Morgan Lyons

As my final year project was titled ‘Using Machine Learning to predict football match outcomes’, I gained this love for all things football data! As a result, I decided to show data insights on social media for lower-league football teams. This was like a personal portfolio for me whilst also analysing the team I support. One day, I had a message from one of my followers saying that the company he works for is looking to hire a Data Analyst. I sent across my CV, shortly followed by an online interview and skills-based face-to-face interview. Within a few weeks I started as a Data Quality Analyst at MPM Products in Manchester. A great, supportive, growing pet-food company who strive to make a positive impact. It taught me that social media and an online presence such as LinkedIn is definitely worth it.

In the world of data, no two days are the same. I do a lot of data cleaning using Python, which involves taking raw data and turning it into useful data that people across the wider business can use. As a result of this, it means there is lots of collaboration with departments such as Finance, Sales and Customer Services. Data and numbers have no way of speaking for themselves, but as a Data Analyst we speak for them and we imbue them with meaning. This leads very well onto the other side of my role which is data visualisation. Once we have clean data, it can be used to put together dashboards within PowerBI. By creating dashboards, it allows us to see what the data actually is showing us. Examples of some projects I’ve worked on so far is a visualisation on charity pet meal donations that were made in 2024 and a Daily Sales dashboard to compare the performance of different customers across the year. This doesn’t include the small ad-hoc requests that we get which can help others with the big, repetitive tasks.

As we’re a pet food company, pets are allowed in the office! I quite enjoy going to the office twice a week to see which of our furry colleagues have joined us for the day. The main thing for me is the people and how supportive and collaborative everyone is. Everyone strives for the best and works well with each other to achieve the best outcome we can.

The final year project is probably the thing that prepared me for my career the most. By learning how to manage a project, it has taught me how to balance my tasks and get them done on time. My supervisor was great, he helped loads and got the best out of me. My project was using football data and this sparked my love for data. It wasn’t until my final year where I knew where I wanted to go with my career in Computer Science.

My favourite thing about studying at Edge Hill was the campus. Being in a well-looked after campus with outstanding facilities made it an enjoyable place to study. Edge Hill supported me with enhancing my employability skills through my Employability module in second year. This module gave really good interview advice as well as how to create a good LinkedIn page. This has definitely helped me get to where I am today. As an Edge Hill alumni, it is great to be able to access the services of the careers team after graduation. I was able to have my CV checked over and was given lots of advice a few months after graduating. Only a few weeks later, I managed to secure a role with a great company!

The advice I’d give to a prospective student is to not overthink your future and don’t think too far ahead. If you enjoy Computer Science, go for it! Embrace it whilst you’re studying, learn from your peers and academics. You will soon discover what you love and what you don’t and that will help with setting you up for a successful future post university. Whilst at Edge Hill, I got involved with different things that have helped me learn so many soft skills. From helping to move in new students onto campus at welcome weekend, to supporting the Computer Science department at open days and offer holder days. I was also a part of the Christian Union during my time at Edge Hill, running the social media for 2 years which was also a great experience!