Rama Govardhana

Student spotlight details

Rama Govardhana is now managing a team of Data Scientists and Data Engineers, delivering data science and analytics solutions for new businesses.

'I am a freelance IT agile/scrum project delivery management consultant based in Epsom, Surrey. I have started my career in IT in 1997 in India and moved to UK in 2004. I recently realised that the subject of data science is creating new employment opportunities with many companies wanting to use their data collected over past years and make their business more intelligent and smart. When I saw this course being offered by University of Oxford, my interest in this area was further boosted. After looking at the course content and the pattern of delivering via weekend on-campus and evening online session during week days, I found that it perfectly suited my requirement of learning without having to stop working. Hence, I immediately applied for the course.

'The most challenging part of the course was learning about the machine learning and deep learning concepts combined with brushing up on my school maths skills. But with the strategy of invited lectures and rigorous exercises for each module including working in cohort has immensely helped to grasp the concepts much easily. My background in computer programming languages also helped me quite a bit.  Due to the nature of the course work (i.e. more of research oriented which is time consuming) I found it quite challenging to complete them on time.

'Having to go back into University after 20 years to learn new things has really made me feel refreshed and feel good about myself. Learning new concepts and advanced technologies directly from industry experts is quite an enjoyable and rewarding experience. It’s a very well organised course with exercises for every module and material to refer to later. This has helped me grasp every aspect of the course content. On top of this, working with the student groups on exercises was a really enjoyable experience.

'With the knowledge & experience I gained from this course, I was able to get through an interview at Direct Line Group insurance organisation as the lead for a Data Science Team. I am now currently managing a team of Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Dev Ops & Analytics Ops engineers delivering data science & analytics solutions for new businesses. With the concepts I learned on this course I am now able to understand the subjects concerning and related to data science and analytics, and in particular the challenges around managing data in big organisations. This is helping me in my day to day activities of my job at DLG. My main objectives were to augment my skills without changing my career path and increase my job opportunities by expanding my area of expertise and I believe that is what I have done.

'I would like to say that the course provides varied content to cater for different areas of interests, for example in my case it covers data science, data engineering, systems approach, Dev Ops, etc. So, it is very important to be clear on what you want to achieve by the end of the course. The part-time nature of course delivery is also something to be considered for individual suitability.'

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