A quick Q&A with Senior Analytics Engineer, James Broughton

What’s your role at QuantSpark and where do you sit within the organisation?

My role is a Senior Analytics Engineer. I’ve been working at QuantSpark for
about 4 and a half years (March 2019), which makes me a part of the
furniture here! 

What did you do before you worked at QuantSpark and where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

QuantSpark is my first full-time job. Before that, I was doing a Particle Physics PhD at the University of Birmingham. It involved working on one of the experiments at CERN, where they collide particles at high speeds and then analyse what is thrown out from the collisions. They collect a huge amount of data and the PhD required a combination of statistics, data engineering and data visualisation, which overlaps a lot with my work at QuantSpark.

Who have you learnt the most from at QuantSpark so far? What have you learnt from them?

Tough question – I’ve learnt a lot of things off of a lot of people over my time here. I think if I had to choose one, it would be Fred as my line manager over most of my time here. Has given me lots of advice from technical ones with backend development, to soft skills and management skills.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Keep being tenacious towards your goals and believing in what you can achieve.

Where’s the next place on your travel bucket list and why?

Rome – have been there once before and it was the favourite place I have ever been. I’ve been promising to visit with my wife since I first met her so need to go soon.