26/02/2024
From disaster management to AI leadership—here’s one alum’s amazing career story.
Andrew Boscence has lived out diverse experiences throughout his academic and professional career. From Australia and Madrid to France and Singapore, he’s worked in various countries and sectors. We recently caught up with him about his time in the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data and what he’s been up to since graduation.
A strong start
After starting out his academic path with two bachelor’s degrees—one in environmental management and the other in business administration—Andrew holds a broad and unique perspective. He launched his professional career in Australia, training volunteers to help people whose lives had been upended by natural disasters.
Andrew carried on this work with the Australian Red Cross for some years before going back to earn two postgraduate degrees in change management and spatial data analytics, respectively. Since then, he’s occupied various roles in leading companies within the mining and resourcing industries, as well as in government, consulting and natural resource management. He taught himself data science during this time but soon reached a point where he needed a dedicated and focused approach to reach his goals.
Taking the next step
With his extensive experience in academia, Andrew knew of only one way to find the expertise he needed—by going back to class.
He was looking for a program that could help him develop a broad range of skills in several domains, including data, IT and management.
Andrew wanted to be challenged, but he also hoped to be exposed to inspiring people and professors who were experts in their field. And he found just that in the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data at IE University.
For Andrew, one of the best things about a career in data is the ability to solve problems from various angles. “Data is data. I can look at a database of insurance claims or of people’s sleep patterns and I’ll apply more or less the same methodologies.”
What the program gave the self-taught data scientist was structure, showing him how to organize data while equipping him with the tools to draw actionable insights from it. And in the curriculum, he got a practical, hands-on experience with the essential methods, algorithms and technologies of analytics. “The program taught me how to learn again,” he says.
Learning to learn
Throughout his time at IE University, Andrew found new ways to learn —from interview practice to engaging with professors living out classroom case studies in real-time.
“You’re learning from actual professionals in the field; that speaks volumes of the program. They each bring different layers from a variety of backgrounds.”
Andrew, constantly impressed by his classes, admits they ensured he walked away from the program with the invaluable ability to “learn, unlearn and adapt to this ever-changing world.”
He admitted to previously being fearful of many things in the tech and data world, avoiding certain code and referring technical decisions to the IT department. But the program provided Andrew with a safe environment to master the foundational elements of business analytics, including the technical side of things. Even after graduation, this has helped him stay ahead of the changes that keep the market in continuous motion, such as the current AI phenomenon.
Andrew fondly remembers working alongside his classmates: his first-semester team immediately comes to mind. “It was a diverse team from across the globe with very different professional backgrounds. There was a willingness to learn and succeed together, so we respectfully challenged and pushed each other.” He specifically remembers that they made sure that no one was left behind, forming study groups to support each other in different subject areas. “I hope I had a chance to give back too.”
Back into the groove
Since graduating with his Master in Business Analytics and Big Data, Andrew has focused his career on the finance sector.
His roles across leasing, banking and insurance, with a focus on data science and AI, have taken him to Spain, Australia and Singapore, where he continues to grow in his field.
I naively thought that my learning would slow down or plateau after the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data; I was wrong. I have taken away an ability to learn, unlearn and adapt to this ever-changing world.
Andrew can now confidently lead teams because he can command their respect as a caring leader but also as a technician; he has “been there” so can empathize: “I often tell my new members, ‘You’re going to feel like you’re floating in the middle of the ocean, and you’re treading water trying to find solid ground. And I’m here to tell you that you’ve got to learn to float. Don’t look to the ground because you won’t find that for a while. Eventually, it comes, but you’ll be a strong swimmer at that point.’”
As for future program participants, Andrew advises them to do their homework and make sure the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data is the right program for them. And if they’re still on the fence about it, his recommendation is to just take the plunge. “It’s a world-class school in a world-class country. Business analytics is only getting more important, and the world needs more top graduates in the field; be one of them.”
