At Mango, we talk a lot about going on a ‘data-driven journey’ with your business. We’re passionate about data and getting the best use out of it. But for now, instead of looking at business journeys, I wanted to talk to the Mango team and find out how they started on their own ‘data journey’ – what attracted them to a career in data science and what they enjoy about their day-to-day work. (It’s not just typing in random numbers?! What?!)

We are hugely fortunate to have a wonderful team of data scientists who are always generous in sharing their skills or don’t mind teaching non data scientists R for uber beginners. So let’s see what they have to say on becoming a Mango…

Jack Talboys

Jack joined us last year as a year-long placement student 

“I actually had no idea what Data Science was until I discovered Mango about a year and a half ago. I was at the university career fair – not really impressed by the prospect of working in finance or as a statistician for a large company. I stumbled across Liz Matthews and Owen Jones who were there representing Mango, drawn in by the title “Data Science” we started talking. Data Science seemed to tick all of my boxes, being able to use my knowledge of statistics and probability while doing lots of coding in R.

I’m now 6 months in at Mango and it couldn’t be going better. I’ve greatly improved my proficiency in R, alongside learning new skills like Git, SQL and Python. I’ve been given a great deal of responsibility, assisting in delivering training to a client and attending the EARL 2018 conference making up some of my highlights. There have also been opportunities for me to be client-facing, giving me a deeper understanding of what it takes to be a Data Science Consultant.

Working at Mango hasn’t just developed my technical skills however, without really noticing I’ve found that I have become a better communicator. Whether organising tasks with the other members of the ValidR team or talking to clients I have discovered a new sense of confidence and trust in myself. Even as a relative newbie I can see that Data Science as an industry is growing massively – and I’m excited to be part of this growth and make the most of the exciting opportunities it presents with Mango.”

Beth Ashlee, Data Scientist

“I got into data science after applying for a summer internship at Mango. I didn’t really know much about the data science community previously, but spent the next few weeks learning more technical and practical skills than I had in 3 years at university.

I’ve been working as a Data Science Consultant for nearly 3 years and due to the wide variety of projects I’ve never had a dull moment. I have had amazing opportunities to travel worldwide teaching training courses and interacting with customers from all industries. The variety is my favourite part of the job, you could be building a Shiny application to help a pharmaceutical company visualise their assay data one week and the next teaching a training course at the head offices of large companies such as Screwfix.”

Owen Jones, Data Scientist

“To be honest, it rarely feels like work… since we’re a consultancy, there’s always a wide variety of projects on the go, and you can get yourself involved in the areas you find most interesting! Plus, you have the opportunity to visit new places, and you’re always meeting and working with new people – which means new conversations, new ideas and new understanding. I love it.”

Nick Howlett, Data Scientist

Nick is currently working on a client project in Italy.

“During my time creating simulations in academic contexts I found myself more motivated to meet my supervisor’s requirements than pursuing niche research topics. Towards the end of my studies, I discovered data science and realised that the client-consultant relationship was a situation very similar to this.

Working at Mango has allowed me to develop personal relationships with clients across many sectors – and get to know their motivations and individual data requirements. Mango has also given me the opportunity to travel on both short term training projects and more long term projects abroad.”

Jack Talboys

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