Working in Tech: Stories and Tips from Oxford Alumni
Tech jobs exist in all sectors and all types of organisations. Demand for people is high and growing quickly, with many entry opportunities open not only to those with proven IT skills, but also to anyone with the right interests and potential. Some sectors recruit particularly heavily into IT roles, notably in advertising and marketing, banking and financial services, games development, consultancy, manufacturing, retail and public sectors. In parallel, the growth in tech start-ups is creating significant extra demand for technically skilled graduates and, at Oxford, hiring is increasing in rapidly expanding fields such as ‘data analytics’ and ‘FinTech’.
Read the below career stories from Oxford University alumni for insights into what roles in tech involve, the trajectory your career could take, and tips for breaking into the sector.
Matthew Noble - Data Scientist, Beamery
DPhil Materials Science, Oriel College, 2017
What: I’m a data scientist at Beamery, a tech start-up designing and building the world’s first talent operating system. We help the world’s largest companies to attract, engage and retain talent at a global scale by applying the fields of predictive-marketing and data science to recruitment. Our AI and data science team research and build the AI models used in the platform. Problems such as “suggested candidates”, “organisation name standardisation” and “likelihood to change careers” are examples of things we are actively working on and refining.
Why: After my DPhil, I wanted to keep researching and investigating new problems with real impact. Data science was the intersection of my ‘transferable skills’ – mathematics and computer coding. I taught myself the gaps in my knowledge by enrolling in online courses at DataCamp and becoming an active member of online communities on Kaggle and Reddit.
Challenges and experiences: When I first joined Beamery, there wasn’t an AI and data science team – I wasn’t ‘a’ data scientist at the company, I was ‘the’ data scientist! However, I rolled up my sleeves and wore my many hats as I built the solutions that were needed. The mentorship of my colleagues meant I had the support to grow, learn and most importantly to fail in a supportive environment. To date, I’ve applied myself to data analytics, data engineering, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, data visualisation and most recently machine learning and natural language processing. Joining a tech start-up had its risks, but I was fortunate, and in the end, the juice was worth the squeeze.
Advice: Not knowing the answer immediately is par for the course. Trust in your formal training of being able to research the unknown and absorb new concepts quickly. Build proof-ofconcepts, iterate and stop once a minimum viable product solves your current problem.
Will Moyle - Data Analytics Manager, Zoopla Property Group
MMath Mathematics, St John’s College, 2012
Why: Modern companies have a vast quantity of data at their fingertips – but few are truly able to make the most of the incredible opportunity this presents. The role of a data analyst is to turn data that businesses have at their disposal into meaningful strategic insights. This helps people make the right decisions for the future of the business. In my role at Zoopla, I am able to utilise data from millions of website visits and app sessions, as well as details of millions of property listings across the UK in order to help build a property platform that enables people in the UK to find their dream home.
How: My path has taken me from studying maths at Oxford, through working as a strategy consultant at Deloitte, to a master’s degree in computer science, and finally to a career in analytics: a field which combines the best of my passions. Analytics includes a large amount of experimentation and testing, which builds on my maths and statistics background, as well as coding in SQL, Python and R, which I began learning during my master’s.
However, the most interesting aspect of the field is the human element. In order to be an effective analyst, it’s important to understand that the data are not just numbers, but that they represent real people and real human behaviour. This is key to developing ideas and gaining insights that affect business decisions. Similarly, the role requires more than technical know-how. Analysis by itself holds little value without its results and recommendations being effectively communicated. This ability to work and communicate with people, as well as to understand their motivations, is what makes an effective analyst and is why I love my job.
Top tips: I’d advise anyone to learn basic database coding skills. Datacamp, for example, has free beginner courses in Python and SQL. Similarly, the free ‘Google Analytics Academy’ provides a fantastic grounding on the fundamentals of analytics. Even these introductory courses will give you an edge in interviews and might inspire you to delve into the career, as they did for me. Finally, take every opportunity to practise public speaking. This advice applies to almost every career path: the ability to clearly and effectively communicate ideas (especially to a non-technical audience) really sets people apart and is something I wish I had done more of earlier in my career.
Looking for more?
The alumni profiles above were originally featured in the 2022 Oxford Guide to Careers.
For more alumni career stories, tips on how to build applications that stand out, how to improve employability skills, and more, read the Guide.
