The lock-in goals are real, but so is legacy technology, contract limitations, and regional differences. From first hand experience I can tell you that every country, often even states:provinces had enough variation in their data laws that there is no common data schema.
And it’s all built on mainframes. Nielsen is a 100 year old company that was run like a monopoly until 15 years ago, now they are owned by private money, saddled with trash systems, a massive loss in market trust, and retailers have learned to sell their data directly to CPGs.
They often can’t get you what you want because their tech is from before the modern API era, and no one who is capable wants to work for them. It might have started as clever lock in, now it is just circumstance.
Problem solving in technical interviews is closer to case study interviews than straight IQ testing. It is applied competence under pressure. Case study interview questions and multi-hour deep dives are very common on the non-technical side as you get into more experienced roles.
And it’s all built on mainframes. Nielsen is a 100 year old company that was run like a monopoly until 15 years ago, now they are owned by private money, saddled with trash systems, a massive loss in market trust, and retailers have learned to sell their data directly to CPGs.
They often can’t get you what you want because their tech is from before the modern API era, and no one who is capable wants to work for them. It might have started as clever lock in, now it is just circumstance.