A Day in the Life of Sonya Jindal, Senior Manager of Analytics
In our most recent “Day in the Life” spotlight, we talked to Sonya Jindal, senior manager of analytics, about her role and what makes CoverMyMeds her best place to work and grow.
CoverMyMeds analysts support our teams across the business by interpreting data to bring our mission to life in the most effective way possible. In turn, this can help patients more quickly get the medications they need to live healthy lives.
In this edition of “A Day in the Life,” we spoke with Sonya Jindal, a senior manager of analytics on our network services team, about her unique career path, even by CoverMyMeds standards.
Sonya was deployed as a KC-135 pilot in the Air Force after she joined CoverMyMeds as a senior data analyst in 2015. She rejoined the company in 2018 as an analytics manager, and then, as a senior manager of network services analytics, she’s helped improve our interactions with customers and users while sticking true to our core values.
*(Editor: Sonya’s comments were lightly edited for length and clarity.) *
Can you tell us a little about what your current role?
I’m the senior manager of network services analytics and workforce management. Our team has two primary responsibilities.
The first is providing analytics that close the feedback loop between what our account coordinators and account specialists hear on the network services and product teams, so we’re able to improve. We also work with the network services team to elevate the work our account coordinators and specialists do. We want to give them the most impactful work that they’re the experts at solving.
The second part is that we’re also in charge of long-term staffing for the team. We look at incoming contracts for the team, three to six months out, to make sure we have what we need.
In addition to those two responsibilities, we also provide analytics for our clinical content team, who build the actual forms for prior authorizations (PA). There are many places for a possible user error within the electronic PA process and we use the data to show where the team should focus most of their efforts.
How is CoverMyMeds your Best Place to Work and Grow?
So, briefly, I joined CoverMyMeds in 2015 and then in 2016 I left for two years of training in the Air Force. It’s kind of crazy if you think about it. I had only been at the company for six months when I received my orders to join the military. So, I left for two years to complete my training to become a pilot. Then I came back to CoverMyMeds and was quickly reintegrated into the company. To this day, they still allow me to go back for deployments or if I need to do anything with the guard, and I always have that flexibility.
I think this goes back to CoverMyMeds being a family. For me, my coworkers are my family. Everyone is here to help me, to grow me, to support me, and even to challenge me. Everyone here has my back, and I love that about CoverMyMeds.
How did you find your calling in analytics, and what’s kept you there?
I joke with people, there’s a quote I love: “If we’re not going to use data, and we’re going to use opinions, let’s use mine.”
I love the quote, not because I want people to use my opinion, but because I believe data is what allows us to discover, learn about our users and processes, and get better. Because of that, I truly believe that in today’s world, everyone needs to be data literate at a bare minimum.
If we’re going to find out the next big thing, it will come through findings within analytics.
I just love exploring the data and learning what I can through it.
Which of our Core Values most resonates with you and why?
Be Selfless. If I have learned anything from CoverMyMeds and the military, it's that a team will always be more successful than any individual. Luckily, CoverMyMeds continues to show this by creating win-win solutions, and to do that, we each need to build on each other's ideas to come up with the best idea. I love that CoverMyMeds centers itself on this value in every aspect of our work all the way from hiring through the greatest ideas and their implementation.
What do you think makes a successful analyst?
There are a couple of things. The first thing is curiosity — curiosity about the business and about the data. Curiosity is a natural tendency, and it’s different than just questioning everything. It’s more of a “wonderment” about the world around you — asking why things are the way they are and how things work. That curiosity is foundational, because if you aren’t curious, this job can become mundane.
Critical thinking is my next pillar: question everything. If we’ve learned anything from data, it’s that you can’t take it at face value. So, the ability to apply logic to a problem and marry that to the curiosity to find a solution is critical. For example, if someone gives us data, we must ask questions about it — like if the data is accurate, if we’re missing data, etc. I think that’s crucial.
The last part is problem solving. It’s really having a plethora of frameworks and ideas to problem solve. Identifying the problem is probably only 10 percent of our job. The other 90 percent is finding the solution to it and how we deploy it. It’s also easy to think of our work as individual, but everyone bounces ideas off one another and is always learning from each other.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to join CoverMyMeds and get into analytics?
A heavy focus on teamwork is crucial. CoverMyMeds is truly a family, so it’s crucial the person is willing to help and work together to accomplish our mission. We’re so deep-rooted in our mission, and we don’t just say that lightly or take it lightly. If you want to help patients get their medication, no one can do that alone. So, if you want to come to CoverMyMeds, teamwork is No. 1. I can teach you analytics, I can teach you technical skills, but I can’t teach you teamwork.
For people who want to get into analytics, I think people need to stay curious. Learn SQL, play with data, get comfortable with it and don’t get stuck with the classroom data sets. You have to interact with data, get comfortable with the syntax, and play around and explore data all around you.
What are you most excited for at our new campus?
If I had to say one thing, it would be our work to have accessibility ramps and make it a more inclusive environment. It’s something that was tough in our old office spaces since they were rented, but the fact that they’re considering those who are less represented is exciting to me.
Anything else you want people to know about working here?
CoverMyMeds rocks. The people here make it a good place. If you come in with a good attitude, you’ll do well here.
To learn more about our culture and explore open positions, visit our careers site.