Absar Hossain

I saw lots of people my age talking about apprenticeships and it seemed like a great opportunity.  You get the chance to learn and work towards a degree, as well as gaining really valuable work experience and be paid at the same time!  I really liked the idea of being paid to learn and develop – so to me it was a no brainer.

I’ve always been good at maths and achieved excellent grades at GCSE and A-level, so I wanted to pursue a career that involved maths.  I also knew that data scientists are in high demand, so to me it made sense to study and gain experience in something I enjoyed, as well as something that had strong career prospects.

I was attracted to the apprenticeship scheme at Be UK because it provided data science as well as management consulting experience, both of which I felt would set me up for a successful career.

Being an apprentice and working in a corporate environment is a huge jump from being a student in sixth form, so you should be prepared for that!  It’s a steep but rewarding learning curve.  Having said that, I’m really enjoying the apprenticeship so far, so I would highly recommend.

As a data scientist, I’d say you need patience. Patience is key when learning how to use the relevant software (e.g., Python) to manipulate data for your own understanding of a business’ story.

Programming skills are beneficial as they help develop your problem solving and critical thinking abilities.

You also need to be able to communicate effectively with a computer and its software to draw meaningful insights. Understanding a software’s language properly is the key to creatively navigating through difficult issues when it comes to data analysis.