Data Scientist Now Coding at the Leading-Edge

Rhys arrived at LAB³ with a PhD in Data Science. Just six months in, and surprising even himself, Rhys had learnt about DevOps and Azure, and had left his mark on Bedrock, a leading-edge product which accelerates the automated build of a mature Azure platform. 

On joining the LAB³ Graduate Program 2022, Rhys was 100% intent on a career as a Data/Machine Learning engineer and was motivated to discover other practice areas as well.  

With a placement in DevOps and on the Bedrock development team, Rhys hit the ground running from day one. By choice, he has stayed here longer than the original timeframe, keen to make the most of the extended learning experience. 

“I feel like I have struck gold landing a graduate position at LAB³. I am lucky to have been partnered with my ideal buddy as a mentor. To be working alongside him on the Bedrock development team is a unique experience which has been hugely beneficial for my career.” 

With his PhD Rhys specifically looked at detection and interpretation of figurative language via Machine Learning. This taught Rhys a lot about the importance of documentation, language, Data and Machine Learning but very little about the DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and cloud space.  

So, to help him get up to speed, LAB³ steered Rhys towards in-house tutorials and readings, provided opportunities for peer review with other LAB³sters, and supported his attainment of industry certifications with LAB³ technology partners Microsoft and HashiCorp.  

“The Terraform Essentials certification was fun because it was the first IaC language I had used and with coding, like with music, this is logical and makes sense,” says Rhys. “The certification I found most challenging was the general AZ104 cert. This required an understanding of the entire Azure ecosystem and there were so many products to remember from all over the place.”

Rhys is very much a morning person and enjoys the flexible working conditions at LAB³. 

“I usually start work around 8:30am depending on the length of my first dog walk of the day. I have a young whippet and I walk him three times a day including a short walk or frisbee throw over lunch. As a morning person, I like to get into the heavy thinking early and then taper off the intensity as the afternoon goes by,” says Rhys. 

Rhys chooses to travel into the office once or twice a week and prefers Thursdays and Fridays when the office is buzzing. “Monday mornings are very quiet in the office because most people prefer to stay home early in the week,” says Rhys. 

As a member of the Bedrock development team, Rhys has had the opportunity to contribute more than he thought he would.  

“Some of the code I have written has been embedded in Bedrock and is out there in client land. This blows me away and is deeply rewarding. It reflects the supportive culture at LAB³. There are some seriously smart people in the team, nevertheless they gave me the confidence to contribute without fear of not getting things right.”

From the outset Rhys has observed that LAB³sters embrace the company values, and the value to be true resonates with him most. 

“Even though there are a lot of go-getters who think big and like to get things done, the structure of LAB³ is very flat. People are open about what is going on, what they do, professionally and personally, and they are genuinely happy to give you time to help you learn and grow. I appreciate this very much,” says Rhys.  

To date, as well as being exposed to DevOps, Rhys has also enjoyed shorter rotations across the wider business in the Project Management Office, with Managed Services, and in both the Pre-Sales and Sales teams. 

“It has been enlightening to see what people from across the company do, and how they connect with the engineers in product development and project delivery. It is useful to understand how the business operates as one team and this puts me in an advantageous position going forward.”

With a wealth of newfound knowledge behind him, as the next step, Rhys is looking forward to joining the LAB³ Data, IoT & AI team. 

“Although I have enjoyed DevOps, I am still motivated to build my career as a Data/Machine Learning Engineer. What has been invaluable about my time with the Bedrock development team, is having the opportunity to start out at the very bottom of the data stack and be involved with coding. I am also grateful as a part of this, to have met such inspiring and friendly people.” 

What happened next in Rhys’s career progression?

The above article was written in September 2022 and you might be wondering what happened next. Following is an update from Rhys:

“When I completed the grad program, I was offered a role as an Engineer in Data, IoT & AI. I have continued to be exposed to various technologies across a wide range of projects in both Professional and Managed Services adding to my skillset. This has included working on the design and delivery of an MLOps platform for multiple clients and providing operational support for a Bedrock and Modern Data Platform deployment.”

If you are about to complete your technology studies and are ready to jump straight into your career as an Engineer, then think LAB³…