James Savory

“As someone with an international business and economics background with some coding experience, the Master of Business Analytics (MBusAn) programme, with its balance between statistical, coding, and applied business content, perfectly matched what I was looking to learn in a postgraduate degree. I felt that the added stakes of working on an applied industry project with real-world impact would motivate me to supercharge my focus and therefore learning, as well as provide an excellent opportunity for me to break into the New Zealand FinTech job market.

“Because I haven’t lived in New Zealand for 17 years, coming in I was somewhat anxious. [However], the MBusAn programme was a perfect environment for someone new to living in New Zealand as an adult. By working on very technically complex group assignments, in much of the programme you are dependent on the person sitting next to you to deliver a high-quality project. I found that going through that shared struggle together made creating strong bonds with other students come naturally. With the number of possibilities that artificial intelligence and analytics open up to create value, there are always genuinely interesting and productive topics to chat with others in the cohort about, which makes ‘breaking the ice’ extremely easy.

“The most important insight I took away was the context of how technology and analytics are used to add value to businesses. This applied perspective gave the programme a very practical feel. It exceeded my expectations: the qualification and skills it equipped me with put me in a position for a calibre of role I would not have thought was achievable after only 15 months of hard work.

“In the future I would like to create some winning investment strategies using the knowledge I gained from my Applied Industry Project on Portfolio Optimisation. Basically, everything I have learned has given me a solid platform.

“My advice to anyone considering this programme is to just do it! Take advantage of how multi-faceted the programme is. If you are more of an introvert who enjoys technical work, set up some time with the Business Communication Team (BCT) to figure out how to make more engaging and compelling presentations. If you are an extrovert, take some time to sharpen your attention to detail. Make the most of the availability of the lecturers. Their domain knowledge is excellent, so make full use of it. Finally, I would recommend that you make the most of the University resources available. The Career Development and Employability Services are incredibly helpful at helping you present your skills to employers. The Business School facility is great and open until very late, so spending time on campus will be worth your while. You will make friends from all walks of life!”