Fitting models is what we do for fun, when all the tedious work is done!

As we continue to evolve at Suncor, I’m really excited about data literacy and technology playing such a big part of the transformation. I thought I’d share my own experience, publicly, in hopes that you’d like to join me and the rest of our growing Advanced Analytics team!

Prior to joining Suncor, I had been working in cancer research for almost a decade. Data Science had not yet been popularized, but I knew the industry was already leveraging some of the same methods and algorithms, particularly in the engineering and geosciences areas. Suncor was well-positioned to be a leader among its peers not only because of its size but also because of its history of innovation. I applied to a job of “Trend Specialist” - a curious title, and I remember thinking “Why would a leading energy company hire fashion stylists?!” My daughter, who was eight at the time asked me: “Dad, are you going to be a fashionista?”

Nonetheless, the role was in fact what I believed to be: a true Data Scientist. A year later, I influenced a job title change to reflect industry norms and so it was that I became Suncor’s first Data Scientist.

Working for a large company means that I get to work with many people from different professional backgrounds, each contributing a truly fresh take on a problem. On the other hand, it sometimes takes time to work through the processes which can be frustrating in areas such as data science which often requires new software tools. Fortunately, we have recognized this challenge and are positioning ourselves as leaders among our peers in transforming the way we work.

If you’re interested in joining our Advanced Analytics team, here’s a quick snapshot of what a typical day looks like for me: I start my day scanning social media, blogs, Stack Exchange, and academic journals in data science and statistics to keep on top of a rapidly evolving field, and to learn about ideas and perspectives on current and past projects I’m involved in. For example, I came across an article in the Journal of Statistical Software that led us to implement a number of time series dissimilarity measures in order to identify which sensors were likely detecting the same gas at a plant, giving us an idea of time and space distribution. Depending on the project I’m involved in, I can spend several hours writing code to prepare data, documenting the analytical choices I make along the way.

Fitting models is what we do for fun, when all tedious work is done. Naturally, I spend some time talking to the stakeholders since we lean heavily on them to provide the domain expertise. We try to leverage both code,analysis methods and algorithms from previous projects. A portion of my day is then spent interpreting and writing findings from analyses. As a Principal Data Scientist, my role has shifted to less hands-on and more advising, coaching, trying to anticipate our future data science needs, and working with Suncor’s Analytics Academy to identify areas where we need more training and find ways to increase data and statistical literacy across the organization.

If you’d like to join our growing Advanced Analytics team and be part of our transformational journey, check out our available job opportunities today:

Data Scientist

Big Data Engineer

Analytics Platform Engineer