Matt P.
About me
| Matt P. | |
| English and Related Literature | |
| English and Related Literature | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Goodricke | |
| 2012 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Customer Analyst | |
| British Gas | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Environment and energy | |
| Large business (250+ employees) | |
| 2015 |
More about Matt
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A day in the life of a Customer Analyst in the United Kingdom
You should in no way be discouraged if you haven't done a STEM subject - there are number of non-STEM colleagues on my team - but there are some statistical techniques that I have to read up on.
Briefly describe the organisation you work for
British Gas
What do you do?
I am a customer analyst. I make data-driven decisions on customer strategy:which customers we should contact, what we should promote, or how we can improve the customer experience.
To do this I write code in order to query our big data.
Reflecting upon your past employment and education, what led you to your current career choice?
By accident, more than anything.
I was quite interested in roles in 'insight' when I left York. I started off in research, writing questionnaires and analysing research data, and have gradually moved into more and more technical roles.
Is your current job sector different from what you thought you would enter when you graduated?
For sure. I just happened to find some vacancies in the industry and thought they sounded interesting. I thought I would enter marketing or publishing.
Describe your most memorable day at work
I've worked on a few dashboards that I'm particularly proud of. Partly because I was one of the first people to get to grips with the technology, partly because they're used crossed the business.
I also got to meet the CEO and have some of my work presented to him. Admittedly, it wasn't by me, but it was still interesting to see how data and insight drive decisions at the very top of the business.
Are there any challenges associated with your job?
Sometimes working with data can be frustrating: it can take a long time to understand what you're looking at, or bits of it are missing or broken.
You should in no way be discouraged if you haven't done a STEM subject - there are number of non-STEM colleagues on my team - but there are some statistical techniques that I have to read up on.
What’s your work environment and culture like?
To some people's surprise, British Gas has quite a relaxed culture. A lot of analytics teams will be internal facing, so dress-codes are fairly informal.
In my experience, you have a lot of autonomy. Whilst I have team-mates and managers to discuss projects with and bounce ideas of, I control my own time and output.
Sometimes analysing data takes as long as it takes - there are no shortcuts. This can lead to some longer days, if you have a tight deadline.
What extracurricular activities did you undertake at university and what transferable skills did you develop through these?
Mine mainly revolved around writing for either the newspapers or The Yorker website. These were good for learning to work to deadlines.
What top tips do you have for York students preparing for today’s job market and life after graduation?
Honestly, that you may have more time that you realise. You don't have to land your dream job straight away. You'll have friends who are on schemes or doing qualifications, but be honest with yourself on what works best for you. If in a couple of years you think you want to change jobs/industries, don't be afraid to.
What topics from students are you happy to answer questions on?
I'm open: what it's like to be a data analyst, application advice, what it's like to be an English grad in a technical role - anything.
Next steps...
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