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Hazel Atkins

Senior Data Scientist at BMT

Happy to be contacted by school
Do something that you find enjoyable, don't get too disheartened if you don't know what to do, explore all your options and don't be afraid to get things wrong.
Hazel is a...

Coach

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Developer

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Influencer

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About Hazel...

Who am I?

"As a Coach, Developer and Influencer my personality types match really well with my current role.I'd say influencer the one I use most to mediate with lots of stakeholders (customers, users, regulators) to help implement change. The creativity within developer is how I ensure I am valuable in my role, finding a range of different solutions and being able to think as though I am in another role.I coach customers through projects and processes where needed but probably coach more in my own time and outside of projects. I really enjoy helping and developing colleagues and people within my network. "

What do I do?

"In our world is driven by data. From what's next on you Netflix watch list, what the government spend their money on, scientific research, and what social media advertising gets to your phone. As a consultant I get to work on a really diverse range of projects. At the moment I'd describe my role as a Data Governance puppeteer... I am implementing a team of important people to make decisions about the data that drives life changing orders for the government. Projects have also included using natural language processing to understand trends and insights from hundreds of thousands of documents; I really enjoy being creative, and finding ways of solving problems. But I also really enjoy meeting lots of new people, finding out what they really want and how I can include that in the project. Being a data scientist requires a lot of attention to detail and data, but as importantly requires building good working relationships quickly. My role starting salary is very variable depending on education. As a graduate with a maths or science I'd expect £24-£30k to start, but a degree is not the only route to being a Data Scientist, there are apprenticeships for school leavers and those looking to retrain in a new industry. "

How did I get here?

"I looked at the roles I could get with a Maths degree and Engineering seemed the most interesting because it is so varied and regularly evolving. I got onto the BMT graduate scheme and got promoted to and engineering consultant. I moved to our innovation and technology department to get closer to my mathematics route and passion, becoming a Senior Data Scientist at the beginning of 2021. "

The life I live

"I like to run, cycle, boulder, go on adventures, travel and go out with friends. I've been lucky to be able to do some traveling with work, Indonesia and Singapore; was able to take a 3 month sabbatical to go traveling to New Zealand and South East Asia; and can buy additional leave (15 days) so I can travel and have UK adventures regularly through the year."

My typical day

"I may be in the office working on datasets or policy writing, planning a workshop, helping my Managing Director improve our Diversity and Inclusion plan or attending a STEM event or Training course. Or I may be out at a customer office running workshops, or speaking at conferences. "

My qualifications

"I gained A levels in Maths (B), Biology(C) and Drama & Theatre Studies (B) and As Level in Further Maths(B) and Chemistry (D). It was a choice between my two favourite subjects, Maths and Drama, at Uni but I figured I was more confident with my Maths ability and it would give me more job prospects after. I was hoping for better grades but was still able to get into Uni (my second choice) to do Maths. It definitely worked out for the best, I loved uni and worked really hard in my final year to get a 1st! "