Obinna Okoye
MSc Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics
Why did you apply to the University and why did you choose that course?
Being a self-sponsored student, I did a cost-benefit analysis of which institution would render the best value-for-money considering my circumstances. The decision to attend Uni of Bradford was borne out of that analysis of which school offers the best value at the cheapest price possible. The cost of living in Bradford being one of the cheapest in the UK was also a deciding factor. The course ‘AI and Data Analytics’ has been an area I have had an interest in within the last couple of years because of how the subject has revolutionized the way we live and work. I want to be part of the change and positively impact the society using AI and Data.
How did you find and secure your placement?
The story of how I came to choose the University of Bradford is not a particularly interesting one (haha). I had heard in passing that the university was good for business related degree's and, when I did my own research, I arrived at the same conclusion. After that it was a quick look into student life in Bradford (how much it cost and what the culture was like) and when it did nothing to change my mind, I went ahead and listed the UoB as my first choice.
Tell us about your placement (Role and Responsibilities)
I worked as a Data Scientist with the Marketing team and assisted the team and the entire organisation generate insights from the data she has gathered over time. Data-driven actions are taken based on the insights drawn from the company’s data. For the marketing team, it was about analysing the trends of past campaigns and predicting what future campaigns would be based on that. The role involved the use of Data analysis and programming tools like Python, R, Alteryx, Excel, etc, as well as visualization tools like PowerBI. Which was utilized to build compelling visuals, reports and dashboards for stakeholders.
The experience is invaluable and worth every bit of time and effort
Was it a worthwhile experience? If so, how? What have you learnt?
The experience is invaluable and worth every bit of the time and effort. For one, I have had the rare privilege of foraying into the field of Marketing Data Analytics. From Cohort Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, A/B testing, Text Mining, RFM model, customer segmentation, Market basket analysis etc. These are the core ideas in analysing and drawing insights from Marketing dataset.
What are your future plans now that you have completed your course?
I will continue in the marketing analytics space for the time being to perfect the skills I have honed so far. At the same time, I will build on the knowledge/skills for the other branches of AI and data analytics (Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Forecasting and Time Series, NLP, etc).
What advice would you give to future students thinking about doing a placement?
Doing a placement is a great idea especially for anyone on the career switch path. It affords you the opportunity to experience, first and foremost, how things are done in whatever industry you end up in. And secondly, in particular to data-driven placement opportunities, how data can be engineered such that valuable information that lead to actionable insights can be garnered. It is also an opportunity for one to be creative, in that you could explore different analytics techniques on the same data to the intent of obtaining a similar or entirely different outcome, as the case may be.