Our Stories
Data Science Technician
I think it's all about the work we do and the people we work alongside. It’s just really interesting! There’s always something new happening, and you can get chatting to someone either at a meeting or grabbing a coffee.
Alex joined Forest Research in 2020 as a Graduate Apprentice after gaining his degree in Biology from Edinburgh University, and spending a number of years in the private forestry industry with Tilhill Forestry.
Learn about his experience with the Graduate Apprentice programme, and what working as a Data Science Technician in our Remote Sensing team at the Northern Research Station is like.
I graduated from Edinburgh University with a Biology degree and then worked in the forestry industry for around eight years with Tilhill Forestry. After that, I made a career move to Forest Research to start with the Graduate Apprentice programme.
I did the apprenticeship with Heriot-Watt which I’ve not long finished, and got my degree (first class with honours) which I’m really chuffed about.
More recently, I started my new role with Forest Research in a full time position as a Data Science Technician.
To be honest, in a way I sort of fell into it, as many people do with a role or sector they settle in and enjoy being part of.
I’d graduated from university, and didn’t really know what I was going to do next until a long-time family friend who worked for Tilhill Forestry and asked if I’d be interested in getting involved in their graduate programme.
Then the rest, as they say, is history – ten or so years later, I’m here at Forest Research!
I’d been in the private sector for a while, and I really wanted to move away from that to the public sector. I was looking for something that was aimed more at developing and helping the industry which is something I’m passionate about.
Also, from a personal perspective, the opportunity to go back to study and start learning again, with the Graduate Apprenticeship programme, and get another degree, was a massive draw.
I was doing a Data Science degree, which lasted four years. During that time you did some work and study at either the university or at Forest Research and vice versa. There was around three and a half days of work, and one and a half days of studying each week.
Penny Steel at Forest Research was an excellent mentor for me through the majority of the programme, and then in the last few weeks Conor Strong, my line manager, took over and did a fantastic job too.
The organisation was really supportive through my studies, as were my mentors both here and at Heriot-Watt University.
My role is relatively new, so I’m still getting to grips with it!
Previously, in my role as a Graduate Apprentice there was a lot of moving around various departments in the business and getting a feel for what each did and how it all fits in with the rest of the organisation.
It was a really useful experience, and one that definitely has helped me gain a much stronger understanding of the organisation and what it does.
Now I’ve started as a full-time member of the team in the Remote Sensing department. As a Data Science Technician, I’m mainly involved in working with other members of the team writing script using Python or R, creating pipelines for data processing, and downloading and managing data.
There’s also a bit of customer-facing work too, like setting up meetings with colleagues in Forest Research or with external stakeholders.
I think it’s all about the work we do and the people we work alongside. It’s just really interesting!
There’s always something new happening, and you can get chatting to someone either at a meeting or grabbing a coffee. You find out about what they’re working on and then before you know it, you can lose an hour getting deeper into that conversation and discussing the topic with them.
It’s often something related to what you’re doing too, which you might not be aware of. That’s definitely one of the things I like most about working here.
Passing my degree, without a doubt!
It was a huge amount of work and to come out of it with a first class degree is something I’m really proud of.
The one word I’d use is interesting. Probably a bit of a boring word to give, but it definitely best describes working here and what we do as a whole!
