CDMP Associate Profile
Renosh Thomas
Senior Digital Data Manager
nbn™
As Senior Digital Data Manager at nbn™ Australia, Renosh Thomas decided to obtain the CDMP certification to formalise his career shift into data management.
How did you get into data management – what’s your background?
I started off as a C++ developer in the financial industry. After doing an IIBA Business Analysis certification, I transitioned to a business analyst role in the consulting industry. I could see that corporate reliance on data was increasing and that data skills would only grow in demand. I found data management very interesting as it aligned to my working style of being logical, objective, and systematic. I enjoy creating standards that help bring about efficient, high-quality outcomes and that led me to my current role. As Senior Digital Data Manager, I am a business data steward, evangelising the benefits of marketing and digital data to enterprise stakeholders such as sales, base management, and assurance. I look at how we leverage enterprise first party data to measure marketing effectiveness, inform content strategy and mitigate risk through data governance and data quality management.
How is a career in data management different from a career in coding?
When you’re coding, you work on a focused task. Your aim is to get the code shipped, but you don’t really see what difference it will make to the business. Data management is less isolated and more multi-dimensional – you’re exposed to risk management and finding future opportunities for the business. Data management aligns with my natural personality of taking a logical, objective approach to ensure accuracy, while also having the scope to challenge assumptions based on qualitative analysis.
Why did you decide to become a CDMP?
I’d been working with data for about 10 years and decided it was time for a formal certification. It was a personal goal and my employer was supportive.
How did you approach obtaining the certification?
It had been a few years since I’d done a formal exam. There was a bit of fear of the unknown and a little bit of procrastination! I’d come across Robinson Ryan training before and I took their CDMP Exam Cram to up my confidence. The DMBoK book is huge! I needed more concise, focused exam preparation.
I also used networking for my exam preparation. I talked to people at work, spoke to our Chief Data Officer – they helped me with some of the material and it was great to feel like I had a support team around me.
What was your experience of the CDMP Exam Cram?
My experience was two-fold. It was great to learn from Tim Goswell and David Wiebe about where to focus and what sort of questions would be on the exam – that really helped me. It was also good to connect with the other attendees. I stayed in touch with them and Tim and that helped my motivation.
How did you find the Data Management Fundamentals exam?
It was nerve wracking at first – I was wondering if I should have done more preparation, but then I started to chill out and gain confidence that I knew the material. The time of 90 minutes is fair. With the scenario-based questions, you do need to draw on your real-world experience on how you’ve applied data management principles.
What are your tips on how to pass the DAMA exam?
My tips on how to pass the DAMA Data Management Fundamentals exam are:
- Don’t wait more than a month after doing the CDMP Exam Cram course to take the exam. If you’re really confident, do the exam the next day!
- Do at least four practice exams. There are some available online and Robinson Ryan will give you some. You definitely need to get a hang of the time management for the exam and how long you can spend on each question.
- Talk to your colleagues and get the people around you excited about what you’re doing. You’ll be surprised how others can help you.
- There will be questions you haven’t seen before. If you don’t know the answer, you can tag the question and skip it to come back to it at the end. Get through the questions you’re confident on first.
- You need good, searchable references as the exam is open book. You need to be organised about this – Robinson Ryan gives you good, concise material.
- On the day of the exam, make sure you have absolutely no interruptions. I sent my family out to lunch! Total isolation is what you need to aim for.
How do you think that the CDMP certification has or will affect your current or future role?
It definitely gives you credibility and gets you noticed. But it’s up to the individual to take things to the next level. You might hear a lot about ‘data is the new oil’ but the reality is you still have to fight to have a voice for data. The certification gave me more confidence to do this.
