Hi, I am Samya. Since joining Photobox straight out of university 2 years ago, I have worked in 2 different roles, originally a BI Analyst within production, and later a Junior Analyst within marketing. Photobox has an amazing supportive culture, there is a great work life balance, and I’m given the autonomy to challenge and innovate with the work that I’m doing. I feel like I’m learning new things all the time, whilst having fun working on interesting and exciting problems.
I personally wanted to pursue a career in analytics as I was always naturally curious about numbers and enjoyed problem solving. Analytics is an ever increasing field, with companies wanting to be data driven and using the meaningful insights offered by analytics to drive decision making.
After an undergraduate degree in Mathematics I chose to do a master’s in Business Analytics, where I learnt the technical skills (SQL/R) and improved my analytical skills. Securing a job after graduating nowadays is what many graduates struggle with, it is the topic on every graduate’s mind and even more of a challenge in current times. Having no previous experience within an analytical role, I started applying for roles a few months before completing my master’s degree.
I came across a vacancy for a Business Intelligence Analyst role at Photobox. Throughout the interview process the people I met were very friendly and encouraging and the role sounded like a perfect starting point for my career in analytics. They got me started as soon as possible, and I ended up working at Photobox alongside finishing my master’s course.
Having two months overlap of the completion of my master’s degree and starting a full-time role was a great transition moving from academic/theoretical analytics to practical analytics. The role involved providing regular insights into one of our factory’s production performance through data-driven analysis and reporting of operational KPIs.
I used data manipulation and analysis to inform effective decision-making for improvements in the factory and drive actions to increase efficiency within production processes and reduce cost. I enjoyed working closely with cross-functional teams across the business, holding regular meetings to present findings on current business performance whilst pointing out areas for improvements as well as performing ad-hoc analysis.
The role was a great graduate role, as I learnt how to apply analytical skills to solve business processes and also how to communicate the findings to an audience and inform effective decision making. The role sat within a wide range of teams making me the only analyst for the factory site which pushed me to be independent and make decisions on my own.
After a year of being in the role, a new role came up in the company as a Junior Analyst, supporting the CRM and Marketing team in Photobox. This role seemed like a great next step in my career to learn more analytics, and to join a larger team of analysts who I would be working closely with and would learn from.
As a Junior marketing analyst, I assist the CRM and SEM teams with their data requirements and analysis to inform effective decisions on marketing strategies. The role involves tracking advertising costs, researching consumer behaviour and exploring market trends for SEM, whilst monitoring budget distribution and performance and ROI of paid ad campaigns. Further to this I assist the CRM team in analysing sales funnels and customer intent, tracking on-going email campaign metrics (delivery, open, click-through rates) and reporting on performance of marketing tests.
After moving into my new role, I helped with the recruitment for my successor which was a great experience for me, having always been on the other side of the table.
Moving to a new role I am now part of the Data and analytics team, and having the team support and encouragement is a great aspect of the role that I‘m really enjoying. The support is not just for workload but also personal development. My manager Gary is a great mentor, pushing me with difficult challenging analytical tasks from the get-go with support, encouraging me to learn on the job, which I believe is the best way to further your analytics skills.
Furthermore, my director Andy has been a great mentor. He recently encouraged me to join a panel discussion organised by Like-Minded-Females where I was on a panel talking about my transition into data, and what I would recommend others to do. I have never been a confident public speaker so this was the first time I did something like this. It was a great experience and something I’m keen to get more experience of moving forward.
Photobox has been a great place to start my career, and I have already explored two divisions of the business! My first role was very independent, and allowed me to grow my interpersonal skills. Being part of a bigger team in my second role has allowed me to further my analytics understanding even more, with supportive teammates and colleagues.
If you’re looking for a new role our live vacancies are here!
