?? 9 Months at Britvic plc: My Journey as an Insights Analyst
It’s been nine months since I joined Britvic as an Insights Analyst. Over this time, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the business, culture, and people. Last month, I took a short one-week holiday to attend my cousin’s wedding in China. Since returning, I have two key updates to share:
1. Scaling the Current Machine Learning Model to Cloud and Expanding PoC Project to Our GB Business Unit (in addition to Ireland).
Three months ago, when Xinyang Sun joined our team, we began building our Demand Forecasting model locally. After many long days and nights, we successfully designed the model that configures a set of algorithms for baseline forecasting. We delivered 52-week forecasts to four accounts in Ireland for demand planning, and so far, the feedback from Cormac Garvey during our weekly catchups has been positive. However, we remain open to further iterations as needed.
To meet the expectations of wider business stakeholders, and with Matthew Heywood’s help in setting up immersion days with cloud service suppliers, we have begun standardising and streamlining our build, test, and deployment processes using cloud. This will enable us to deliver scalable, secure forecasts while minimising single points of failure.
There’s still a lot I need to learn about MLOps, but I’m confident we’re on the right path to success.
2. Starting the Level 7 AI and Data Science Apprenticeship
With the support of Shoba Sairam, Matthew Heywood, and Jamie Lamb, after my proposal, I’ve embarked on the Level 7 AI and Data Science Apprenticeship.
This program, delivered by Cambridge Spark is equivalent to a master’s degree and spans 15 months. It covers machine learning, deep learning, data analysis, and AI ethics, with personalised tutor and hands-on experience in Python, neural networks, time series analysis, and MLOps.
The apprenticeship also includes practical hackathons and real-world projects, applying advanced models and techniques in supervised and unsupervised learning, model explainability, and production-level deployment.
I’m grateful for this opportunity and excited to apply what I learn to further contribute to our soft drinks business.
It hasn’t been an easy career journey, moving from management consulting to data analysis, and now, aspiring to become a qualified data scientist—but bit by bit, I’ll get there.??
(The picture was taken on my way to China, during the flight.) #Britvic
