Meet the ai Team: Greg Beagley
We shine the spotlight on members of Team ai to learn more about their roles, what it’s like being part of the team, and what training and development opportunities ai offers. This month, we sat down to chat with Greg Beagley, Lead BI Developer.
What made you choose to work at ai?
When I joined – back on the first day of the first Covid lockdown (after looking forward to the novelty of working in an office situated in the town I live!) – it was actually for a Business Insights Analyst role. The appeal of the role gave me a chance to analyze the payments and fraud data we had available and build internal reporting processes.
After one year into the role, I became a BI (Business Intelligence) Developer, with virtually all of my capacity directed at designing and building our data dashboard aiSmartIntelligence for our fraud prevention solution aiRiskNet Acquirer. From being a team of one, I have been fortunate to be able to line manage another BI Developer within the team, enabling me to shift focus to the subsequent application integrations with aiSmartIntelligence.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Currently, I’m working closely with one of our customers on a large-scale project to implement aiSmartIntelligence within their solution aiRiskNet Acquirer solution. A typical day will include various project calls (stand-ups/downs, etc.), working on development, data engineering, testing, QA, documenting, and/or training / presenting to customers. There’re some common threads, but the days can be quite diverse and – one way or another – are rarely dull.
What is your team like?
Layered! The BI Development areas consist of myself and one other, and we are in turn part of the Innovation team, who are part of the Solution, Innovation, and Marketing team. Across that group, there is a broad range of roles and characters who are both fun to be around as people (we have some cracking socials) and incredibly talented and professional colleagues you can rely on to deliver.
How do you ensure you keep your training and knowledge up to date?
ai has a genuine commitment to investing in the development of its people. Since being with ai, I’ve had the opportunity to supplement my personal development with supported access to numerous learning resources (e.g., Pluralsight and, more recently, Microsoft Enterprise Skills Initiative) and, over the past couple of years I’ve been here, have benefitted from adding another couple of certifications to the CV thanks to these investments. Every day’s a school day!
What’s the best part about your job?
I genuinely feel like I learn something every day in this role and, as probably came over above, personal development is my primary motivator. The work itself is (mostly!) just the right level of challenging to stretch and grow my skills, and the people I get to work with while doing it are top-notch professionally and personally.
What’s your proudest moment at ai so far?
I’m lucky enough to be in the type of role that creates new things and solves problems, which means that most days, I get the chance to fix or improve our products. Those small, repeated moments have become the most rewarding in my role.
How would you describe ai in 3 words?
Succinctness is difficult for me, as anyone who has spoken to me for more than five seconds will know, but how about ‘talented, fun people.’
What do you enjoy most about working for ai?
The challenge and the camaraderie!
