So what does a Business Analyst actually do? We managed to grab five minutes with Hallam O'Brien from Betfair's Enterprise Data Services team to understand more about his role and experience to date.
Tell us about your role at Betfair
It’s a very tech-focused role, including working on massive parallel processing technologies on the cloud - which I describe to my mum as; loads of excel spreadsheets working together. The key thing about the role is to ask questions and find answers. A challenging part of my role is looking through data and deciphering it.
What has been the most interesting project you’ve worked on to date?
I had to identify if a Spanish football match was rigged!
What’s the hardest part of your role?
I often have to act as the middle man – which is never easy. There’s a lot of multi-tasking involved too.
What skills are essential for your role?
You have to be inquisitive, willing to get stuck in, you have to be good at problem solving and searching. In addition, you have to have an analytical mind-set and the ability to communicate well.
What advice would you give someone who’s looking to work for Betfair?
Show you have an analytical brain and that whether you are technical or non-technical, you need to show that you are willing to learn.
What three things do you love the most about your role?
Sport and Gambling are personal interests of mine – so this is my dream job! In addition, I like working with like-minded, team-oriented people and finally, I like that it’s a fairly small company. You get to network and work with different levels of seniority and you can learn from anyone and everyone.
And finally, can you tell us about a day in your life?
I have a 9am start, and before that I will cycle in and have a shower at the office. When I settle at my desk, I prioritise emails and respond as needed. I then fire straight into the most exciting or the most pressing internal analysis design sessions and whatever projects I am working on. Generally speaking I start with what requires the most attention. At 12 I usually go to lunch at Bettie’s canteen. It’s hard to explain a typical day because for example I’ve been in Gibraltar, Romania, Milan lately and I’m off to Dublin soon – so travelling breaks it up a bit.