I recently spoke to Ciara McGuire at First Derivatives about her role as a data scientist and kdb+ developer. She is an incredibly focused woman, who fears no challenge and is a picture of class. Learn more about this very talented woman and her company here.
Tell us a little about yourself?
I’m Ciara (pronounced key-are-ah), I work for First Derivatives, a leading financial and technology consulting company. Currently, I am a data scientist and kdb+ developer, based in London.
Personally, I have always been a very active person, and liked being busy despite growing up in a small village. I was always engaged in math competitions since I liked it from a very young age. I have also always enjoyed music, dancing and sports, especially Gaelic football. Luckily, I am still capable of balancing sports and math, in fact, I will be doing a marathon in Dublin soon (which I probably should start training for soon, Ha!).
When and why did you decide to become a Data Scientist/Developer?
Well, I have always been interested in math and decided to study it at university. While studying, I went to a presentation by my current company, where they spoke about their training program and the flexibility they offer, both of which intrigued me.
At First Derivatives we have a pretty substantial training program that we call The Capital Market Training Program (CMTP), which makes us very competitive. The training provides exposure and further training to two different routes, a technical one and a financial one. Through these training modules, you can decide what to focus on and what you prefer the most. This is where I learned that I really enjoyed the technical route and that became the incredible turning point in my career. After training, I ended up at a project (Quantile Technology), where I was getting hands on experience.
It was very fulfilling to solve a problem, develop the right decisions and design them.
What was your most fulfilling project? What did you learn about yourself?
It was probably, the Quantile Technology project. It was very fulfilling to solve a problem, develop the right decisions and design them. Even in the middle of the post project completion support phase, it is still very fulfilling to maintain contact with the client and provide input on how to augment the solutions.
You see, after my initial training in the financial route was complete, I transferred on to the kdb+ training program where I learned the language q and how to program and use Kx for Control and Stream. I also did smaller trainings in Python and a variety of other languages. Those smaller trainings are supposed to foster an awareness of different languages and to keep you up to date on the latest innovations in technology.
While at Quantile Technology, I was able to bring all my training with me to my challenging, yet rewarding role. Day to day, I used a lot of technology from the front end to the back end, which is not something that you get very much in other companies. We use mainly unix, Kx for Control and Stream and we have built our front end using Kx for Dashboards. A significant part of our role is developing new external features for graphs or developing new internal efficient ways for rolling out new features. We provide support all hours of the day, because we are so international. We are constantly developing and designing new features to optimize and find better insights, which can be very challenging, but at the very least, there’s something new every day.
The main lesson that I learned about myself is that I love the aspect of solving problems and finding the right solutions. I also learned that I enjoy the fast-paced environment and working with a team. The perks are also very nice, this time last year, I was in Singapore training a team and sharing my experience. Another reason for why I like working here, because It feels as though I am working for a local company that operates on a global level.
It is always better to ask and be right than to guess and be wrong.
What was the greatest bit of professional advice you received? And what do others say is the greatest advice you’ve given?
The best advice that I’ve received is: never stop learning and developing yourself. It is especially important in the technology sector, given how easy it is to fall behind. You must always be learning to stay on top of it.
I would also like to add, and this is my bit of advice, that you should never be afraid to ask a question. I actually got a comment during training that I always asked many questions. I believe that It is always better to ask and be right than to guess and be wrong.
Do you find that women are often a minority in the industry? If so, what actionable steps would you recommend to actively combat this issue?
Even though it is a fact that women are a minority in the technical industry, I have met so many inspiring women in the field and especially at the company. Of the first five founders, two of them were women and they are still here to this day. There is certainly a sense of loyalty in this company, where people come and stay. Additionally, we are currently above the industry average, where more than 30% of leadership positions are held by women. We have also created a network specifically for women within the company, where we gather and discuss how we can grow the company and support one another.
Most recently, we have entered many of our staff into awards for women in data and technology and many came shortlisted. I believe that recognizing the success of our colleagues is not only a benefit to them, it is a great benefit to the company as well.
On actionable steps that I would recommend, I personally think that the best way to combat the dearth of women in our industry is by increasing promotion to young girls and university age women in particular, through presentations and events. We are currently trying to recruit more women through special and specific events. We are growing so quickly, our CEO announced in July that he’s planning on recruiting a thousand (1,000) more people by 2021. So far, we have had two recruiting events for women in data and technology at our headquarters in Newry and in Dublin. I encourage all aspiring stars and especially local women to join us at our future events.
There is a misconception that as a developer, you work alone. This cannot be further from the truth and specifically here at Kx.
What is one skill that you’d like to learn? And what skill do you consider crucial and would recommend learning?
A skill that I would like to learn is coding in Python or C++ to the level of my current advanced kdb+ knowledge. I think that knowing more languages is important, because you can leverage so many more resources like open-source libraries for solving problems more effectively and efficiently.
Regarding skills that I think everyone should learn, I think teamwork and communication top the list. Working as part of a team and knowing how to interact with various kinds of peoples at different time zones is vital. Especially in our field where there is a misconception that as a developer, you work alone. This cannot be further from the truth and specifically here at Kx. We are always working on a team which includes both horizontal and vertical leaderships, in fact many of our senior staff members are always involved in our projects. Therefore, confidence and communication with various stakeholders can often be an overlooked skill, yet crucial. Also, understanding requirements and not duplicating work through proper communication is incredibly important to better serving our clients and painting ourselves in the best light.
We have worked with everyone from Formula 1 racing teams to healthcare professionals, so we value openness to what comes at you. Being open to a variety of challenges and knowing how to tackle them comes with furthering your education. At First Derivatives, we truly understand the value of education, I gained and practiced many of those skills that I recommend during the CMTP initial training program, which can last up to two years to kick-start your career and grow you into more senior roles. Recently, we also started a master’s program that’s only open to the staff, where they can work and study part time. This is a great chance and many are benefiting from it because it can be very hard to work and study at the same time.
The best way to combat the dearth of women in our industry is by increasing promotion to young girls and university age women.
What are you excited about in your professional future and where do you see yourself going?
I’m excited about continuing my journey and I want to keep expanding my knowledge in the field by learning new languages like Python, engaging in new projects and deploying new techniques. I am also excited about working with more real-time data and growing into a leadership position within the company.
Do you have any advice for young women excited to enter the field?
Be confident in your own ability. Software development and Data Science can be frustrating and can take a lot of time to master. I’ve also noticed that women are often afraid of looking “stupid”, so they end up holding back and constantly checking themselves. As I said previously, it is always better to ask and be right than to guess and be wrong.