Two years ago, long before anyone was thinking about pandemics, lockdowns and the optimal place in the flat to set up a laptop, a friend recommended that I look into Capco for a job. I was coming into the last months of my PhD and was looking for a role where I could continue developing my data science skills.
After a pleasingly slick interview and offer process, I started my career as a data scientist at Capco. In the intervening two years I have learned a lot, not just about cutting edge digital technologies, but also about how analytics is becoming a key pillar of financial services.
Life as a Capco data scientist has seen me work on a huge variety of great projects, from developing a natural language processing solution, to helping design the analytics architecture. My clients have ranged all the way from gigantic global banks to small fintech start-ups with less than 100 employees. I have experienced first-hand the opportunities and challenges faced by organisations at such different stages of their analytics journey. Perhaps more importantly, I have also been able to identify the issues and needs which are common to all financial institutions as analytics has moved from a “nice-to-have” to being a total necessity.
Throughout all these experiences Capco has supported me, whether that is by offering training courses or allowing me time to develop my own ideas and discuss them with senior leadership. I have found a community at Capco which is always keen to share ideas and knowledge, not just amongst our talented pool of data scientists, but also with architects, engineers, designers and many more technical specialities.
Financial services often present complex analytical problems, which require navigating through business requirements, regulation, and existing technical infrastructure. While that can often be a challenging environment to work within, it is also the landscape for some exceptionally creative solutions.
At Capco, we don’t lecture clients on what they should be doing better. We partner with them to combine their depth of expertise with our technical knowledge. This collaborative approach has been vital to my work as a data scientist so far. The insights our data scientists develop make a meaningful difference to the organisations we work for, helping our clients take better, data-driven, decisions.
In the nearly two years I’ve been at Capco, I’ve worked on some tough projects and have had to push the limits of my knowledge and experience. However, it certainly hasn’t been boring. I’ve learned a lot about what I believe makes an excellent data scientist, and I’ve had the good fortune to work with some truly innovative people.
I would thoroughly recommend working at Capco to further your career in data science, whether you are a senior data scientist with many years of experience, or just getting started.