Data Consultant Undergraduate Review

My role was to assist the data science teams. I was a consultant, so my daily tasks switched between data analysis, data architecture and data management. The majority of my tasks were assigned by another team member who needed assistance. On some occasions I was assigned an individual task to work on myself. The work involved then reporting this back to team leads and project heads in daily stand up calls. There were lots of daily interactions with colleagues.

The job mostly involved programming in Scala, R, SQL and Python. As a result, I was able to develop my understanding of these technologies. There was also a lot of exposure to Azure DevOps, a technology I hadn't used before. As well as this, presenting skills were worked on in presentations to key stakeholders. On a technical level, I was able to work on the understanding on a deeper level of why things work, not just how to apply them.

Yes, I was. The department I worked in was a secure and did confidential work. So there is immediately responsibility to protect the work you are doing. There is also opportunity to work on lots of high-level projects which need clearance to work on. The tasks I did were important for the project and I feel that I certainly helped contribute to the project I worked on. I was also responsible to report my work to the correct people.

I received plenty of support. At BAE there is an internal management system as well as client-side. In each of these two there were many points of contact if I ever had any issues. There is also a buddy system in place, with someone who recently joined the company helping you adjust to working at BAE. This helped give insight in what it is like to work here full time, from someone in a different department to yourself.

The culture was that of a person-oriented team, everyone is there to help each other with any issues. If you got stuck on something there is a lot of subject experts who are more than able to assist. The work was important and serious. However, there was plenty of relaxed chat in the team to break some of the tension. There was a feeling of togetherness, with plenty of calls scheduled to keep in contact with people even over COVID.

I really enjoyed it here. I feel I developed professionally and socially. I gained confidence in lots of hard and soft skills, which will undoubtedly assist me in my career. The culture of the company was inclusive and supportive, I never felt that I was being left to my own devices, while still being challenged in the work I was doing. The work was meaningful and I feel that I helped contribute to an important project.

Yes

In the interviews and meetings, be yourself. BAE Systems is a very person-oriented company. They don't necessarily hire people with the best grades. They hire people. They want their employees to be committed to work hard to a shared goal, and those committed to learn while on the job. This is a company that encourages further development, as well as finding a job that fits you. If you struggle in a particular area, reach out and there will be support.