Introduction

‍Hey, I’m Alasdair, a Data Consultant here at Butterfly Data! I joined back in September of 2025 as part of the new Graduate Program, and I'd like to share some of what I’ve been up to during my journey at Butterfly so far!    

Starting My Role

‍In my first few months as a Data Consultant, I joined a couple of Butterfly’s very different projects. This really suited me as, given that I had recently finished my Masters Computing conversion degree, I was keen to try out as many roles as possible. I was given the opportunity to dip my toe in a variety of disciplines, including software engineering, data science and analysis, and client engagement. I now see myself as an ‘Analytics Engineer’ with responsibilities both in back-end codebase and front-end reporting tools of my main client work. This has been super rewarding as it has empowered me to venture into the many facets of a career in data and start to specialise in the work I find most rewarding.

Starting out as a graduate was made so much easier by the friendly and supportive culture here at Butterfly. I have truly felt listened to and looked out for, and the continued camaraderie is a strong motivating factor for me in my work. The team at Butterfly have been proactive in helping me find my feet in a career in data, and I am happy to be a part of that positive culture.  

Key Achievements

‍I’ve been a busy Butterfly since I joined last year! Thanks to the support and trust of my colleagues in both internal and client projects, I’ve been able to achieve a lot. Here are a couple of my achievements so far:  

• Voted MVP of Sprint 35: Part of the Agile framework, sprint retrospective and planning is an important element of our workflow, particularly on larger projects. We’ve recently trialed voting for an MVP (most valued player) at the end of the sprint cycle and I was fortunate enough to be voted MVP of Sprint 35. This was for taking a leading role in creating front-end reporting tools, which has been a high-priority for the product owner, and an algorithm for generating synthetic testing data in SAS. These tools are already providing value for the team and for our stakeholders, improving the ways in which we demonstrate our impacts on the business and the speed at which we can test and improve our data quality solution. 
• Proposed a Pro-bono Project: I had the opportunity recently to be a part of the project planning and resourcing process for some prob-bono work with our sponsored charity, GM4Women2028. I was responsible for gathering requirements from charity representatives and constructing a project proposal for the internal resourcing team. This proposal included potential project scope, key objectives, timescale requirements, and an estimate of resources required. Once the project was approved, I also had the opportunity to present the proposal to the company as a whole in a drive for volunteers. The project is now underway and we have two Butterflies lending their data analysis prowess to GM4Women2028!    
• The Spring Summit: This year I was part of the planning committee for the Spring Summit, a yearly company-wide team building event. This year we went hiking in Bannau Brycheiniog (a 20km+ round trip) and built go-carts for a competitive downhill slalom. My responsibilities during planning included arranging travel parties to the venue, organizing catering groups and sharing presentations/plans with the wider Butterfly team. All in all, the Spring Summit was very successful, and we received some great feedback which we have collated to pass to next year’s team of planners! 

Challenges and Solutions

‍This role presented ways of working that I hadn’t experienced previously in my career. As a graduate, I find this very rewarding, although it can present some challenges, certainly to begin with! I think the biggest challenge I faced starting out was inhabiting the ‘jack-of-all-trades’ nature of consulting. Given that data projects come in all shapes and sizes, there’s a need for consultants to be adaptable, ready to adopt new skills and adapt working patterns to create bespoke solutions. No two tasks look the same; some weeks are very programming heavy, others require presentation and business engagement skills, many are something in between! This can feel a little intimidating at times and expectations seem high, but I’ve learned that nobody’s doing this alone! It’s unlikely you’ll be the subject matter expert for everything you turn your hand to, but that’s okay, there’ll always be someone around to help you upskill and give you confidence in your ability. The technical requirements may differ but the core principle of underpromising and over delivering remains the same. When I’m lacking confidence or feeling overwhelmed I’ve found the best thing to do is to reach out to the team, they’ve never failed to point me in the right direction!

Learning and Development

‍I have learned so much already during my time on the grad program! Through internal insights sessions, online training courses, work shadowing and learning-by-doing, I’ve picked up a lot of new technical and soft skills. On the technical side, SAS has been one of my biggest learning challenges. SAS as a language is very powerful, although somewhat more obscure than the open-source languages I practiced with during study (Python, JavaScript, etc.). I started my learning journey with SAS during allocated training time, following tutorials from official SAS learning material. However, the logic and syntax didn’t quite click for me until I started writing my own SAS scripts for project work. Referencing online documentation gave me a firm grip of the basics, and the team was always happy to help bridge any gaps in my knowledge. 

As for soft skills, learning to take initiative with tasking has been a big change for me. Autonomy in finding and completing tasks is an important part of a consultant’s tool-kit, and is a great opportunity for personal development. However, it took me a little while to gain the confidence in my ability needed to feel truly autonomous. And that’s okay! We’re all still learning, and you don’t have to get everything perfect the first time, what’s important is pushing yourself to try. Fortunately, I have been given a lot of trust, both by delivery leads and stakeholders, and have learned to back myself when I spot an improvement to be made or a feature to be added. Knowing I have the support of my team really helps! I feel confident knowing that if I get lost or stuck, my colleagues will be there to point me in the right direction. 

Looking Ahead

‍My plan moving forward is to stay curious and jump at every opportunity that comes my way! The world of data is fast-paced and ever changing, which, if you ask me, is all part of the fun! What makes this industry so exciting to me is that there is always something new to learn, another task that needs solving, a new skill to pick-up. I may not always know what projects will come my way or what challenges I may yet face, but I know if I meet them all with an open mind and support from my colleagues, I can meet them all and do just fine. 

Advice for New Joiners

‍Reflecting on my journey with Butterfly so far, I’d probably give new joiners the following advice: swing for every ball. It can be really helpful to have an idea of what your strengths are and to have a plan for the direction you want your career to take, but I wouldn’t let that stop you from staying spontaneous! Butterfly, and a career in data in general, will present you with a lot of opportunities to try things you’ve never considered before. My advice is to give them all a go! It can be daunting at times but you won’t know what you can do until you try. And who knows, you might surprise yourself! Personally, I think there’s no better way to pick up new skills or interests.   

Conclusion

‍I’ve already gained so much in my short time with Butterfly so far, and I’m really excited to see where this journey will take me! I’ve grown a lot as a data consultant, and I’m grateful for the guidance and support I’ve received from my colleagues. I know that whatever my role in future, I’ll have lots to learn, and a great team to learn it with.

Thank you for reading! I hope you’ve found my reflection helpful.

‍Find out more about our graduate programme and how to apply.