Learn more about Tom's experience, from the time he applied to The Data School, to his career as a Career Development Coach. Tom was part of Cohort 8 of The Data School London, which took place from February 2018 to February 2020.
Interviewed by Mel Niere | Edited by Vivian Ng
Before The Data School
Q: What brought you to The Data School? What factors influenced your decision to apply and ultimately join The Data School?
A: I was in DS 8, way back when. When I discovered The Data School, I was doing a master's in Marine Biology, sat in a research lab building fisheries maps. An email from The Data School came through our graduate newsboard, talking about this thing called Tableau. I'd never heard of it, never seen it before. After I downloaded and played around with it, I thought: This is really cool. I could use this for my dissertation. It makes everything a lot faster and a lot easier and more fun to use.
Then I applied to The Data School and never looked back since.
During The Data School
Q: What was your training experience like?
A: I did Data School early enough to not have been in the main DS building, so we had a little shared office; it was that cohort approach I really liked. There was a bit of healthy competition amongst your peers, but it was all very positive. I think five out of the eight of us actually stayed on with the Information Lab, beyond the duration of the program. It was really nice to just grow together. For a lot of people, it would be the first or second “proper job”. We were all in the early days of our professional career, so you're all learning things together.
I came from an academic side, where I was very frustrated by the lack of speed that things would move at. You come up with these great ideas and bring up all this research, but then nothing would actually ever happen off the back of it. From a work perspective, I really enjoyed the client projects—having a real clear focus of what you're actually trying to do, actually coming up with meaningful work that made an impact straight away, like: We need to do this. This is really important. Then, on Friday, we deliver it, and you see them using it the following week. That's what I really enjoyed about the whole process.
In addition, it's very much just part of the whole DNA of The Data School that if anyone has a problem, you'd help them out. Your trainers give you a lot of support, you have all of the Core Team to lean on—I also received a lot of support from peers, as much as anything. The peer-to-peer help was something that I probably recognize as being quite unique compared to other companies. We would all pay it back afterwards, the support from other people in other cohorts, who’d been here a little bit longer than you. You’d kind of say, “Okay, I remember being in this situation, so let me go and help this new cohort as well.” It's hard to put a value on the training, but also on the culture of support that you get, which you don't necessarily realize at the beginning is there.
Q: How did your placements at The Data School enhance your skills and knowledge?
A: I first worked for a large airline group. It was a huge bit of work, to bring together data from four or five different airlines in different languages, different systems, different levels of detail, all into one consolidated place, so that they could onboard another airline to the group.
At Groupon, I was brought in completely as a training placement, into their London office at first, but I also worked remotely with the team in Chicago and Dublin. Building out training programs for all of their analysts, I trained hundreds of analysts there. That was my most enjoyable placement for sure; I got to see people not just over a day or two, like we'd normally do with training, but a whole six months, so I was able to completely customize the training content and see long term progression.
That's also where I discovered my love of training. I've always been into training—I've taught people, I've been a scuba diving instructor, I’ve done some secondary school teaching as well, but I never really found the thing to teach, until I discovered data. It all gelled quite nicely, teaching professionals new skills.
One of the biggest things I learned during my placements was what I really like doing, which is training people—but also what I don't like doing. That’s a really important thing for people going through the program to learn, learning what environments you don't do well in.
After The Data School
Q: How did The Data School and The Information Lab serve as a launchpad for your data analytics career?
A: After my placements were up, I knew I loved developing people, so I moved into the Irish team (The Information Lab Ireland), and we ran a similar program to The Data School over in Ireland. Whilst I've been in the Irish team, I realized it was more the career development side that I really enjoyed. Since then, I’ve developed more in terms of coaching, and my role now is Head of People. I oversee all of the HR process for the Irish team essentially, so I do a lot of recruitment. I do all the onboarding, build out training programs, and career development programs; we build career pathways for people in the company as well. It’s really allowed me to do what I'm good at, to bring in all sorts of employee support, well-being initiatives, and all those kinds of things, to help people do great work in an environment they're happy in.
That’s actually why I want to get back into one-to-one career development coaching. I've set up my own business doing career coaching for people alongside The Information Lab, which they all supported me on. Dave here in Ireland has let me very happily build up this business on the side, and I'm actually about to leave The Information Lab Ireland now to focus more on it. I’m about to move to Australia and take my coaching business with me.
The Data School and The Information Lab have definitely been a launchpad. I've learned so much in the Irish team, as well as the UK team, especially in terms of what I want from the career. The technical skills development is great, but it's more than that—I’ve had all these leadership opportunities, especially in the Irish team; we've gone from seven to 35 since I've been here, so it’s been kind of cool shaping that, and they’ve really given me more than I had before as well.
The foundation that you get from working in different industries for your placements, that’s probably the key I see for people. You really get a taste of different industries and make great connections. Ultimately, the role I have now is because I did a placement for Groupon, an Irish TIL Ireland customer. I still see people from Groupon now. Actually, I've got coaching clients who have come by via that whole network as well. There's a load of networking opportunities through those placements that really allow you to do great things beyond your time at The Data School.
I've been allowed to follow what I've been curious about, which has helped me keep finding new things. Going back to learning about which environments you don't do well in or don’t want to be part of—often, when I was coaching people going through the program here in Ireland, I would notice when people get a bit frustrated, maybe about what they weren't enjoying. What you learn during your placements at The Data School is far more than just technical skills. You also learn about the type of teams, type of work you want to do, and longer-term, where do you want to go? Use that as a learning experience, to guide you through your development.
Advice About The Data School
Q: What advice would you give to individuals considering applying to The Data School?
A: Obviously, do it. It took me two attempts to get in—I was persistent and really pleased to have carried on with that persistence. Having been someone who's recruited people into the program, I’ve sat in on interview panels to The Data School, as well as the Irish equivalent. It's very competitive, but don’t be afraid to go around two or three times, even. It’s well worth the effort. What you learn through the process of applying will be valuable, regardless of how the interviews play out.
I think being conscious of consulting during the interview process is also important. It's a different set of skills compared to other programs as well, so we’re not just looking for people who are technical, but also people who can communicate well and who’d be proud of representing the brand of The Information Lab, ultimately. Be conscious of that when you're going into the interviews—how you want to carry yourself, communication-wise, and also understanding what you want to get out of the program is quite important.
Should you do it? Yes. I think it's an amazing experience. You'll learn a wealth of technical skills, but what’s more important is you get exposure to a lot of industries and learn from people in all those different companies, as well as The Information Lab itself.