Our Infectious Media ‘Pathways’ series of interviews aims to highlight working life in the Business, as well as the the career options available to our staff. Here, Sabah Uddin, Senior Data Engineer at our London office, talks to us about his career journey and what it is like to work for Infectious Media.
What did you do before you began working for Infectious Media?
Before Infectious Media I worked at Jellyfish as a Data Engineer, this was the first company I joined after graduation. Initially I had joined the Analytics team but after a short while I decided it was not for me as I was hoping to utilise my technical skills which I had learned during my computer science degree. I worked at Jellyfish for 2 years and during my time there I worked on a variety of technical projects for internal and external clients/teams.
What should new joiners expect when they start at IM?
New joiners to the data team should expect some in-depth training in the first couple of weeks, looking into our tech ecosystem as well as getting a better basic understanding of what the company as a whole does and how the data and tech team fits into that overall structure.
After the training, the new joiners are given real world tickets to work on but a senior member of the team is always there to assist. I would advise new joiners to take as many notes as possible during the first few weeks, this is something which really helped me when I started.
Tell us about your Infectious Media career journey - where did it begin, and how did you make your way to Senior Data Engineer?
Infectious Media (IM) was recommended to me by a friend who was working here at the time. I joined IM in December 2019 as a mid level Data engineer. In the role I picked up new technical skills and learned new tools such as AirFlow. One of the big projects which I contributed to was migration of legacy data pipelines to AirFlow. After a year into the role, I was promoted to Senior Data Engineer and given the responsibility to line-manage junior members of the team. Being part of hiring and training other team members has definitely been a unique and enjoyable experience.
Describe a typical working day.
First thing I do in the morning is check the status of data pipelines and if a pipeline is failing either myself or another member of the team investigates and solves the issue.
For the rest of the day I could be working on areas that include integration of new platforms into our data warehouse, migration of legacy data pipelines to Airflow or missing data issues.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about entering into a career in digital?
A career in digital media is rewarding, interesting and challenging. I have been involved in the industry since my graduation and so far I have enjoyed every bit of it.
What do you like best about working at Infectious Media?
The family feel definitely has to be on top of my list, everyone is supportive and friendly.
The focus on training and development. Employees are given a budget and time to develop their skills.
Quarterly social events - every quarter we are given a budget as a team to do an activity of our choice.
Quick fire questions:
Tea or coffee?
Tea.
Linux or Windows?
Linux. (Blasphemy to say Windows if you are a developer)
Who would play you in a film of your life?
Tom Hardy (wishful thinking)
Favourite TV show?
Breaking Bad.
If you are interested in an exciting and rewarding career at Infectious Media, visit our careers page.