{"id":30097,"date":"2020-03-18T16:43:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T16:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=30097"},"modified":"2020-03-20T10:44:18","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T10:44:18","slug":"from-dancing-to-working-with-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/from-dancing-to-working-with-data\/","title":{"rendered":"From dancing to working with data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I\u2019ve been working as a Data Analyst for Nominet since October 2018,<\/em>\u00a0a role which involves digging into data and turning it into actionable intelligence. Mainly, my work so far has been for the Protective DNS service we run for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). I look through all the data to find the information NCSC want on their dashboard, such as engagement levels, as well as finding ways of improving the service we provide to them.<\/p>\n<p><em>I love my job.\u00a0<\/em>I really enjoy being able to dig into data and understand what it\u2019s telling me, spotting interesting things and identifying patterns. The challenge of visualising the data and making the insights available to other people who might not understand it on the same level is very rewarding. Plus, its great to have projects to work towards and (data) releases to deliver. There\u2019s a real satisfaction in creating things, and enjoyment when ticking it off the list before we move onto the next thing.<\/p>\n<p><em>It\u2019s true that when I was growing up I had no interest in technology.<\/em>\u00a0Dancing was everything to me: I attended dance school, then dance college, and worked as a professional contemporary dancer until my mid-20s. Unfortunately, at that point I started to suffer from a number of injuries that were taking longer and longer to heal each time. I realised that I needed a back-up career but had no idea what else I would enjoy doing as much as dance.<\/p>\n<p><em>It seems mad to think of it now, but I used to be scared of computers\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 although my view may have been coloured by reading too many science fiction novels. It was my dad who suggested I should get into IT when I knew my dance career was over. It was 1998 and everyone was talking about computing because of the so-called \u2018millennium bug\u2019. I wasn\u2019t convinced, but didn\u2019t know what else to do, so I went off to university to study Business and IT. I added in business alongside IT because I was worried about doing something so different to what I was used to \u2013 and was pretty sure I wouldn\u2019t enjoy any of it!<\/p>\n<p><em>I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong and absolutely loved studying IT.\u00a0<\/em>I found myself spending all my time playing with data. It was amazing to find a new passion after dancing. I worked hard, doing three jobs to support myself while I studied, and graduated at the top of the class. My first role was as a programmer in a software company, and I have worked my way up from there.<\/p>\n<p><em>With 17 years of tech work under my belt so far,\u00a0<\/em>I have worked in lots of different areas of tech and kept moving towards the things I found most interesting. Data warehousing really captured my interest and that it what I specialise in now. I love the opportunity it provides to use the data to make other people\u2019s jobs easier; basically, I like helping people.<\/p>\n<p><em>Moving into the tech industry after the dance world has been interesting.<\/em>\u00a0I moved from a predominantly female environment (as a dancer) into, at that time, a predominantly male one, but it has never held me back. Plus there are some exceptional women working in tech: my first Network Manager was a woman and one of the best I\u2019ve ever worked with. I have seen encouraging changes over the past few years and the diversity of the teams I have worked in has improved a lot. Today, my team at Nominet consists of more female staff than male.<\/p>\n<p><em>My advice to females is to not overlook technology roles<\/em>\u00a0or dismiss them as boring and geeky or even unfamiliar. They might be a bit geeky, but they are never dull! It\u2019s important to remember that there are many ways to be happy, and many ways in which to use your skills, so keep an open mind and have a go. I never expected to be working in an office with data when I dreamed of being a ballerina as a child, but I\u2019m really glad I am.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Originally published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nominet.uk\/i-was-a-dancer-i-never-expected-to-love-working-with-data\/\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"btn-container\"><a class=\"btn btn-md btn-primary\" href=\"#\">More thought leadership <i class=\"far fa-caret-right\"><\/i><wbr \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been working as a Data Analyst for Nominet since October 2018,\u00a0a role which involves digging into data and turning it into actionable intelligence. Mainly, my work so far has been for the Protective DNS service we run for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":30101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-diversity","topic-digital-skills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From dancing to working with data | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been working as a Data Analyst for Nominet since October 2018,\u00a0a role which involves digging into data and turning it into actionable intelligence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/from-dancing-to-working-with-data\/\" \/>\n<meta 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