Back in June, we took the decision to take on a graduate data scientist. Studying a master’s degree in data engineering, we took on Aleksandrs Tarasovs, a student at Dundee University.
As a data science student, Aleks was supported by the Data Lab. They provide financial support for Scottish and EU students across 15+ universities around Scotland. This year, there were around 150 students being supported by Data Lab, with around 100 being selected for a Summer work placement.
Aleks joined our Head Office in Edinburgh for the 12-week summer placement at the beginning of June. Before he joined our team, our data was stored in various formats and on different platforms, both online and offline. Having now completed the placement, Aleks’ impact is now being felt. He has helped us to create a data warehouse allowing us to store and manage our data more efficiently. This has resulted in us storing our data in one place, allowing us to perform qualitative data analysis and make better data-driven decisions.
In August, all students supported by Data Lab were invited to submit a video where they had to give an overview of the placement they participated in and what the outcomes were. Our marketing department worked together with Aleks to produce a video highlighting this which successfully came in the top 3 of submissions.
As one of the top three students, he was provided with a chance to give a short presentation about the placement at MAB Scotland. Following this presentation, a winner was selected for the Project award. A big congratulations to Aleks who came home with the winning award. He is in the final stages of his master’s degree with his dissertation looming, so it is a fantastic achievement for him to have been successful in this award while also focusing on his studies.