Joanna Koda (MSc Applied Data Science, Degree Apprenticeship, Level 7 DTSS 2023)

After completing the programme in October 2022, I graduated from my apprenticeship degree in June 2023. This was my personal challenge during the pandemic, and it turned out to be the most productive and rewarding way to use this extra time which otherwise would be wasted for travelling to work!

As soon as I heard about apprenticeship degrees during the induction day at work in August 2019 – it became my goal!
I have worked in different departments such as partnerships, marketing and now data analytics. I decided to study data science and analytics after discovering a knowledge gap in the company I work for, Collinson Group. This was in terms of data awareness, processing and shortage of data dedicated people (women especially!). The analytics only started evolving later in the following years. This was a perfect opportunity for me to transition in my career.

The apprenticeship degree was important to me because I had very little experience working with databases or data visualisation and analytics tools. It would be incredibly hard, if not impossible, for me to transition, but once I started the university course, everything has made so much more sense ever since! I have learned Python which is a broadly applicable programming language, various data visualisation tools, datamining and machine learning techniques, and also understanding digital transformation, leadership and management. All those skills enabled me a smooth transition before I even graduated!

The data science and engineering director at my workplace was impressed with my progress during my university course – he was my apprenticeship supervisor in my workplace. I was then introduced to a data team – this is how I got to understand SQL database, insights reporting, data science and engineering. Thanks to the apprenticeship programme I was able to collaborate with all those people and got to choose what I liked the most! I was recently promoted from BI Analyst Associate to BI and Insight Analyst. The transition included a pay increase and a bright path for growth. The new role suits my personality as it enables me to collaborate with the broader data team to make sure I maintain and develop skills needed to progress within my career.

My MSc degree was a game changer for me, and I never stop encouraging other people to get out of their comfort zone, work hard and learn completely new things! I am incredibly grateful to The University of Buckingham, all brilliant teaching professors (especially my project Supervisor, Dr Naseer Al-Jawad), my workplace which enabled me exposure and 20% of my work time for learning, and of course myself for not giving up!