Learn more about Thomas' experience, from the time he applied to The Data School, to his career as a Sustainability Manager at BCG. Thomas was part of Cohort 11 of The Data School London, which took place from October 2018 to February 2021.
Interviewed by Mel Niere | Edited by Collin Smith
Before The Data School
Q: What brought you to The Data School?
A: What brought me to The Data School was the application process. I did a degree in English and business in Switzerland. Then I moved to the UK to study at a drama school. So I did two years of training and classical acting basically worked as an actor for about a year and realized that that wasn't really for me. My husband came across a post for The Data School and asked me “What do you think of this?” I was like this is cool! The application isn't asking you to write a resume, CV, cover letter or anything like that. It was, “Take this tool and have some fun with it and send it in.” So I gave it a go and ended up having a lot of fun doing it. It's really rewarding and I find it super interesting because I haven't really done much around data analytics before. It was during the application process that I really got involved in it and actually very excited about it and ended up getting accepted. It was completely out of left field. I essentially slid into this and haven't looked back since then. It was probably the best sort of coincidence.
During The Data School
Q: What was your training experience like?
A: Training was very rewarding and I love learning new stuff. Having four months of just learning new things was incredible, probably because I sort of came into it from a different background. At times, I did find myself struggling a little bit to pick up everything. One of the biggest lessons I learned during training was that good enough is still good. I was putting quite a lot of pressure and stress on myself trying to deliver the best possible outcome. I was always chasing the perfect deliverable rather than starting with the basics and doing those really well. That then changed massively during my placement. Placement is a much less fast-paced environment. We've got longer term deliverables at placement. That really allowed me to apply everything that I picked up during those four months of intensive training. You only then realize as you move away from training, how much you really do pick up in that short amount of time, it's actually quite incredible.
Q: What was your experience during placement?
A: My first placement was with Solar Turbines in San Diego. It was awesome. I loved the experience. We traveled from London and did one week in San Diego in the beginning and then one more week towards the end of the placement. We were working remotely from London. I love working with the team, where I helped them streamline their ERP processes. My second placement was with PwC in London. Again I would say it was a very positive experience. My final two placements were with State Street.
After The Data School
Q: How did The Data School and The Information Lab serve as a launching pad for your data analytics career?
I think launchpad sums it up really nicely. It was definitely like it helped me get a leg up in my interview process. The first application I sent off coming out of The Data School and I got accepted and I think that kind of speaks for itself. It's definitely something, especially in London, having that on your CV or resume gets your foot in the door. The Data School helped me start in analytics and now I’m moving more and more towards more strategic questioning, becoming more of a subject matter expert in terms of sustainability, which is something that I'm really enjoying.
Q: Tell me more about your current role.
A: The role that I'm in now, I do analytics work applied to carbon emissions sustainability accounting. I’ve been in this role for close to two and a half years now. I’m moving away gradually from being purely analytical, such as how do we create dashboards based on that data, to more strategic questions such as how do we set our decarbonization strategy, which sectors should we focus on, and how do we create the most impact. I'm still doing at least 50% analytics and I've really enjoyed becoming that specific subject matter expert.
Advice About The Data School
Q: What advice would you give to individuals considering applying to The Data School?
A: Coming from somebody who didn't do a stem degree, I didn't really do much with analytics. Think about the perspective that you bring to the subject matter. Utilize your own background, personal life, your own professional experience, university, whatever it may be, and think about what different perspectives that you have to offer that somebody else may not. It's one thing to be able to make incredibly beautiful dashboards, but at the end of the day it's how do you communicate information, effectively and efficiently to somebody. Think about how you connect with these people. You have to bring some of yourself. That allows me to kind of connect with people, share that information with them, make them listen and make them interested.