Career Heroes - Michael Strain

Tell us more about you

I live in Bangor and I’m father to a three-year-old daughter. I have seven pets in total; one dog, two cats, and four rats. At the weekend I love playing golf, although I’m not very good at it! I like going to the gym and I’m a fan of science fiction books. My favourites include Dune and the Foundation series.

What kind of work do you do?

I’m a Data Scientist at Liberty IT. We work closely with colleagues in the US. Because of the time difference, my day starts with checking emails and messages to see if they’ve sent me anything while I’ve still been in bed. We have a daily short meeting called a “stand up”, where you meet with the people on your team to exchange what you’ve done in the previous day and discuss any problems you have.

I spend time coding each day. For example, I’ve recently been using Python to manipulate and analyse data to get a better understanding of what types of insurance policies are the most profitable. This includes producing graphs, which will be used to communicate the information in presentations or communication with business partners.

In the afternoon I’d normally have meetings with US colleagues or company-wide meetings where you can hear about what's going on. I also lead some meetings. This means being the main speaker and ensuring that we talk about all the things we need to, and that we don't run out of time.

I mostly work from home but travel to Belfast at least once a week to work from the office. While there’s definitely some work that is done efficiently by one person, the majority of your time as a Data Scientist will be spent working with other people. At the very least, you need to be aware of what other people in your team are doing (so you don't do the same thing). Working on a project usually means working with more than just Data Scientists. Usually, there’ll be other departments involved as well, for example, Accounting, HR, Actuaries, etc.

A lot of the time you will need good collaboration skills to build good relationships. So even though some of the work you do might be done independently, it will always need to be communicated and explained to a team.

How did you become a Data Scientist ?

I attended Queen's University, where I studied Pure Mathematics. Initially I was only going to study a Bachelors, but after attaining the required grades I decided to change to an Integrated Masters, again in Pure Mathematics.

I was very unsure about what I wanted to do after I left university. It wasn't until towards the end of my Bachelors degree that I attended a talk by a local company in Belfast about Data Science.

I responded positively to the presentation and particularly liked the idea of using the mathematics I’d learned in university in a real world application. This led to me applying for a Data Science internship over the summer and I was lucky to be selected. After a successful summer, I was offered a permanent position. Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door as a graduate.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

I’d take more time during my university studies to network and attend more career events. I’d be more proactive in general about thinking about my future.