How to boost your confidence as a beginner software engineer
Every engineer has questioned at least once in their life whether they are skilled enough for their chosen field. I experienced these doubts when I started my computer science degree at university, and despite the fact that I got through the first three years successfully, I still wasn’t fully confident in my abilities when I started my internship at FreeAgent. However, this is entirely normal. Every engineer faces challenges on… Continue reading
What a data science degree doesn’t teach you
When I enrolled on my data science master’s degree I had limited statistical and coding knowledge. This course was designed to teach these skills from the bottom up. Having now worked as a software engineering intern, I have come to realise a lot of things were missed. Moving beyond ‘if it works… it works!’ Learning to code can seem very daunting. There are so many resources and even languages. Where… Continue reading
10 tips and tricks for a good intern job application
We’ve recently completed the hiring for this year's cohort of summer interns and as a result we’ve processed hundreds of applications; just across our data teams we had over 600 this year! For many of these applicants, who tend to still be at university or have recently graduated, this is likely to be one of the first ‘professional’ roles that they are applying for. As such they might not be… Continue reading
The three skills you need to be a Data Analyst, and how to get them – Part 3
In the third blog in the series, we discuss the skills you need to become a Data Analyst, this time covering Data Evanglism. Continue reading
The three skills you need to be a Data Analyst, and how to get them – Part 2
In the second blog in the series, we discuss the skills you need to become a Data Analyst, this time covering Data Analysis. Continue reading
The three skills you need to be a Data Analyst, and how to get them – Part 1
In the first blog in the series, we discuss the skills you need to become a Data Analyst, this time covering Data Engineering. Continue reading
Trading the lab coat for the computer – my journey to data science
I became a data scientist just over two years ago. It’s not that long since I traded my lab coat for a computer job, and a few people have asked me how I made the transition, if I could help someone get into data or if I could just answer some questions about what it’s like to work in data. So I figured I would put it all together in… Continue reading
Our data science hiring process
In this blog post, I’m going to describe our hiring process for data science roles, starting from an advertised role. Hopefully this post will be of some use if you’re thinking about hiring in data science! Continue reading
How I prepare for a tech job interview
You’ve updated your CV, applied for a job in tech and been offered an interview. Fantastic! But what next? Preparing for interviews is time consuming and can feel daunting, particularly in the earlier stages of your career. I’ve found that having a regimented process for this preparation can reduce stress and save valuable time. In this post I’m going to outline my own process and provide some examples of what… Continue reading
Software engineering: 5 things they don’t teach you at university
Introduction Over the past couple of months, I’ve been working as an intern software engineer in the Banking Integrations team here at FreeAgent. Before I started, I had just finished the second year of my Computer Science degree at the University of Birmingham. Whilst university taught me a multitude of skills, there are many that can only be truly gained from working in a company. I’d like to share some… Continue reading