Meet Jean-Charles Guidicelli, Lead Analytics Engineer

Jean-Charles Guidicelli, Jellysmack's lead of data and business analysis againsta. pink and green background.


Data analysis is one of the foundations of the social media industry. That’s why Jellysmack is lucky to have Jean-Charles Guidicelli.

To the uninitiated, the word analysis might evoke complex systems. But, the goal of data analysis is actually quite simple: Finding insight in number trends that can guide business decisions and performance. 

“There are three main data-related jobs at Jellysmack,” says Jellysmack’s Lead Analytics Engineer Guidicelli. “Business analysts, data analytics engineers, and data analysts.”

Data Analytics Engineers work to understand, transform, and centralize raw data in the Data Warehouse. Data Analysts find trends and patterns to use as a springboard for decision-making. Business Analysts provide insights that improve performance, drive change, and kickstart transformational projects. As the lead of the analysis team, Guidicelli oversees all three.

While data has long been his domain, he didn’t start out in the social media sphere. Prior to joining the Jellysmack team, Guidicelli worked at the National Bank of Canada in Quebec, Montreal, for over five years. There, he analyzed everything from hiring strategies, business performance, employee commission structures, and almost everything in between. Owing to his in-depth knowledge over cross sectional parts of the business, Guidicelli was eventually promoted to an executive level position in business intelligence. 

It was during his tenure there that Guidicelli realized his passion for turning data into solutions.

Despite not having a “traditional” background by way of industry, Guidicelli was hand sourced by Andrea Colonna, Jellysmack’s head of data. In fact, Guidicelli was one of Jellysmack’s earliest recruits, joining the team in late 2017, when Jellysmack was still in its first year. 

Getting in on the ground floor, Guidicelli was an indispensable part of Jellysmack’s formation. As one of the first jellies in the smack, he played a key role in shaping the team as they came in one by one.

A Day in the Life of Jean-Charles Guidicelli

At 6:30 a.m., Jean-Charles Guidicelli is already awake. Scanning his notifications on Slack and sifting through articles on data and development, he likes to stay connected with what’s going on in the industry. 

He brews a hot cup of coffee and downs two slices of white bread slathered in Philadelphia cream cheese. The cream cheese is a staple from his days in Montréal, a city famed for its love of bagels. Lucky for him, it’s widely available across the pond in the Hexagon in recent years. White bread is the best substitute he knows for a bagel.

It’s 8:30 a.m.–Jellysmack analysts all over the country are waking up and getting hopping online. Guidicelli has a two-hour head start on them, so everything’s already in order for the day.

One of the Jellysmack values that he has adopted in his day-to-day life is agility. As a man with a team to run and supervise remotely, he doesn’t really have a choice. 

The day really kicks off with the 9:30 a.m. standup meeting. It’s a chance for everyone to say what’s on their minds, if they’ve run into any roadblocks, how things are going, and so on. It’s an essential fifteen minutes. 

“No one gets out of the daily meeting!” Guidicelli says with a laugh.

Once everybody’s said their piece and is synced on what needs to be addressed, the team plans accordingly, and everyone breaks to do their thing. 

Twice a week, it’s teamwork time: Reviews, presentations, and brainstorming. Otherwise, the work is done independently or in small groups for specific or more complex, multi-person tasks.

Lunch is admittedly, “nothing special.” It’s an important break, but definitely not a highlight of the day.

Afternoons mean project management, tech support, and tech lead meetings. 

“A part of my job is making sure that the analysts have all of the information they need to move forward,” he says. He also uses the time to work closely with Anne-Sophie Laugier (lead business analyst) and manage projects with his original recruiter, Andrea Colonna (head of data). Virginie Cornu, Jellysmack’s VP of data, provides him with the high-level direction he needs to succeed.

His workday comes to a close at around 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. He often heads to the beach, just a 5-minute walk away. Guidicelli takes full advantage of his seaside lifestyle: going swimming, walking, and even scuba diving when it strikes his fancy.

Working from Jellywhere

Jobs in data that allow you to work remotely are hard to come by. He feels lucky to have found a role doing exactly what he loves while living and working in a small village in his native Corsica. His home base of Ile Rousse is a 50-minute drive from the Corti office. He takes his motorcycle there about once a week. In peak tourist season, the traffic can be dense, but it’s worth it for the “real” in-person coffee and guitar breaks. 

That’s right: guitar breaks. 

Guidicelli describes his musical styles as mostly traditional Corsican and French variety music. 

“It’s not the only thing I listen to, but it’s what I like to play,” he explains. Some of Jellysmack’s other Data Scientists join in from time to time.

Working at Jellysmack is not only fun and close to home. According to Guidicelli, it also “helped propel him forward, allowed him to deepen his knowledge of data, and confirmed his love of the field.”

“I owe Jellysmack a lot,” he says unabashedly. “It’s the kind of place that I’m happy to work at every day.”

If you want to know more about Guidicelli’s background – or happen to be in Corsica with a Cetara in tow – you can connect with him on LinkedIn

This article was originally published on Jellysmack’s Medium blog on October 11, 2021. 

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