'HSE Diploma is Always an Advantage': Yaroslav Samatov on His Career in Data Analytics and Work in 'T-Bank'
Yaroslav Samatov is a 2023 graduate of the master's programme 'Data Analytics for Politics and Society'. He found his first internship thanks to HSE University, and then, his career took off. At the moment, Yaroslav is a product analyst at 'T-Bank'. Find out how studies at HSE University help graduates, what an analyst does at big tech companies and what is important to know to prepare for an interview in the article.
Bachelor's studies
When I came to St Petersburg from my native city Tomsk, I dreamt of enrolling at HSE University for 'Economics' but lacked the points. Then, I opted for the programme 'Public Policy and Analytics'. There, I could study not only economics and management but also public administration. The choice seemed right, and I have never regretted it.
The first year was the most difficult: I studied a lot, communicated with my groupmates a little and gave all my time to classes and home assignments. It gave its fruits: in the second year, I was at the top of the student rating and got transferred to a state-funded place. Only after that, I started to immerse myself in the extracurricular life and made plenty of friends. All of them are strong, smart and charismatic people, we still keep in touch.
Apart from pleasant meetings, the bachelor's degree gave me knowledge which I use daily. Econometrics, statistics and management helped me a lot in my career outside of public administration. In addition, I chose a minor course on analytics and opened a whole new world for myself. During the course, we studied the principles of working with data, and programming languages R and Python from scratch. After that, I even managed to undertake my first internship.
Master's degree
I got so passionate about analytics that I decided to delve into this sphere even deeper. This is where the idea of a master's degree came from. The programme 'Data Analytics for Politics and Society' suited me the best because I could enrol in it via the exams I would definitely pass.
Things I studied in my bachelor's programme helped me to understand new and more complicated material in the master's degree faster. I use some courses, for instance, on SQL, Power BI и Python in my work daily. I haven't managed to implement some courses like analysis of text data in routine tasks yet but these skills will definitely come in handy in the long run.
They taught us not only to work with data but also to test hypotheses. When there are some changes happening, a company comes to an analyst for advice on what to do better. A good specialist must know how to test possible solutions and assess risks to make innovation the most efficient and profitable. These are vital skills for my work, and I gained them in my master's programme.
Start of the career
I started my career, just like others do, with small projects and part-time jobs. From my second year of studies, I taught English at an online school.
I found my first internship in data analytics thanks to HSE Career Day organised by the Career Centre of HSE University-St Petersburg. There were a lot of questionnaires from interesting employers, and I filled some. I got a call from the company 'Ilim' which produced paper. After a successful interview, I was offered a summer internship as a data scientist. As an analyst, I had to predict a tear in a cellulose sheet. If it tears, a factory has to stop its work and suffers losses. My work helped to avoid it. It was an exciting experience which allowed me to work with real-life data not from university tables but from real tasks in the factory.
After the bachelor's programme, I had an opportunity to join the Administration of St Petersburg. By that time, I was already interested in data analytics, and I wanted to try my hand in the public sector. It was an interesting and important experience but with time, I realised that I wanted to try working with business. Then, I got a job at an IT company as a data analyst. We examined financial indicators for a bank service. At that company, it took me only a year and a half to grow into a senior specialist and strongly boost my skills.
Working at 'T-Bank'
Now, I've been working at 'T-Bank' for a year and a half. Recruitment consultants found me and offered to have a call. When one of the largest banks in the country takes an interest in you, it's obviously very pleasant. The selection went in several stages: I told about my skills, passed a technical interview and completed a test assignment. And it went successfully!
Our company doesn't have classical offices where clients could come with their questions. They solve everything via support chats. The department for which I work analyses platforms for operators so that specialists can solve the bank clients' issues quickly, efficiently and comfortably. Our main task is to maintain the convenience of the services and adapt to changes while preserving stable work.
At first, it was difficult for me. I had enough theoretical knowledge but lacked real-life experience. I had to readjust to the new company a lot and study the functions from scratch. I tried to attend all the meetings and calls with the team to immerse myself in the processes faster. It took plenty of time but helped a lot. Now, I can choose which meeting to attend and which to skip.
During the day, I improve the services for support operators, look at how users feel and examine metrics. We do it to track the development and understand how the results have changed in a certain period. If we see anomalies, we carefully study them. Sometimes, we carry out end-to-end analytics and test various hypotheses to understand, whether we should amend our product. It's important for us to keep the support specialists satisfied.
We also spend some time on research work on large projects of the bank which are in progress for weeks or even months. These are tasks that appear when colleagues come to us with a problem and we have to solve it.
How to pass a job interview
For employers, an HSE diploma is always an advantage. The university's image always gives a small bonus in employment. Apart from analytical skills, which you gained at the university, it's important to advance your communicative and self-presentation skills and thoroughly prepare for an interview.
Earlier, I even attended some interviews only for experience to define my strengths and weaknesses and overcome my nervousness. Besides, I watched the recordings of real-life interviews for the positions I took an interest in. I wanted to figure out what questions they asked candidates and how they answered. I realised that the most important thing is to be open, friendly and engaged. This will show you as a person with whom anyone would like to work.
In addition, don't be afraid to ask a hiring manager what questions you should expect. It will also show your interest and help you to pass the interview more confidently as you will have a rough picture.
The programme 'Data Analytics for Politics and Society' trains specialists in the sphere of data analytics, political science, sociology, urban studies and public administration. The study process includes project activities and combines theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Partnership with such companies as JetBrains, 'Yandex', Rostelecom and T2 provides students with opportunities for internships in the IT sphere. Cooperation with government entities of the region allows them to undertake internships in committees and analytical centres and helps graduates to start working in the public sector.