May-Yee Wong is a Squad Lead in the Data Warehouse, responsible for ensuring the Agile management runs smoothly for her team.
Read on to learn how May got to where she is now, and what it’s like to work in the Data Warehouse team!
May-Yee Wong is a Squad Lead in the Data Warehouse, responsible for ensuring the Agile management runs smoothly for her team.
Read on to learn how May got to where she is now, and what it’s like to work in the Data Warehouse team!
What do you do in Admiral and how long have you been working here?
I have been working at Admiral for nearly 6 years. I joined as a Data Warehouse Developer working with the Telematics team initially before re-joining the rest of the Data Warehouse team. My current role is Squad Lead, which I was promoted to at the beginning of this year. I mainly deal with removing blockers and issues outside of the team’s control, sorting out any organisational impediments and protecting the squad from unnecessary distractions. We work Agile in the Data Warehouse so I’m also responsible for the day-to-day Agile management activities such as running the scrum process.
How did you get into your role? What is your background?
My degree is Mathematics with Computer Science. Having a Maths related degree allowed me to apply for my first Analyst role within the Data Warehouse in the NHS. I worked there for 6 years and went from an Analyst to a Developer. I moved on to work at another financial services company for a year as a Developer before applying to Admiral as a Data Warehouse Developer working with Telematics. I have worked in the Data Warehouse team for nearly 6 years as a Developer, then when the Squad Lead role became available in our team, I took the opportunity and applied!
What do you enjoy most about being a Squad Lead?
No day is the same for me. We’re a busy team delivering functionality to the business teams to ensure they have the data to produce reports. I get to speak to people not just within Tech but out in the business too and it’s always interesting to learn how other areas work. Within the Data Warehouse, we provide all different types of data to the business, so it’s always nice to be able to work on different projects.
What's the most exciting change or project happening within Data Warehouse?
For us in the Data Warehouse there is always something exciting happening. Anything from new products that have been launched by the business, to looking at moving data into the cloud. We are also focusing on automation to help with faster delivery of work.
Do you think there are lots of opportunities to grow and develop here?
There are so many opportunities to grow at Admiral. In our team we encourage the Developers to take on a task that they might not normally carry out and to get involved in projects when they arise. In Tech, we use a website called Pluralsight which provides online training courses from networking to cloud. A couple of the team are studying university courses as well. One is studying an MSc Computing – this isn’t funded by Admiral as he started the course before joining the company, but we support him by allowing him time to attend his classes. Another is studying MSc Data Science and Analytics, which is funded by Admiral.
What’s the culture like in Data Warehouse? How has this adapted with remote working?
The culture is great in our team. We have a social committee where we try to put on a fun activity every week for the team. This could be from a quiz on Teams, a drawing competition, online games or just an afternoon tea chat. We’ve also been able to send out gifts to everyone in the team. We had lockdown keyrings made, sent out Halloween gifts and we hand delivered (socially distanced) Christmas gifts to as many people in the team as we could. Just recently we had a virtual cocktail making and virtual horse racing evening which was a huge success.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to join Data Warehouse?
I think to join from an external position you need to embrace the Admiral culture. We all work hard but we also like to enjoy the social aspect of it too. I think it’s important that you are a team player and will get stuck into anything that comes your way. There are such different personalities in our team so it’s also important that you can adapt to any situation that comes along. We encourage all team members to be innovative and encourage them to suggest new solutions where they are required.
Have a look at our current vacancies in Tech here.
Read more about Whistle-stop Wednesdays: The Agile way forward
Read also about A Day in the Life of a Data Warehouse Developer at Admiral
