Audu Emmanuel (MSc Applied Data Science 2021, BSc Computing and Software Entrepreneurship 2018)

I have always had a flair for creating software applications that will be able to provide value in the lives of individuals; software applications that users will derive joy from making use of. I started coding at the age of 14 and I was already sure by that time that I wanted to study Computing in University, Buckingham gave me that opportunity and hence the beginning of my journey.

I began my journey in Buckingham in 2016, by studying BSc Computing and Software Entrepreneurship; this course gave me a blend both the technical and business side of the industry. I was equipped with skills that would allow me fit into any part of the industry, whether as Junior software developer or as a product manager or digital marketer.

One thing about The University of Buckingham is that it gives students the opportunity to work on various interesting projects and I grabbed this opportunity and worked with both my fellow Computing students and business students. I interned at a Software firm (Document Logistix) in Milton Keynes where I learnt a lot about the industry. I also got to work on a real-life personal project with friends on connecting food trucks to students who were looking to order food from them within the vicinity. We created a web platform and made some money for the Food trucks by persuading students to order through our platform.

Believe me, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at The University of Buckingham. Not just because of the academics but also because of the togetherness the small community provides. This helped me graduate with a First Class Honours and I went back to Nigeria to gain some industry work experience.

Within this time, I got employed by a Software Start-up and worked there for some time before attempting to start my own Start-up which taught me a lot of lessons. One of those lessons is that there is so much data going around in businesses, and without proper management those valuable data will be lost and nothing important inferred from them for better business decision making. I decided that I would go back to university to study Data Science so I can learn how to help businesses manage this data better with the help of machine learning algorithms and Data science methodologies. I heard about Buckingham university starting a Data Science course and, of course, I had no doubts that that was where I wanted to study again.

I resumed late as my Visa took more time than expected to be processed; at first, I felt worried that this circumstance would hinder my ability to catch up, but my lecturers and other staff of the School of Computing were available to help with both my mental health and my education at every point. They understood how difficult it would be to cope with crisis going on while also trying to catch up with my studies.  Within a few weeks of hard work and continuous support from my lecturers, I caught up with my studies and I was ready to get the engine moving faster.

Though the pandemic did provide a huge challenge for everyone, the School had a swift and effective response, which made it easier for students to cope and have a very comfortable virtual environment for learning.

I was given the opportunity by my supervisor, Dr Harin Sellahewa to work on a real-life data science/analyst project for the University’s Marketing department as my final year project. This helped me in many ways as I got to experience, first-hand, how organizations deal with data and how to apply the knowledge gained from my studies to provide value for a corporate organization.

I am now working as a Data Analyst in a Start-Up in the UK where all the knowledge gained from both my studies and internship at The University of Buckingham is constantly being applied. I look forward to enhancing my career with the skills gained from my studies and being able to provide value to companies with these skills as much as possible.

I will always be grateful to the entire staff of the School of Computing for a very insightful and interesting year of study at The University of Buckingham during my Masters. Though the year was not an easy one, it was relatively smooth through hard work and the support from my departmental staff.