Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation

Tej Singh is Talent Acquisition Manager at Wonderbly. Tej’s approach to recruitment is built on a foundation of ‘marketing best practices’. He believes the old intrusive methods of recruiting are dead and encourages all recruiters to focus on building a trustworthy personal brand. In a market that has been saturated for years, recruitment consultants need to be creative with their marketing to stand out and thrive. On this podcast Tej and Andy chat about personal branding, inbound marketing, and having dogs in the office. Show Notes: 0.31 The positives of starting a podcast. 4.02 What does good marketing look like in recruitment? 6.58 How to maintain curiosity throughout your career. 9.26 Changing your job and career frequently. 15.31 Moving from agency recruitment to internal recruitment. 20.51 The importance of understanding a company’s brand when recruiting for them. 24.54 How recruiters present themselves online. 29.02 Marketing and copywriting best practices for recruitment consultants.

Claudia is Co-Founder of Eat Safe App. Eat Safe makes eating out straightforward for those with allergies and intolerances by finding restaurants that match dietary requirements. Using her extensive experience in software development, Claudia was responsible for bringing this idea to fruition. She has mastered a broad range of languages and was previously head of Android App development at Gumtree. As a gifted communicator, Claudia knows the importance of soft-skills in tech. She believes communicating technical challenges to non-technical people has been a key ingredient in her success. Show Notes: 0.31 Focusing on building products that solve ‘real world’ problems. 6.07 Combining commercial awareness with technical ability. 9.03 Understanding where you fit into your company’s vision. 10.17 Recognising where you have room for personal development. 14.36 Claudia’s tech inspirations. 18.18 The challenges in the early phases of a startup. 21.30 The steep learning curve in running your own business. 24.51 Bringing disparate personalities to your team. 27.47 The hype around personalisation.

Ezgi Ture is a former BI & Analytics Manager at ODEON Cinemas. Ezgi is a specialist in Banking, Business Analysis, Customer Insight, Segmentation and Data-driven Analytics. Ezgi’s role bridged the perennial gap between IT and business. Keeping a foot in both worlds gives her a unique insight into the challenges faced by data leaders in large organisations. On the podcast she also offers some helpful advice for those looking to get ahead in the data sector. Show Notes: 0.32 London vs Europe, whose more excited about data. 3.41 Moving to London to get the best data career. 5.54 Ezgi’s career progression in data. 7.58 Optimising your current tech. 16.15 Misconceptions about the uses and business outcomes of data. 24.11 Advice for those seeking a career in data.

Dat is the Head of Data Science at Idealo Internet. Dat can build data teams as well as data systems. He believes creating a well-balanced team of individuals is crucial to the success of any data science project. Dat has a passion for finding candidates willing to learn with a ‘can do’ attitude. On today’s show, Dat shares his recipe for creating the perfect data team. Show Notes: 0.30 The cultural difference between Germany and the UK. 3.32 Raising capital for your startup 5.25 Where did Dat’s interest in technology develop? 6.36 What skills suite a data science career? 8.47 Hiring data professionals 11.08 Tackling misconceptions around data science 12.11 Attracting the right talent to data science 15.24 Hiring a well-balanced data science team 16.45 Dealing with the frustrations around hiring 17.37 Core attributes that make a great data scientist 20.13 Collaborating with other teams as a data scientist 22.17 Moving into management

Michael Copeland is the Chief Technology Officer at Kout. If you dread the thought of shopping, this podcast is for you. As the CTO of Kout, Michael’s goal is to gamify e-commerce by creating a platform that lets users win big discounts on millions of products. This revitalises shopping by introducing an element of chance and excitement. Kout is still in its infancy. It found funding in 2015 from Collider.io, the UK’s #1 tech accelerator. In that short time, the platform now boasts Amazon, Nike, Unilever, & Samsung as its partners. Michael has been at the wheel during this period of evolution and growth. He is well versed in dealing with the challenges thrown out by a constantly changing eCommerce space. He came on the show to chat about innovation, VR, and the dread of clothes shopping. Show Notes: 0.31 Thinking up startup ideas. 4.03 Understanding what users want. 5.46 What Kout does. 9.30 How Kout distributes its product. 12.54 Industry leaders in gamification. 15.08 Does e-commerce need innovation? 18.09 When will VR and drone delivery become the norm in eCommerce? 19.48 The dangers of online clothes shopping. 23.30 The VR gaming revolution. 25.35 Michaels career in technology. 30.06 Dispelling the idea of a linear path into a career in tech. 33.18 The growing contractor market. 36.13 Constantly learning in a technical role. 38.12 The Joe Rogan podcast.

Max founded Finimize.com in 2016 and quickly became one of Forbes ‘30 under 30’. His goal is to help millennials see through financial jargon and empower them to participate in financial markets. A serial startup entrepreneur, Max knows exactly what’s needed to get ahead in the rapidly expanding fintech market. Show Notes: 0.30 Background and career progression. 2.52 Getting involved in startups. 5.20 How to engage your key demographic online. 8.39 Investing heavily in data. 12.14 Best practices on building out a tech team. 14.42 Why you should encourage being vocal about failure. 15.49 What are your secrets of success?

Gary Reid is the Managing partner and founder at Tutch media. Gary specialises in growing marketing agencies. He has spent his entire career working with companies building brands and marketing strategies. Having spent countless hours assessing the internal workings of marketing agencies, Gary is well placed to know what works and what doesn’t. Show Notes: 0.29 Working with small agencies. 3.01 Motivating people to work for small agencies. 5.47 Does agency work pose a recruitment challenge? 7.49 Determining what ‘good’ looks like in today’s job market. 11.47 Looking to other agencies of inspiration. 14.50 IT specialist salaries. 19.39 Difficulties in allocating time for staff training. 20.51 How have your professional pain points changed over your career? 22.52 Do you see a future with less agencies?

“I see UX like a function of product design because it’s less about the look, feel and structure of a product and more about behaviours and getting into the psychology of the user” Alex is the Head of UX/ UI and Product Consultant at WM Reply. Alex believes UX is a function of product design and he has spent most of his professional life combining the two disciplines. With a background working for companies like; Satago, Comet & Millermedia7 he is an expert in bringing together UI, UX and Product Design. And in doing so, making something far greater than the sum of its parts. An expert at bringing together teams, Alex can communicate a company’s goal to various departments in a way that drives greater cohesion. He has a sharp eye for web design which he uses to dissect the inner workings of Facebook’s business model on this show. Show Notes: 0.32 Peer-driven behaviours. 6.06 De-centralising the internet. 12.56 Commoditising creatives. 19.01 The UX & UI talent pool. 23.14 Diversifying your skill set. 27.02 Staying with a company for too long. 31.08 The automation & AI movement. 34.38 Making sure your work challenges you.

Ryan Cone is VP of Data Operations at DotDash. A natural leader, Ryan has spent more than 9 years leading a data engineering team at DotDash. His teams have been responsible for designing, developing, and enhancing the company's platform through strategic data acquisition and multi-layered data architecture. Data is a continually expanding discipline. Growth in the sector has resulted in the creation of many new roles. Trying to keep track of them can get confusing. Ryan cuts through the jargon and outlines in plain English exactly what data professionals are doing to benefit your company. Show Notes: 0.29 Ryan’s career in data. 3.01 Taking soft skills seriously. 4.09 Is there a linear path into data? 5.05  Team diversity. 7.41 Adapting your skills to work in tech. 8.57 Adopting best practices in data management. 10.19 The difference between data operation and data engineering. 12.43 The creative side of data. 14.35 The monetary value of data. 16.17 Overseeing large-scale cloud migrations. 17.59 The direction of cloud migration and serverless ops. 19.50 Anticipating new technologies. 20.59 Getting company leadership on board with new tech. 22.11 The rate of change in technology. 23.00 Lessons learned from a career in data. 25.20 Teaching data skills to others. 26.46 What are your favorite data topics to discuss with others? 29.04 What aspect of working with tech do you enjoy the most?

Richard Benjamins is the data and artificial intelligence ambassador at Telefonica. Richard was named as one of the 100 most influential people in data-driven business (DataIQ 100). He is a frequent speaker at big data & analytics events and strategic advisor to BigML. He has held a number of big data management positions across Telefonica, working tirelessly to provide people with the ability to communicate using secure, state of the art technology. Richard is a scholar as well as a leader. He has published more than 100 scientific papers on artificial intelligence, knowledge-based systems, and the semantic web. A gifted communicator, he makes complex concepts easy to digest. He uses these skills in this episode to dissect the difficult ongoing challenges in the data sector.     [invitations_for_slack] Show Notes: 0.29 Background and career progression.   2.27 The evolution of data. 9.24 Are we ‘running before we can walk’ in regards to data? 12.54 Difficulties in determining the ROI of a data team. 18.09 The issue with data being stored in one place. 19.20 Do data professional feel obliged to handle data in the right way? 21.39 Will a Chief Data Officer become a mandatory company requirement? 24.33 Making the ‘right’ moves in your career. 26.59 If you were graduating now would data still be an enticing career for you? 28.48 What do people want to know from data professionals?