At SVGC we’re proud to be a small business formed of experienced, highly qualified people operating on a national platform. Our team collectively has vast knowledge of strategic planning, public sector decisions, innovative technologies, data science and agile working methodologies.
What are your ‘must haves’ to start the working day?
Coffee, bacon, and eggs. Either walking the dog or reading some technical books/ papers before work in the morning.
What’s your proudest work achievement to date?
My Patents that made it into production, it’s wonderful to see an idea come to life. My contributions to scientific publications and knowledge. Commercial systems that I have built, I recently found out that the last automated Business Intelligence/ Machine Learning system I helped create was named ANT after I left, which makes me smile to think of them still working with ANT and maybe blaming ANT when things are not working!
On a personal level, persisting for many years to overcome a career gap and gain funding to return to a STEM career after a period of childcare and running small businesses. It took many years of persistence to get the funding, I was lucky enough to discover the Daphne Jackson Trust and I met some incredible scientific mentors.
What do you love most about what you do?
Creating new systems, or making discoveries. Many of my previous inventions came from observing anomalies in the data and pursuing them, so I enjoy coming across these edge cases and asking why? I enjoy the process of turning ideas into new products or systems. Participating in the evolution of technology and working in high-performance teams.
What does your typical working day look like?
Right now, due to the stage of my main project, there are often back-to-back meetings. I enjoy leading a team to build something new. But, I look forward to getting back into blocks of focused coding that will distil into a new system or product. I enjoy in-person events and conferences and I am looking forward to more of these in the future. I normally do some work on my own data science projects from around 10 pm to Midnight which are my most productive/ creative hours when the house is quiet and there are no interruptions. I would happily work until the early hours if I didn’t have to go to work the next day.
When you hit a wall workwise, what do you do to help overcome the hurdle?
Go for a walk and remember the advice from a good book I read several years ago called ‘The obstacle is the way’. The book points out that most obstacles are in fact opportunities for a discovery that most other people have been avoiding.
