Energy provider and DataIQ member EDF has been running its own graduate scheme for a few years. Alumni Clementine Whitcomb spoke to DataIQ about her experience going through a graduate scheme, selecting a data-centric career, and becoming a Data Engineer at EDF.
DataIQ (DIQ): How did you start at EDF and what has been your journey of progression within the company?
Clementine Whitcomb (CW): I joined EDF on the Data and Tech graduate scheme with little to no technical experience. I studied Chemistry at university and decided in my final year I wanted to transition into the tech industry. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the EDF Data and Tech graduate scheme which consists of four six-month placements in different business areas; two of the placements are in tech and two are in data. It was a great opportunity to learn on the job, get exposure to a broad range of technologies and experience working in several different teams and their ways of working.
To go into a bit of detail about the scheme, my first six months were spent as a Software Engineer in our Customer Communication Management team. It was a steep learning curve with numerous new technologies to get my head around, but I was supported by others in the team and did lots of pair programming with them.
My second six months were in the Data team where I identified a process that could be improved by implementing an early warning notification system. I got to own this project end-to-end which was a great opportunity, and it was highly satisfying to see my application being adopted by stakeholders.
My third placement was in Wholesale Market Services in the Software Engineering team. It was my first experience of working in the energy markets and I loved it. As a team, we maintained the tools used by the traders which meant adapting quickly to different pieces of work.
I loved being in wholesale market services, so I was happy when I managed to secure my final placement in the Market Development and Reporting team which is within that department. I joined just as a big data capability piece was started in the department and got involved in a proof of concept for the project early on in my placement. Following the scheme, I started a permanent role as a Data Engineer in the same team, meaning I have stayed close to the initial project I helped with, and it has been great to watch it develop and start to produce value. Our main aim is to create high quality, highly accessible data that will help our department make better decisions, improve our processes and ultimately reduce our risk in the markets. It is a great place to be a data engineer and as we have introduced technologies into our departments that are used by some of my previous placement teams, it has been helpful to call on my EDF network to knowledge share and ask for advice!
Wholesale Market Services development and Market Development and Reporting: EDF oversees the entire energy journey, starting from the generation of energy all the way through to its supply. Wholesale Market Services acts as a bridge between these two ends of the business. We are responsible for making sure we buy the right amount of energy to cover customer demand. It is a delicate equilibrium and is at the heart of what wholesale market services does. More specifically my team – market development and reporting – support a departmental data capability piece of work and are responsible for building out a reporting framework within WMS.
DIQ: What do you think are the main benefits of an organisation hosting its own graduate scheme?
CW: I think there are many benefits. The main ones in my opinion are:
- Benefitting from a wide range of perspectives that graduates from various backgrounds will bring – particularly schemes not requiring applicants to have completed computer science or data science degrees. This is helpful in problem-solving and collaborative working situations as individuals will draw on their experiences. For example, a student with a background of studying economics might have a different way of approaching a problem to one that studied geology.
- By investing in the individuals on a graduate scheme, you can develop and foster the skills that your company needs, growing the trainees into essential contributing team members.
- Schemes that rotate individuals through different departments will benefit from the wide network that trainees will build. It is a unique opportunity to spend time in several teams across different business units and trainees can connect teams and bring people from different business areas together as a result. Speaking from personal experience, we have introduced technologies into my department that some of my old teams have used so I have been able to use my EDF network for support, advice and knowledge sharing.
DIQ: What advice would you provide to a business looking to launch its own internal graduate scheme having been through one yourself?
CW: I think there should be an element of flexibility to them as everyone is different and will excel in different ways. It is about guiding the individuals in the direction of which skills your business needs, while also giving creative control to the trainees to steer their own career. There is a fine balance as it is easy to become too formulaic with it, but it is important to provide enough support for the trainees. EDF have been successful at getting this balance right by having monthly forums with each cohort to open conversations about how things are going.
Something I particularly enjoyed about the EDF graduate scheme is that we had a single career manager that stayed with us throughout the scheme. They were essentially our manager for all things outside of the responsibility of our assignment manager on each placement. As our assignment managers changed each six months, having one career manager throughout provides nice continuity and support.
DIQ: If you look back on your graduate scheme experience, what have been the main things you have taken away from completing a scheme with EDF and how has this impacted your career?
CW: It has given me a huge amount of confidence. I started the graduate scheme extremely new to tech and was able to roll off the scheme two years later as a Data Engineer, which is pretty incredible. One of my favourite things of the scheme is how broad my exposure has been – both from a technical perspective and a business perspective. I have worked on so many different tech stacks and have learnt how to quickly adapt and learn new skills.
The scheme has also been a great way for me to learn more about roles in tech and data – from an outsider’s perspective it is hard to know what different roles actually entail!
DIQ: Why should future talent look at taking part in apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and graduate schemes for a data-centric career?
CW: In my opinion, graduate schemes are a unique opportunity to experience a wide range of roles and teams. They are a fantastic way to get exposure to different skills and work out what you enjoy. I think it is rare that people know exactly what they want to do when they first start working and I think that graduate schemes are an ideal way to sample lots of different ways of working, job types and business areas before having to commit more permanently to one.
