It was great to see everyone who attended October’s Meetup at the Datalab last night.
 

Thanks to Becky Cumming, Michael Milne and Dale Peet who presented topics discussing overlaying Data with Human Behaviour and Data Visualisation.
 

Becky; Analytics Manager in the Royal Bank of Scotland spoke about exploring how data is changing the verbal conversations advisors have with customers.
 

Michael; Data Analyst from Sopra Steria discussed how important it is to understand the impact of Big Data on Human Behaviour.
 

Dale; Senior Business Intelligence Analyst at Craneware spoke about Data Visualisation and how important it is to communicate messages clearly and avoid tools which may mislead or confuse.
 

We hope everyone enjoyed the night.

Blockchain is an area of ever-growing interest, not just in the financial sector but also in other sectors of business and PwC has identified a number of areas in which it could play a useful role and spoken in Scotland at relevant events.
 

Michael Young at MBN Solutions is a firm helping connect Blockchain teams with talent and he also recently held one of the country's largest gatherings on the technology. Here, he shares his thoughts with what people and companies need to embrace to succeed on Blockchain.
 

"Scotland is a hotbed of technology innovation"

Michael Young at MBN Solutions is a firm helping connect Blockchain teams with talent and he also recently held one of the country's largest gatherings on the technology. Here, he shares his thoughts with what people and companies need to embrace to succeed on Blockchain.
 

Is Blockchain the disruptive gamechanger it is often called?

"We often hear of disruptive technologies with great potential but Blockchain has such far reaching prospects it simply cannot be ignored.
 

"The full potential will only be realised when we start to see mainstream non financial use cases. This will in turn be dependent upon ensuring that the crypto security employed is robust enough to provide the trust and proof of work often required in business, government and the world at large, together with the solution to many problems in and around Blockchain such as scaling, speed and authenticity.
 

How well do you think Blockchain has been taken up in Scotland - by businesses and individuals?

"Scotland is a hotbed of progressive technological innovation.  In particular, we have seen positive movement in respect of data scientists, insight analysts and developers providing added value solutions to the both Scottish and International businesses located within Scotland.

"However, since Blockchain as a Distributed Ledger system was born from Bitcoin, most of the Blockchain activity we have seen in the UK has come from the Financial Services Sector.  Fintech and FS are strong in Scotland but this is still to reach peak maturity north of the Border which is why we have been trying to showcase how businesses and early stage ventures in Scotland can apply similar approaches to those successfully deployed in and around data to take on the existing Blockchain players and hopefully start to deliver meaningful use cases and solutions."

Find out more about - 
What are the skills needed to succeed at Blockchain?
What's next for Blockchain in Scotland?


Orginial article here .

MBN prides itself with being at the forefront of recruitment services for Data Science, Insight and Analytics and related Technology skills. Key to our success and growth in this important sector has been the development of world class thought leadership and creation of events to allow skilled practitioners and business leaders to hear from leading global professionals and to network with likeminded people.  Over time, these events have grown in stature and significance and for us, it was only a matter of time before we extended our reach. This time it was a journey into the world of Blockchain.
 

Staged at RBS Conference Centre; Edinburgh, we had a fantastic day ahead of us filled with exciting topics, case studies and great speakers from different areas of the world.
 

We wish to extend a huge thank you to all of the amazing speakers who presented on Friday.
 

Susan Ramonat, CEO of Spiritus Partners.
 

Bob Clint, Co-Founder & CTO of Spiritus Partners
 

Brian McNulty, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of R3 CEV.
 

Bruce Pon, Co-founder & CEO of BigchainDB
 

Christopher Allen, Principal Architect, Blockstream
 

Kent Mackenzie, Director at Deloitte UK
 

Ross Laurie, Consultant – Blockchain Lab, Deloitte UK
 

Philippe Meyer, Managing Director, Avaloq Innovation Ltd
 

Maria Khan, Innovation Engineer, RBS
 

Tom McCann, Innovation Scout, RBS

More information can be found here.

The month began, as last month ended, with an internal focus on our recent Graduate hires – Jack Hunter and Gary Peebles. October is the second month of their initial 2 month Academy Bootcamp – and, as you would expect, they are learning new business skills on a constant and daily basis.
 

One of the massive advantages of our Academy programme is the ability it gives us to work closely with our new starts in order to develop their skills in an environment that is conducive to learning before they join their specialist teams to continue their learning in a more “hands-on” manner. Gary and Jack are progressing well, with only a final few modules left to be completed, and we expect big things from them moving forward!
 

Externally, the month started with an invitation to join speakers from Fanduel, NHS National Services Scotland and Mallzee in Edinburgh for The Data Lab’s MSc. Launch event. Robin Huggins of MBN took to the stage in a packed auditorium to present an overview of potential opportunities for Data talent in Scotland before joining Ali King, Jonathan Cameron and Martina Pugliese for a lively Q & A panel session around the hard and soft skills that employers look for in their Data graduates. It was a fantastic occasion, with a real energy being generated by the students and employers – a true example of the kind of collaborative community event that MBN Academy are proud of being part of.
 

Midway through the month, Rob was honoured to take up an invitation from the University of Hertfordshire’s Business School to visit their campus and participate in their Employability Conference Week events. Starting with attendance at the Dean’s Awards in the evening, Rob then shared a panel session with Rob Haslingden, Head of Product Marketing at Equifax and Jonathan Williams, ex-Head of Marketing for Autotrader. The panel discussed a biographical account of their careers to date, the qualities that they looked for when interviewing and hiring graduates and gave some practical advice on how students might gain the all-important commercial skills that today’s employers look for when selecting their next hires. Overall it was an inspiring trip, which brought together some of the best elements of academic practice with commercial acumen.
 

The month concluded with the publication of an interview between Rob and David Reed, Editor-in-Chief of Data IQ. Data IQ is “fast growing, cross-industry community of data and analytics leaders and professionals from FTSE 100 and large/mid-market organisations”. Rob and David discussed the work of the Academy within the Data community over the last couple of years, and the impact that we are having with organisations eager to build long-lasting relationships with academic individuals and organisations in the search for that ever-elusive “hidden talent pool”. We thank David for his interest in our work, and for the time he spent discussing the Academy.

Thursday 24^th November.
155 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow

What is DevOps? Are you a developer with a keen eye on automation? Are you a system administrator that's looking do "infrastructure as code"? Are you just wanting to understand what all the fuss is about?
 

Agenda:

18:00 - Arrival / Networking / Pizza / Beer

18:30 - Introductions / Updates

18:35 - Guided Conversation: What is DevOps?

19:15 - Break

19:30 - Lean Coffee: Your Questions Answered

20:00 - Announcements / Final Thoughts / Pub
 

www.meetup.com/DevOpsGlasgow/

What is Data Talent Scotland?

Data Talent Scotland is an annual collider event that brings together postgraduate data science students, data enthusiasts, universities and businesses from across Scotland. The event connects new data talent and education with industry, providing businesses with fantastic opportunities to access the best of Scotland’s data talent and education.

Why Attend?

Data Talent Scotland brings together students, data enthusiasts, universities and employers from across the country; acting as a catalyst for employment and skills development whilst growing links between industry, universities and data talent. At Data Talent Scotland students can land their dream job and employers can recruit their ideal candidate.

More Information here!