Meet The Team – Seb

What is your role at Fluency?

I have a hybrid role that allows me to develop skills in both data science and data consultancy, part of the core services offered by Fluency. It means one day I can be following the entire process of a project, first acquiring, cleaning, and analysing the relevant data, while on another I’m able to extend into extracting key insight narratives, and connect the findings into actions for our clients. It’s a really unique role, allowing me to hone technical skills framed closely to how our clients leverage the insights we create.

What clients do you work with?

A great mix of exciting brands including Amazon, Government, Fruit of the Loom and FuboTV.

What inspired you to get into data?

I studied Computer Science for 3 years at the University of Southampton, choosing more data-science based modules in my final years such as Machine Learning, Computer Vision and Computational Biology. I found it fascinating the strength machines have in spotting patterns in data, which can be applied to such a wide range of fields!

Summer 2022 after the second year of my degree, I joined Fluency as an intern, and this fascination only grew. I really enjoyed using what I learned at university to extract key narratives in data at Fluency, and after I graduated last year, I was lucky enough to join the company on a full-time role!

What type of projects are you working on currently?

One interesting project is analysis on the rise of online hate in recent months, for a non-profit. This has involved capturing a large sample of social and news data, creating segments and subthemes, and analysing the language using Fluency’s proprietary collection of Natural Language Processing AIs. We’re able to also connect influencers best suited to tackling the hate, because of their roles in each community.

Being able to use the skills I’ve learned at Fluency and university on such an important project has been incredibly fulfilling – and despite the heavy theme, I enjoyed the process!

It can’t all be data! What do you enjoy outside of work?

Being a computer science graduate, I naturally spend a lot of free time playing video games, but I also love playing music. I’ve got 6 guitars (which is probably too many!) and practice piano semi-regularly, meaning the house is rarely quiet…

I’m also a big reader. My dad is an English Teacher, so I’ve always been surrounded with books. I’ll pretty much read anything, from high fantasy and conspiracy thrillers to history and classic literature. One subject I’ve been reading heavily about recently is Game Theory (a branch of Mathematics) and its application in Poker, and whilst I rarely play the game, reading about how Poker pros use it in their game is fascinating. A trip to Vegas anyone?