How did you get into this career?
I started my career in telesales in the insurance sector, and the hunger of a commission-based job meant reporting sales had to be taken seriously. I had qualifications relating to particular technologies that my employer was introducing at the time for reporting and the technology sparked my interest. So – after a simple conversation – I changed career paths to help build reports to capture sales and commission data more accurately.
From there, my responsibilities grew to include capturing data for some large and well-known insurance aggregators. The insurance sector can be pretty cut-throat, and as my role progressed I began looking for a role with greater job security. DE&S was hiring MI (management information) analysts and I successfully applied, and was promoted to Analytics Manager in 2018.
“What I most enjoy most? Every day can be different. It keeps us on our toes and the final delivery each month brings a great feeling of pride.”
– Omar, DE&S Analytics Manager
What’s your role like now?
I lead a team of developers to deliver a wide portfolio of MI dashboards. That involves the end-to-end process for creating new products, from the initial discovery phase where we capture the requirements, to the development of backend solutions, all the way through to front end visualisation, using the right visuals to tell a particular story through data. This supports decision-making at senior levels, so as an organisation we can take the most strategic steps. I also support day-to-day tasks for existing MI solutions, to ensure they’re always up to date and bug free.
What I most enjoy about this role is that every day can be different. The data can vary from month to month, so we familiarise ourselves with and interrogate the data to ensure it’s captured accurately. It keeps us busy, keeps us on our toes, and the final delivery each month brings a great feeling of pride.
What’s the approach to learning and development in your team?
There are plenty of training options available. When I joined, I was sent on several in-house and external training courses, some to improve my existing skillset and some to learn new skills altogether that would be beneficial for the role. Our management team always encourages us to block out time in our diaries to work on learning and development. Working here, it’s never a question of ‘Can we have training?’ but ‘What training would you like to have?’.
I’ve had the privilege of helping people in my team progress their career too, whether that’s through sideways promotions into adjacent developer teams or progressing to become Analytic Managers themselves. It’s really rewarding to have helped them grow and make our overall team better through their progression.
“Working here, it’s never a question of ‘Can we have training?’ but ‘What training would you like to have?’”
What makes DE&S stand out to you?
Personally, the scale of the organisation blows my mind – and that’s what makes working here really interesting. I’m a bit of an aviation geek and being able to work with the data behind some of our large-scale aviation projects and then seeing that equipment in action is brilliant.
DE&S is very understanding of the different situations that our people have in balancing their work and home lives, and accommodate and facilitate that balance as much as possible. The flexibility we have enables us to do important home tasks such as school drop offs. We’re trusted to deliver to the best of our ability and to be just as efficient when working from home. It’s hard to imagine this level of flexibility being available anywhere else.
“I’m a bit of an aviation geek and being able to work with the data behind some of our large-scale aviation projects and then seeing that equipment in action is brilliant.”
What do you like to do outside of work?
I’m massively into video games. I have a huge collection of consoles and games spanning decades. It’s great to switch off and play some games in the evening.
Would you recommend DE&S to others as a great place to work, and if so, why?
I would recommend DE&S to absolutely anyone. Because of the flexibility, the trust, the understanding that a good work-home balance is a priority, and the plethora of opportunities to grow your career and skill set.
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