Tell us a bit about your current job.

I’m a DevOps Big Data Engineer at BT Group. BT is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the UK. My job is to create datasets to provide information and create products that can be used to support different areas of the business. In my team, we predominantly focus on the BT Wifi Hubs, however there are times where we have collaborated across teams to create products on BT TV services such as the BT Player. I’ve working in this role since January 2020 after switching from my previous role as a Software Engineer focusing on Test Automation.

What and where did you study after school?

This is an interesting story! I did graduate with a Certificate of Higher Education in Counselling and Counselling Skills but after working with young offenders with court orders for Community Service, mentoring young adults and project-managing a social community initiative, I decided my pursuit into Psychodynamic Counselling was not what I wanted for myself. So I ended up going to uni again to study Business with French Language as a degree. To be honest, I chose this because I genuinely didn’t know what I wanted to do and everyone always says that a Business degree is the easiest course to get into.

How did you get from answer 2 to answer 1?

During my second year of my degree, a social enterprise called ‘Code First: Girls’ were providing free eight-week courses for women and non-binaries to learn to code for free. I applied for the course. As corny as this might sound, being able to print ‘Hello World’ with code was the most exciting moment, and that was the moment I knew this was something I wanted to pursue.

Fast forward a year, after being diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia, Code First:Girls collaborated with BT Group to create a program called ‘The furtHER Program’, teaching women and non-binaries how to code for free on a full-time four-month program. I applied and got onto the course. I had to balance doing this program in the day while getting through the final year of my degree at night.

At the end of the program, after passing assessments and completing projects focused on Front End Web Development, Python, Test Driven Development and Agile Methodologies, I was given the opportunity of an interview and was offered a job … in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I was in London, England at the time. I made the decision to drop out of uni, take the job and move to Northern Ireland. I’d never been there before, didn’t know anyone there, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

During my job role, I got to a stage where I found that the job was no longer interesting to me and quite repetitive so I shadowed the Big Data team, independently learnt some Scala and asked to move to the Big Data team. They created a role for me to be a part of it.

How does your formal education feed into your present career (if at all)?

Interestingly enough, I feel that they do and don’t play a part. I studied Maths Functional Skills during sixth form as part of my Creative Media Diploma. During uni, I had a module on Quantitative Methods during my degree which was basic Maths (types of graphs etc) but nothing that I didn’t already know – but I don’t have any STEM qualifications. The BT ‘furtHER’ Program is what really helped me in getting the role that I currently have and taught me as much skills as I needed to learn to prepare for my first role.

What things have you learnt outside of formal education that have been helpful to your career?

When working in any role in tech, you always have to continue to learn as technology evolves. Outside of work, I focused on learning about Cloud Computing, specifically AWS [Amazon Web Services] and Google Cloud.

I took time to practice learning about Data Structures & Algorithms which has been a great help and as of late, I’ve been learning about Machine Learning. Many companies with Big Data Engineer roles are now asking for them to have an understanding of Machine Learning or at least be investing in learning the topic. Machine Learning is a difficult subject to understand and there are so many layers to it but taking the time to learn it will help my technical growth in my career in Big Data in the future.

What are the really useful skills for someone in your job to possess?

I would say the key thing is to be interested in learning about Big Data and how it is used within and outside the company. Big Data is good and learning how it is used helps in understanding the topic better as a whole. I struggle with reading so I prefer audiobooks and documentaries. ‘The Great Hack’ and ‘The Social Dilemma’ are my favourite documentaries so far and it’s fascinating and scary how data is used, manipulated and how much it is worth. ‘Weapon of Math Destruction’ is also an interesting read too!

I would also say to never be afraid to ask questions and be yourself. If you are in an environment that doesn’t support that, that is not the right environment for you.

What does an average day at work look like for you?

No day is ever the same. It’s either a whole day of calls where you are talking to internal customers about products we are working on, doing some training to level up your skills, pairing up with your colleague to fix some code, working on a task you have been assigned or attending a virtual tech event to learn about a technology that could be useful to you. This is what I enjoy about it and the way my brain is, I thrive when there’s no pattern to how my day should be.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The thing I love is when a KPI is deployed and being used by millions of customers and they will never know; it’s always exciting to see it performing and making a difference to the customer’s experience of BT products.

What’s your least favourite aspect of your job?

Too many calls! Having ADHD and being on one hour calls or even longer is my worst nightmare, honestly!

What advice would you give to someone seeking a job like yours?

It’s a tough question as my journey into getting this job was quite unconventional. I would say learn one programming language, build a project based on what you are interested in and network with the tech community. You can pair up with someone to build a project together that will help you to increase your confidence and don’t be afraid to Google what you don’t understand. I do it all the time! Lastly, don’t overwhelm yourself trying to learn everything that a job requires from you, you won’t have everything a job requires you to have so focus on one thing at a time and apply when you have completed a project that you can present, even if you feel you are not completely ready because, honestly, you never will be.

Read more about Jennifer’s thoughts and experiences on her blog: https://www.jenniferopal.co.

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