Learner Testimonial — Holly, Data Analyst

Our Apprenticeship graduate, Holly Flindall, posted about her experience on LinkedIn during National Apprenticeship Week 2023.

Holly is now a Compliance Data & Reporting Manager at Ageas UK. Aside from accomplishing great things, she has become an advocate for Apprenticeships in the workplace.

“I passed my Level 4 Data Analyst Apprenticeship through Firebrand Training in 2020, which covered data analysis and visualisation, programming languages (e.g. SQL and Python), databases, tools (e.g. R Studio, SAS and Power BI) and statistics.

“The question I get asked by my peers and external network is, ‘Did it really make a difference/help you secure your next role?’ – the short answer is yes. I wouldn’t have been able to transition into the role of Compliance Data & Reporting Manager without it. The areas which have benefited me the most, are having a deep understanding of my firms technological and data architecture and being able to identify opportunity to evolve compliance processes into ones which are more adaptable, flexible, sophisticated and which ultimately enable us to stay on the front foot of the regulator. I am also much more competent in leveraging tools such as Power BI, to transform data into actionable intelligence.
 
“Completing a data apprenticeship has since enabled me to engage in discussions with technical areas of the business, supported me in driving the right outcomes and allowed me to explain complex concepts simply to less technical audiences. Speaking the ‘language of data’ is my biggest takeaway, truly learning what data is and how to leverage it, is what drives effectiveness.

“Developing an understanding which is beyond conceptual, allows you to apply many technical disciplines to a vast breadth of use cases. In junior school, one of my teachers advised me not to learn the answers off by heart, but to instead, really spend the time understanding ‘the how’ and ‘the why’ – never has anything been more true. When you can speak the language of data, you can make better connections and better visualise the way forward – ‘𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥’ (Ludwig Wittgenstein). 
 
“If you’re thinking about embarking on the Level 4 Data Analyst Apprenticeship journey yourself but aren’t 100% sure, feel free to reach out if you’re interested in having a chat 😀”

 

 

 

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