Of course I had some idea of what was ahead of me when I first got accepted into the data school. I'd done my research, seen that it has earned 3 stars in the Sunday Times' Best 100 small companies, read glowing reviews about the supportive culture and seen the promise of 4 months of PAID training under world-renowned experts. The skeptic in me felt there had to be a catch.
Low and behold, the Data School has lived up to every promise to date. Being the newbie is daunting in any situation but the second I walked through the door, I was thoroughly welcomed. As the only person who was dressed in smart clothes, I stuck out as a new hire like a sore thumb and in the first 15 minutes, had been welcomed to the company by at least 5 people. By the end of day one, I'd met more people than I'd expected to in the entirety of the first month.
The office comes fully supplied with table tennis, fresh fruit, a coffee machine and bar. There are plenty of social events to get stuck into, ranging from football to board game night. I attended a women in data talk yesterday - pizza, beer and powerful presentations, safe to say I had a great time.
Everywhere you turn here, there is an expert keen to help in any way they can - whether it be technical or social. On the second day, the founder and managing director Tom Brown spent over an hour chatting to us about his journey in creating the company and even offered to help us if ever we needed.
Looking forward in my data school journey, the thing I am most nervous about is presenting - something I am sure will be remedied through exposure therapy; Cohorts in training give presentations every Friday to help get their consultants-in-training over that particular hurdle. Although this will be the part of the job I dread for the next couple of months, I'm also excited to be able to stand up in a room full of people and speak with confidence.