Meet Tania Sero’s Senior Data Scientist, and our navigator of the digital universe!

What do you find most rewarding about being a data scientist, and can you share a fun project at Sero that highlights this?

The most rewarding part of being a data scientist is how you can combine maths, science and software development all together to make a real world impact, which is definitely something I’ve been able to do at Sero! Working on and continually improving the Sero Pathways Engine over the past year has been a great experience, and when you see the Medium Term Improvement Plans (MTIPs) it models come to life on real homes it’s really rewarding.

Over the past year, I am probably most proud of how we in Pathways Data Science developed a brand new way to run pathways as a requirement for the British Gas project. For this, we had to develop an optimised pathway method pretty quickly, which we continually improved together over a couple of months, it was fun to dive into the details of the new method. Seeing this now being used in practice, with resulting works happening in homes right now as a result, is pretty exciting!

What’s the most challenging part of your role, and how has it helped you grow and learn new skills at Sero?

Definitely the most challenging part of my role is the constant juggling act between balancing quick solutions to meet customer requirements (which can be very demanding!) with building things sustainably for the long term. It can be tricky to find the balance. It comes with its pros though – working with people across very different areas of the business is great, and I have grown and learnt so much from retrofit to software engineering as a result!

What motivates you in your work?

As a data scientist, making a positive impact on society with my work is super important to me – in a world where all the fields surrounding data science/AI are becoming more and more prominent, applying it responsibly, with transparency and for something good is always a goal of mine. It’s something I have always focused on in my career, but Sero is the first place where I’ve seen my work have such a direct, tangible impact on people’s lives.

Tell us more about you and your passions

I actually always wanted to be an artist when I was growing up (fun fact: I once won an art competition on Disney Channel!). I was set on it right until the year before I went to uni, where I then decided to do pretty much the exact opposite. However, art and anything creative is still a big part of my life: I’ve painted murals, am always doing tons of wedding bits for friends and I’m currently working on a book cover! I also love photography and very recently bought a Fujifilm film-style camera… and I am obsessed. It’s quickly become a very expensive new hobby and it goes everywhere with me!

And my absolute guilty pleasure: K-dramas. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re the most gloriously dramatic (and often super cheesy) Korean tv shows. And I may or may not have a spreadsheet reviewing and ranking every one I’ve watched. So if you want recommendations… 🫡