Warsaw Data Tech Talks meetup and co-organize one of the biggest big data conferences in Poland called Big Data Technology Warsaw Summit. Our passion for sharing knowledge is not just about being active in the big data community, but also promoting exchange of knowledge inside our company. We have many world-class specialists on board and this knowledge transfer is key to our company's success. That's why we have so many internal initiatives within our company which help us with that. You can read about some of them below.

Lunch break with a dose of knowledge

One of the most important internal initiatives at GetInData is "Lunch & Learn".  These meetings are held during the lunch break, which support the idea of ​​sharing knowledge. During a meeting in the office and/or online - one of our specialists (or team) gives a presentation, and the rest of the group has the opportunity to ask questions and exchange experiences in this area. What are the presentations about? The most frequently presented solutions are new real-world solutions implemented by us - a presentation of the architecture, an overview of how particular technologies were used, for what and why. Thanks to such an exchange of information, which is hard to get during a typical working day, we have the opportunity to create reusable solutions or propose similar solutions to other clients. Of course the performances about technology - a deep dive which let us become better engineers, analysts, devops, are also welcome.

KSW? Knowledge Sharing Wall 

In truth, we do not organize cage fights, but in our KSW, the winners also receive prizes :D

One of the key advantages of GetInData is the knowledge and experience that our team has and which it acquires during the implementation of projects. Despite the variety of projects we have implemented, many of them have common parts - similar system architecture, technologies used, automation or business applications. Therefore, it is important for us to support the sharing of knowledge and efficiently document it, so that we can more often learn from others or improve project work by using ready-made components. This was the foundation for the creation of the KSW - Knowledge Sharing Wall - a corporate initiative that supports the idea of ​​sharing knowledge and reusability of the solutions we create.

What exactly is KSW? KSW is a dedicated space on our disk, where we collect descriptions of solutions, links to source codes, presentations, etc. Each person who is active in this area specified in the regulations receives comets - a type of decoration, which, after the end of the edition, is converted into attractive prizes.

Internal Training

GetInData not only delivers high-quality training for clients, but also cares about increasing the professional qualifications of its own team. We organize internal training, focusing on the practical use of technology, so the participants can make use of the new knowledge in the project right away. The instructors are experts in a given subject from our team, thanks to which gaining knowledge and experience in working with a given technology may take longer than just during a few hours of training.

Any member of our team who would like to work with or are interested in increasing their knowledge in a given technology can participate in the training session.

Slack as a source of knowledge and help 

The basic tool used for everyday communication at GetinData is Slack. In addition to its primary function, it is also used to promote the idea of ​​knowledge sharing in the organization. The most valuable channels are:

#ciekawostki-BigData

On this channel you will find news from the world of Big Data. It doesn't matter if you're interested in Google or AWS cloud solutions, you are an analyst, devops or engineer, everyone will find something for themselves here. More importantly, everyone can freely not only create content on this channel, but also evaluate or exchange experiences related to a given topic or technology - both positive and negative.

#realease-note

This is the place where anyone can share their recently succeesses on the project such us new features, deployments, new solutions, problem solving or data architecture.

#certification

On this channel people discuss certification processes. They exchange experience, materiał and training which helps other with passing an exam.

#i-need-help

At GetInData, we deliver many projects in which we often face non-standard problems. Finding the perfect solution on your own can be difficult and time-consuming. Thanks to the support of our team, which everyone can count on on the “I-need help” channel, most problems are solved really quickly. The many years of international experience of our team members in the implementation of Big Data projects are of key importance here. There is a huge probability that someone from our company already faced the same problems in previous projects.

#tech_mlops

This is just one of our specific channels. We focus mainly on sharing knowledge and experience in building or implementing various MLOps solutions using best of breed cloud-native and open-source technologies such as Kedro, MLflow. We also have a team that is involved in building GetInData original solutions in the field of Machine Learning Operations

#streaming

A channel for fans of streaming, where discussions take place on a set of tools created to implement ETL streaming such as Flink, Google Dataflow, Kafka.

#snowflake

This is another specialized channel for people working with Snowflake. It is used to exchange knowledge and experiences related to this technology.

#...and more channels dedicated to the specific big data technology

GetInData Labs

GetInData Labs are part of our R&D investments. The mission of the Labs is to research and produce innovative solutions that develop our business and people in order to maintain the leading position in the area of ​​Data Management Consulting. Our Labs is a place where engineers share knowledge about engineering processes, build components that are to shorten the delivery time of a solution or a place where they learn through practice the technology used later in projects for the customer.

We have a few areas of GetInData labs, such us: 

• MLOps where we define, test and prepare a blueprint of the MLOps platform that we propose and implement at client sites. 
• Event Stream Processing where we define, test and prepare a blueprint of the Event Stream Processing platform that we propose and implement at client sites.

That’s not all...

Of course it’s hard to count all of our initiatives, but the most important thing is that we are always open to new ideas which support knowledge sharing or team spirit. We really often implement a new idea first as proof of concept on a small part of the team and then roll-out the initiative to the whole company. It's worth mentioning that all of the optional activities related to knowledge sharing such as: writing a blog posts, performing at a conference, webinars or meetups and preparing the Lunch & Learn sessions are carried out during work time.

Last but not least, if you haven’t heard about this yet, we have prepared a website where you can find some of our activities - conferences, blog posts, webinars or contributions. Check out our Knowledge Base now and help us extend the library by sharing it!

Join our team of Big Data Experts

Interested in challenging Big Data Projects? Do you want a job that will help improve your qualifications and a company that will support your unconventional solutions? GetInData is growing and we are looking for Data Analysts, Data Engineers, Cloud Engineers, an ML Engineer, Delivery Manager and more. Please check out our job offers on our careers site. We are waiting for you :D