Meet our Academy Consultants – Annabel

How do you feel you’ve transitioned from the Ten10 Academy to your client work?
I think it went well! Due to the nature of my client I needed to wait for my security clearance to come through. Once I started, the client eased me in by not giving me too much to start with. It gave me a chance to understand the organisation before ramping up with work. I really appreciated this as I didn’t feel overwhelmed at all from the beginning. My team has been really supportive, encouraged me to ask questions. and generally been very approachable which made the transition very smooth.

Take us through your placement, what are you currently working on?
One of the projects I’ve worked on and really enjoyed was creating a tools and applications guide aimed at staff in non-technical roles to help them understand the tools used by software engineers/data engineers/data scientists to manipulate data. I enjoyed this project as it involved meeting with the technical staff and gaining an understanding of the tools, then writing about them in non-technical terms. I also learned to use Confluence while creating this guide (as this is where the guide is stored). The feedback I received on this tool was positive and that it helped people understand the technical tools better.

Other work I have been involved with includes writing data governance documentation. This involves inquiring for information from the technical staff on how the data is used and justifying that the data is required to carry out the work. I’ve also been involved in assessing whether all the data we currently have is actually needed as a project to reduce the amount of personal data we have stored.

What parts of the Ten10 Academy training have been most useful in your placement?
The Jira training was useful as we now use Jira software on a daily basis in my team to assign and manage tasks and workloads. The introduction to coding was also useful as I have recently started a programming project and even though it’s a different coding language, learning the basics has helped with my progression. Learning the basics of the command line will also come in useful soon as my team is being trained on how to use it to automate various functions.

What is a normal working day or week for you?
My team is responsible for maintaining and governing all the datasets that we keep in-house. A normal working week includes assessing whether any governance documentation is due to be written and reviewing all the datasets to ensure they are still required. There are also ad-hoc tasks that come in each week so the job is varied which keeps it interesting. I also spend some time working on my Python program which will help my department with auditing the use of applications. We also work closely with data analysts and engineers to ensure they can access the data they need.

Have your roles and responsibilities changed during your time on placement?
I have recently been given a wider variety of tasks from my manager. Now that I am proficient at data governance work, I am being introduced to a wider variety of work which is interesting. I am more independent in my role now that I’m six months in as I have a better understanding of the department and the job itself.

What technology, tools, frameworks, and processes have you gained experience with since starting client work?
I’ve gained experience using AWS, I have also started to learn Python and become more proficient using Jira and Confluence.

How has your client supported your development?
Mostly with independent projects where I can upskill myself. We will soon receive training on the command line which will help with my technical development. My manager has been very supportive and given detailed feedback on projects I have completed which has helped my personal development. We also have regular 121s where we discuss my work and how I am progressing.

What support have you received from Ten10 during your placement?
The Wellbeing team has been supportive and is always happy to chat and check in with me, which I appreciate. It was also nice to have regular catch-up calls while I was waiting to start on my client project. I always get a reply very quickly whenever I message anyone from the Ten10 team which I really appreciate.