In 2021, Kas started his career as a Business Developer at a major international bank via Young Analytics. He acts as an intermediary between analysts; the people in the business, and developers; the people who create and maintain applications. He ensures that the communication between the two parties runs smoothly. Kas talks about his experience as a data hero and the start of his career in a data-driven job.
How did you experience the road to data hero?
‘I graduated in 2020, but was prevented from starting a full-time job at a company due to COVID-19. After an internship at a company in asset management, I ended up at Young Analytics where I started my search for a job together with Floor (Managing Partner). Floor guided me towards the position I am now. In my job, I am the link between two different departments. On the one side, you have the business, like traders, treasury and operations. On the other side, you have developers and engineers. As a starter, this gives me the chance to learn from different divisions of the bank. I am really enjoying the job and my team.’
What is the most valuable thing you have learned so far?
‘My studies taught me to work super theoretically. I notice that in my job, I sometimes run into practical issues that my studies did not prepare me for. I then ask myself: how am I going to solve this? How do I deal with things or systems that I am not familiar with? Dealing with these kinds of questions is the main thing I am learning right now: how can you, despite difficulties, remain stress-resistant and meet the expectations of your colleagues at the same time? I noticed that my hard skills are good, but my soft skills are certainly to be improved. Because of the different types of people I work with, this job gives me a good opportunity to do so.’
Are there any problems you encounter along the way?
‘Besides the practical issues every now and then, there are no significant problems that I run into. In fact, everything is going well and I notice that I get enough appreciation from my colleagues. What I do find a bit difficult is the niche-bound environment I work in. This makes it hard for me to search for information and to learn new things on my own. I am very dependent on the people who train me, but they are often busy with their own tasks. Also, working from home makes it harder to deal with that. However, I try to know the ins and outs of the matter and in this way I master more and more systems I have to deal with on a daily basis.’
How do you see the future of data development within your team?
‘Data becomes extremely important. The more data there is, the more we learn. But, of course there is a downside to all of this: the more data there is, the more surface noise you can get in your results’. Surface noise means errors in the data, which makes it seem like there has been an influence on a certain outcome, but it actually hasn’t. We are overwhelmed by data and that is doable for computers, but not yet for humans. We are still an indispensable factor. People have to understand, describe, and structure the data and as long as we play a role in these processes, I think it would be wisest not to make it too difficult for ourselves by wanting to use too much data.’
When do you think you are a successful data hero?
‘I think you are successful when you have a good understanding of data, when you know what data means and you can convert it. The way I see it, you are good at your job if you can translate data into business insights and results. When are you able to say something meaningful about the collected data and ensure that a colleague can quickly get to work with it? How do you visualize that? And how to make sense of all the results? If you succeed in that, you will be a successful data hero in my opinion.’
