Mental Health Awareness Week With James Edgell of Whitbread Would You Data Scientist?

James Edgell, Lead Data Scientist for the UK's largest hotel brand Whitbread joins Wendy on Would You Data Scientist this week to tell you about his career in data. As it's mental health awareness week, Wendy and James also have an open and honest conversation about depression, loneliness, burnout, and stress. If you find yourself struggling with any of the issues raised please see the help links in the resources below. 
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS
James joined Whitbread, the company that owns Premier Inn, as an analyst with the goal of becoming a data scientist. His role now focuses on customer data science relating to optimising marketing activities and working with the brands contact centre to ensure they don't lose customers who have complaints. While at University, James lost someone close to him causing depression to trigger and took a year out. Taking this year out allowed James to remove the pressure of University while dealing with depression and when he went back he was able to succeed to the level he wanted to. Covid was actually really good for Wendy, it allowed her to spend time resting and recovering from burnout and if it hadn't happened then she wouldn't have had the time to stop. There is a stigma around taking antidepressants but all it's doing is balancing the serotonin levels in your brain to a normal level. We wouldn't judge someone taking iron tablets if they had an iron deficiency. As a hiring manager, James looks for someone who can demonstrate a passion for learning. He describes data as a marathon, where you need to keep going and keep learning because new things will always come up. You can't just run the race. James both does and doesn't think that you need a masters degree to get into data. He feels the communication side he was taught has been so valuable, not that it can't be picked up on the job, but it will take longer. On the other hand it's not something he actually considers when hiring candidates.  
BEST MOMENTS
‘I'm so happy when I find someone a job they love' 
‘Comparing yourself to other people is just not helpful' 
‘You have a health check up, why not have a mental health check up'
‘I'm getting to work with really cool data science techniques and learn new things everyday' 
 
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Ripple suicide prevention - https://www.ripplesuicideprevention.com/
Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org/
Want to check out the meditation app Waking Up with me? You'll receive free unlimited access for 30 days. https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/da0b6d
James on LinkedIn 
linkedin.com/in/ethicalrecruiter
qwerkrecruitment.com
@qwerkrec on socials
 
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Gannon started Qwerk Recruitment in the middle of the Covid Pandemic to disrupt the recruitment sector with ETHICAL data recruitment and treat everyone with love, dignity and respect. Avid Music photographer of 15 years.
 
PODCAST DESCRIPTION
Interviewing successful Data Scientists to find out about their journey into Data Science and any struggles they've faced to help next generation Data Scientists from all walks of life to access their dream career.
This show was brought to you by Progressive Media


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