After completing a degree in English and Creative Writing, I found myself working in retail banking which I did not enjoy due to my desire to work for an organisation that makes a difference in this world.
So I joined Ambition Institute – a charity focused on improving education outcomes for children in disadvantaged backgrounds – where I discovered my interest in data when doing programme management work. I upskilled myself by starting a PgCert Computer Science course to give me a solid foundation in programming and SQL.
Then I got my first data role in another education charity – Teach First – and continued learning new skills by joining a Data Fellowship apprenticeship which I completed with distinction. Now I am working as a Data Management Analyst – my proactivity in detecting data quality issues and focus on delivering excellent results has allowed me to successfully solve numerous data issues and correct millions of rows of inaccurate data. I have developed great working relationships within and outside of Digital, Data and Technology directorate which keeps me informed of any processes impacting data quality, helps me support colleagues with data issues and allows me to champion best data management practice.
In December 2024, I started a Data Engineering apprenticeship where I am learning about data architecture, modelling, ETL pipeline development, automation, testing and deployment. This allowed me to start collaborating with data engineering team to apply these skills in practice on Databricks platform by exploring new ideas for pipelines. I also started volunteering as an Editor for Data Engineer Things page on Medium which sort of feels like going a full circle in terms of my career – every experience gave me something useful to get to where I am now.
