Project - Data Science Education & Training
Building a sustainable Data Science capability takes more than just buying a new analytics tool or hiring a few Data Scientists. You need a combination of the right team and culture, training, technology and process to set up a capability that is sustainable and creates long-lasting business value.
How can we grow our Data Science capability?
Summary
A large UK retail Financial Services client sought our help to build a sustainable internal Data Science capability. The starting point was a team of enthusiastic, but technically inexperienced, analysts. In addition to designing personal development and career progression frameworks, our remit also covered the design of a bespoke training programme to take beginners in Data Science to well beyond Master’s level in the subject.
Our value goal was to maximise the value an organisation gets from their Data Science capability, Data Scientists need to be provided with the right education and training to build their core skill-set and to apply these skills with confidence to solve even the most challenging real-world problems.
Impact
In just 18 months, the client has doubled the size of their specialist Data Science team, with all team members sufficiently confident in core modelling techniques to fly solo on even the most difficult projects.
Our work with the client has directly helped unlock approximately £30million in achievable benefits in only the second year of operation of the team. Benefits achievable in subsequent years are expected to be even more impressive as the reach and collective experience within the team grows.
Our approach
This is a journey. It begins with understanding the eight skill-sets that make up a proficient Data Scientist and assessing the students’ needs, experience and abilities in each. No two people learn in exactly the same way, therefore we have created an extensive catalogue of learning within three frameworks:
Structured learning | Imagine: navigating a Tube Map
We equip Data Scientists with the theory and practical experience they need, using a combination of formal instruction, problem solving, collaborative learning, coding masterclasses and so on.
Social learning | Imagine: a book club
We create a community environment to catalyse personal growth via on-the-job mentoring, interactions with colleagues, learning from peers, supervisions, drop-in sessions and so on.
Experiential Learning | Imagine: a flight simulator
We make learning real, with students experiencing a mixture of simulations, hackathons, conferences, workshops and meet-ups – all carefully chosen to really bring learning to life.