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Quantexa Support Channels
There are a range of support channels available to developers using Quantexa technology, each with their own specific uses. It's important to use the appropriate channel to ensure you get the best support as quickly as possible. 💬 Quantexa Community The Quantexa Platform Support Topic is a private Community channel dedicated to Quantexa developers to help with Quantexa Solution development. This is the best channel for access to Community support networks as it is used by wider Quantexa teams and users. It is a continually-growing knowledge base resource. Intended use: Non-urgent Customer queries Asking non-sensitive questions General help on a topic that is not covered in the documentation Searching for known previously encountered issues in previous posts Queries on errors, explanation of log messages, best practices Requesting advice on debugging approaches Request new Product features For other support queries (not related to developer support) please leverage our other Community Topics e.g. Getting Started or if you have a question related to an industry use case, why not check out our User Groups? Access: URL: Quantexa Platform Support Login or register with your corporate email address to access the Quantexa community 📝Note: If you have registered for the Quantexa Community you'll also be able to access the Documentation Site. 🔌 Product Support (Post Go-Live) Quantexa Service Desk Portal Tracking of all service desk tickets and incidents. Responses based on service level agreements (SLAs). 24/7 Telephone Support for severity 1 and 2 incidents covering 7 geographical local helpdesk numbers. Countries & Support Phone Numbers (only available to those with live projects) Australia: 1800024721 Canada: 18665430596 India (Calls to the Indian number need to be made from a local Indian handset that also has the ability to make international calls): 0008000502021 Malaysia: 1800810964 Singapore: 8001205119 UK and Europe: 03301595273 USA: 18447409220 Quantexa Support is available to all clients with a live solution in production and is intended for: Reporting any product-related production incidents that need vendor support Core Quantexa Platform issues and break-fix support Tracking of all support tickets and sharing logs (redacting any sensitive data) Raising service requests e.g. requesting release files or advising if a version upgrade Access: The client and their support team members need to be onboarded as part of going live (by PM) by raising a request in the QS portal123Views3likes0CommentsExplore the demo for Intelligence-Led Investigations for AML 🔎
Connecting data at scale creates the context required for investigators to detect even the most complex financial crime, helping organizations stay one step ahead of criminals. Quantexa's Intelligence-Led Investigations provides the tools that investigators need to efficiently and effectively investigate complex money laundering cases that other solutions would fail to detect.16Views0likes0CommentsWhere to Raise Support Requests
When you've tried debugging and searched the Community but still haven't found a solution, it's time to open a Community support request. To ensure you get the help you need, it's important to post your request in the correct topic. Here’s a guide on where to raise your support requests within our platform. Main Topics for Support We have two main topics for support requests: Academy Q&A The Academy Q&A Topic can be used by anyone in the Academy to get support on their course. Quantexa Platform Developer Support is for anyone seeking Developer support - this could be queries related to upgrades, error messages, or best practice for your project etc. - Raising a Support Request Navigate to the correct forum. Select Ask a Question. Fill out the support request form thoroughly. For detailed guidance on how to raise a good support request, refer to our next article, where we cover best practices and tips for creating clear and comprehensive support requests. By posting in the correct Topic and providing detailed information, you’ll ensure your queries are addressed efficiently and accurately by the right Community members and Support Teams. Please see the article Quantexa Support Channels for a full list of support options available.81Views0likes0CommentsExplore the New Search Demo 🔎
Our enhanced Search functionality (aka "Search 2") is here as of version 2.7.7! With a redesigned, entity-focused UI, faster setup, and better performance, it’s built to make using Search better than ever. 💬 We want your feedback! Explore the full release details in the New & Improved Search Functionality release announcement Check out the New Search Demo on the Product Demos page 🔒member exclusive Go to the Search tile under the General Availability tab in the Product Roadmap & Ideas Portal to share your feedback 🔒member exclusive Try out the demo now and see how the new and improved Search can enhance your Quantexa experience.Guide for Architects
Ensure you're logged in to access all available content for Architects! Connect with other Architects Join the Architects User Group The Architects Group is a dedicated space for Solution Architects working on Quantexa deployments. This group provides high-level guidance on designing Quantexa solutions, scaling infrastructure, and integrating third-party systems. Collaborate with other architects to share advanced strategies and leverage best practices. Academy Quantexa Platform Architecture (QPA) Documentation Platform technical architecture Deployment Community Blogs A Day in the Life of a... Solution Architect 🎉 Congratulations to the First Partners to Gain the Quantexa Platform Architecture Certification Quantexa Architecture Academy: Platform Architect Training Course and Certification Community Library Service Design Visit the Service Design section for Platform Architecture resources, use cases, and release management documentation. Platform Architecture: Resources 1. Release Notes overview 2. Underlying platforms used by Quantexa 3. Resources Index 4. Centralized Data Sources 5. Sizing Infrastructure for Quantexa Platform Architecture: Use Cases 1. Introducing QPython 2. Elasticsearch Considerations For Quantexa 3. An Introduction to Knowledge Graphs and qKnowledgeGraph Platform Architecture: Deployment 1. Become a Quantexa deployment wizard! - launching Quantexa's Deployment Engineering Best Practices! 2. Quantexa Deployment Patterns Best Practice 3. Quantexa Best Practice: Move Fast, Break Less, 😊 More Platform Architecture: Multi Use Cases 1. Multi Use Case Best Practice 2. Multi Use Case Best Practice: People 3. Multi Use Case Best Practice: Processes 4. Multi Use Case Best Practice: Technology 5. Centralized Data Sources 🎥 Webinar recording: One System, Many Solutions: Quantexa for Multiple Use Cases Infrastructure and Platform Setup 1. Setting Up Infrastructure and Underlying Platforms 2. Setting Up Infrastructure and Underlying Platforms: Cloud Edition 3. Setting Up Infrastructure and Underlying Platforms: On-Premise Edition Platform Architecture 1. Useful Elasticsearch API Calls 2. Quantexa's Application tier - the case for a stateless architecture 3. Deprecation of Scoring Framework 1 4. Deploying Quantexa's Application tier on OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) 5. Quantexa Platform Security Design for Solution Architects Platform Architecture: Kafka Streaming 1. Using Quantexa Kafka Streaming for the First Time 2. Designing a Kafka Solution to Meet Functional and Non-Functional Requirements Beyond Quantexa 3. Data Streaming Design Principles to Enrich Information in Kafka Input Messages 4. Lessons Learned from a Streaming Lending Fraud Project 5. Maintaining Message Ordering in Kafka for a Quantexa Streaming Solution 6. Searching Entities from the Quantexa Entity Store Without Document Ingestion 7. Optimizing Entity Resolution and Graph Expansion to Enhance Performance of Streaming Solutions Platform Architecture 🔒Member Exclusives 1. Useful Elasticsearch API Calls 2. Quantexa's Application tier - the case for a stateless architecture 3. Deprecation of Scoring Framework 1 4. Deploying Quantexa's Application tier on OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) 5. Quantexa Platform Security Design for Solution Architects 1. Using QPython for Analytics and Data Science Teams Development: Upgrade Guides 2.7 Quantexa Upgrade Guide Center of Excellence Platform ArchitectureFirst Time Use of the Quantexa Platform
What are first-time use articles? Quantexa experts have created a series of first-time use articles to help whether you're brand new to the Quantexa Platform or getting to grips with a new feature or component. Ensure you are logged into the Community so that you can view all available articles!A Day in the Life of a... Solution Architect
As a Solutions Architect at Quantexa, my role is a thrilling rollercoaster ride through the world of Commercials, Solution Engineering, TAPs, Delivery, data, and technology! We wear many hats and juggle a variety of responsibilities. From donning our superhero capes to assist the Commercial Team with technical support during demos and workshops, we swoop in to provide infrastructure guidance, effort estimates, and sizing recommendations. We’re the wizards behind the curtain, crafting SOWs (Statements of Work) that turn customer visions into reality. When we’re not busy casting spells with the Delivery Team to implement solutions, we’re partnering with the customer-facing teams to ensure everything runs smoother than a well-oiled machine. Our mission is to help customers optimize their TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), drive down infrastructure costs, and make the most of their Quantexa investments. But wait, there’s more! We’re also the bridge between the trenches and the ivory tower, working closely with R&D and Product to refine and enhance our core product. We’re not shy about suggesting new features and capabilities—after all, innovation is our middle name. Last but not least, we’re the trusty sidekicks to our customers, supporting them through upgrades and enabling new features on existing platforms. It’s all in a day’s work for the dynamic, ever-busy Solutions Architecture team! Meet Farshid: As a Solutions Architect in the APAC region, I have the pleasure of overseeing our foundational customer, the largest Quantexa client in terms of use cases and implementations. I’m also working on federal government projects - our key focus area this year. On a typical day, you may find me deep in the trenches of documentation, especially on topics like Streaming and Kafka. I've had the good fortune to work on several Streaming projects at Quantexa, so I'm constantly sharing my insights and learnings. Beyond that, I provide technical guidance to our APAC Delivery Engineers, ensuring they have the support they need to succeed. I wear the hat of a Platform Engineer manager, coordinating efforts and setting the technical direction. And because mentorship is close to my heart, I spend time mentoring, sharing knowledge, and hopefully inspiring the next generation of Quantexa rock stars. It's a mix of strategy, hands-on technical work, and a dash of mentorship. Every Friday, I send a cheerful message to all Quantexans, spreading positivity and good vibes. I've been doing this since I joined, and it’s become a tradition—some people even know me as "Mr. Happy Friday"! It’s a fun way to connect, though I sometimes wonder if people think that’s all I do. I have a deep passion for engineering, having been in the industry for nearly 20 years. My journey began as a web developer at just 16, and I've since evolved through various roles, including Software Engineer, Senior Engineer, Lead Engineer, and now Solutions Architect. At work, I'm an active member of the APAC Socials Committee, helping to organize events and socials in Melbourne. I ensure our Melbourne office is stocked with snacks and other goodies, guaranteeing everyone has what they need to stay energized and happy. It’s all about balancing the serious work with a bit of fun and making sure the office feels like a great place to be! Beyond work, I love to travel and have visited nearly 30 countries, soaking up diverse cultures and experiences. I'm an avid reader, especially interested in topics like science, politics, humanity, society, and, of course, technology. I enjoy sharing my adventures and thoughts through a YouTube channel where I post videos about my travels and other interesting finds. I also connect with people and share more about my life on a public Instagram account. How do you normally start your working day? My day starts simply: I wake up around 5:30, go for a swim to kickstart the morning, and then head home for breakfast. I then head to the office. On Friday I post my Happy Friday message before breakfast. It's a little ritual that sets a positive tone for the day! How would you describe a typical day? A typical day for me is a blend of technical problem-solving, collaboration, and a bit of fun. My mornings often involve providing technical guidance and support, whether that's assisting the APAC Delivery Team, mentoring colleagues, or working with customers on infrastructure optimization and solution implementation. Somewhere in there, I make time for connecting with colleagues—whether it's chatting about the latest project or sharing a laugh. My day is a mix of technical challenges, teamwork, and community-building, all wrapped up with a positive, can-do attitude. What do you enjoy most in your role? The people I get to work with. At Quantexa, we're lucky to have a kind of magnet that attracts good people with great intentions, positive energy, and wonderful personalities. It's inspiring to be part of such a talented and supportive team. Additionally, I thrive on the challenges that come with my role. I love tackling complex problems, finding creative solutions, and constantly learning new things. Whether it's navigating technical issues or collaborating on innovative projects, the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the work keeps me engaged and motivated. What are your main goals as a Solutions Architect? Driving technical excellence throughout sales, delivery, and post-delivery Supporting other teams to success Working with Product and R&D on improvements, and new features Mentorship and leadership Working with customers in driving success, cost optimisation, self-sufficiency, maintenance, and efficiency What are your most memorable moments? There have been many highlights throughout my time at Quantexa: I’m particularly proud of the successes we’ve achieved, including securing new deals and delivering successful projects. The growth we’ve experienced in the APAC region has been a significant milestone. One of the most unforgettable experiences was our Winter party in Sydney in 2021, where we celebrated on a boat. The week-long Winter party in London in 2022 was also incredible, with festivities extending throughout the week and a chance to meet colleagues from across the globe. However, the most memorable moment was when Vish (our CEO) announced that I was chosen to be the Quantexa Champion of the Year for Teamwork in 2022, which was a tremendous honour. What do you think are the most important attributes of a Solution Architect? In my view, the most important attributes of a Solution Architect include being personable, approachable, and positive. A successful Solution Architect should also be collaborative, working seamlessly with diverse teams and stakeholders. Additionally, a commitment to continuous learning and discovery is crucial, as it helps in staying ahead in a rapidly evolving field and finding innovative solutions to complex problems. What are you excited about at the moment? Our continuous growth and drive to penetrate new markets. There's always something new and thrilling on the horizon at Quantexa, and it’s energizing to be part of a team constantly pushing boundaries and exploring new opportunities. What is the best tip you have learned for using Quantexa? Be patient and thoroughly understand the software. Often, the solution to your problem will become clear once you’ve invested time in learning the system and its capabilities. What is your favourite area of the Quantexa Community? My favorite area of the Quantexa Community is the content related to technology and engineering. I really enjoy reading posts about various issues and solutions, as well as the blogs written by engineers sharing their experiences and insights. It’s fascinating to see how others approach problem-solving and build innovative solutions.51Views3likes0CommentsA Day in the Life of ... a Global Partner
Meet Phil Phil is the Global Partner of NextWave’s Quantexa Partnership overseeing business development, solution success and delivery success. In addition to managing several other strategic alliances, Phil co-leads the NextWave data practice, where Quantexa plays a pivotal role as a core solution capability. Who are NextWave? NextWave is a digital acceleration consultancy for financial services helping the world’s leading financial services firms transform their business through industry expertise, AI, data analytics, fintech and automation. Our services span strategy development, specialist knowledge, and practical solutions designed to help clients achieve growth, efficiency, and control objectives. Since 2020, we have been proud Quantexa Alliance Partners, successfully delivering clients a wide range of solutions. Our team brings years of experience across multiple clients and use cases, with some members having been part of the Quantexa journey before joining NextWave. Every team member is Quantexa certified, holds multiple certifications and has multi-solution experience. Our deep understanding of the Quantexa solution ensures we know what success looks like and how to achieve it. What’s NextWave's mission? We want to help organisations become more future focused, data driven and digitally led. We aim to enable them to capitalise on smart solutions like Quantexa, driving meaningful and sustainable transformation. What does our Alliance mean for NextWave? We’ve believed in Quantexa from the beginning, tracing our relationship back to the days of Detica NetReveal. Working alongside the Quantexa Team is a privilege and an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of data insights, helping clients achieve their goals. We’ve worked tirelessly to build our Centre of Excellence (COE), and we’re immensely proud of the successes we’ve achieved with our clients—especially in increasingly helping them along their journey toward self-sufficiency. We’ve developed a comprehensive approach and suite of solutions to support this goal. Check out our case study on ‘trade based money laundering detection’ to hear for an insight into what we can achieve with Quantexa. Ultimately, we love collaborating with the Quantexa Team. What do you most like about NextWave? Several aspects of NextWave stand out to me: The People: I love working with incredibly talented individuals who are constantly pushing the boundaries. The Culture: Our vibrant, engaging culture makes it easy for everyone to get involved, especially in a smaller company like ours. Being at the Forefront: Working at the cutting edge of data and digital evolution allows us to explore a world of possibilities through technology-led solutions. What are your main goals as a Partner? My primary goals are to ensure we have the right enablers in place for our team to grow in their abilities and deliver outstanding outcomes for our clients. Ultimately strengthen our Quantexa Centre of Excellence globally and expand NextWave’s opportunities. How would you describe a typical day? Honestly, there’s no such thing as a typical day because each one is so varied. However, some key activities include: Checking in with Delivery Teams: Ensuring they have the support they need. Exploring New Business Opportunities: Engaging with clients and prospects across our offices. Collaborating with the Quantexa Teams: Enhancing our knowledge and capabilities. Overseeing Operations: Managing our Centre of Excellence and driving solutions and service development. What do you enjoy about your role? The variety in my role is what I enjoy most—no two days are the same. I particularly value working with super-talented colleagues and forward-thinking partners like Quantexa and our many clients. Can you share a success story about how Quantexa has helped your customers? We’ve collaborated with Quantexa on over twenty successful projects, so success is what we have achieved together in delivering to ‘our customers’. Success also reflects our strategic investment in talent and our Centre of Excellence, which has enabled us to achieve comprehensive end-to-end solutions and establish NextWave’s self-sufficiency assessment and services framework. If anyone would like to know more about NextWave and about how we can help with Quantexa please reach out to Phil at phil.sturmer@nxwave.co.uk11Views4likes0CommentsHow I Became a... Lead Data Engineer
Meet Charlotte… My current job title is Lead Data Engineer, but this captures a variety of activities. The things I’m responsible for range from technical leadership of a project team (coordinating the Development Team and contributing to the technical work needed to deliver the Quantexa), to leading the Data Practice (Quantexa's community of junior Developers within the Delivery function), and acting as a key Delivery stakeholder during the rollout of new features across Delivery (coordinating engagement between Delivery projects and R&D). I’ve been a Lead Data Engineer since 2022 but have been a Data Engineer since joining Quantexa as a graduate in the summer of 2018. What did you want to be when you were little? I watched a lot of CSI, so until my teenage years I was adamant I wanted to be a Forensic Scientist. Once I’d grown out of that, Maths was my favourite subject at school and I was good at it, so my focus shifted to studying Maths at university and perhaps going into academia, but no real plan for a career. I’m the first generation in my family to go to university so I didn’t have a great idea of what jobs were out there until years later! What first sparked your interest in pursuing a career as a Data Engineer? The shift from Maths to Computer Science (and then into Data Engineering) happened at university. I had my heart set on going to the University of Warwick and got a place on their Discrete Mathematics course – a fun name for a Maths and Computer Science joint honours. During my time at Warwick, I realised that university (and academic) Maths wasn’t my calling, so I started to pick up more Computer Science modules and found it something I really enjoyed. When it came to job hunting, initially, due to severe imposter syndrome (which we’ll get into later), I didn’t think I’d be able to get a job in tech, so I was originally looking for business administration or more generic consultancy roles. On speaking to the head of undergrad in my department about this, he pushed me to attend one of the tech careers fairs and by complete chance, Quantexa was attending this event. I liked the sound of what they did, which included the still-famous Michael Greene demo so I decided to take a chance and apply. The rest is history! How do you continue to grow and develop in your role? When I started at Quantexa, I knew that I had lots to learn. Going from a degree and having (limited) theoretical knowledge to applying that knowledge to real-world problems was a huge leap. The first thing that helped with this was going through the Quantexa Academy. After that, the main source of growth and development in the first few years was through hands-on experience on projects. I moved projects consistently every 6 months, working with different people each time. This meant I was learning new technologies, new Quantexa features, new use cases, and I was always learning from new people, each with their own background and experience. This was invaluable in learning how to deliver a Quantexa project and lead a Technical Development Team – I owe a lot of my management style and ability to the Technical Leads (TLs) I worked under during those years. Once I became a TL and gained more managerial responsibility, I was offered the opportunity to take a management training course. This was in combination with being invited to join the Tech Lead Practice - a community of Tech Leads within Quantexa where we share our experiences and work together to improve and streamline the role of a TL and the delivery of Quantexa projects. This meant that even as I was becoming a TL, I was equipped with the theoretical knowledge and skills needed, and surrounded by people to draw wisdom from, both of which helped to make the transition into more of a management role pretty seamless. Can you describe your career journey? I joined Quantexa 6 days after my graduation (to be specific) and went straight onto the Data Engineering Academy, which was still being created. Once completing this in around October 2018, I was assigned to my first project. The step up from the Academy to project work was a big change, going from learning the basics to delivering a complex solution to a Tier 1 bank was a huge learning curve for me. By the time I rolled off of that project in March 2019, I felt I’d been through the Academy all over again with the amount I learned being surrounded by a team of Quantexans who had already been with Quantexa for months if not years. I then worked on a few different projects as a Data Engineer, until November 2019 when I was asked to do a secondment to Australia for 3 months to help with two new projects. This was a big challenge! The first project in particular was one to remember, it included setting up a project environment from scratch for the first time, a 12-hour time zone difference away from the support of the London office. Nonetheless, one I really enjoyed (the weather definitely helped). I then headed to Melbourne to join another project, until March 2020 when the proof of concept (POC) wrapped up, at which point the team headed back to the UK (just in time for lockdown). During 2020, I was given my first leadership opportunity. This started with a “Sub-Team Lead” position which I held for seven months, I then moved into my first official TL role. 2020 was the year where my role changed the most, with the shift from Data Engineer to Team Lead. This came with challenges as everyone was working remotely, but again a great opportunity and I learned a lot about how to manage and effectively lead a team. Around this time, I took the management training course to learn the theory behind some of the actions I was putting into practice. Since then, I’ve led three further projects, as well as technical support and oversight on three others. It’s been a great balance of seeing a project through from start to finish (including attending awards dinners for the work we did) and jumping into a project for short bursts when help is needed which has kept me on my toes. While the projects I've been on have largely molded my career progression and experience historically, as I’ve become more senior, my responsibilities and workload have evolved. As I mentioned in my intro, I’m now involved in various internal workstreams and work a lot more across the Delivery function. This means I’m directly influencing the direction we take as a department, and the roadmap and development undertaken by R&D ensuring we serve our client’s needs. This has been an amazing new challenge and helped me change my perspective to be more aware of the business context of the projects I lead. What are some of the biggest challenges you faced in becoming a Lead Data Engineer? As mentioned, when starting my career I had a huge case of imposter syndrome. I’d ended up on the Maths and Computer Science course and throughout was surrounded by people who spent their spare time coding for fun whereas I'd only ever written code for an assignment and was otherwise unaware of the tech world. This meant I didn’t feel very qualified for a job but was encouraged to apply by university staff anyway. Unsurprisingly that feeling didn’t go away once I'd started at Quantexa. The Academy at the time was a pretty light touch, Quantexa was just over 2 years old, so a lot of the job was having to learn and pick things up as I went – a terrifying prospect when I felt I’d swindled my way into the job in the first place! I’m not going to say it’s been easy to overcome the feeling of imposter syndroms, and it's been a slow process of gaining confidence over time, but I’m glad to say I feel it less and less often these days (though I still have my moments). One thing that I found helped was to stay in touch with my peers who joined around the same time as me, as we were all going through the same experience. Knowing that other people were feeling the same way reassured me that finding it difficult didn’t mean that I wasn’t cut out for the job. This is still relevant today, I've stayed in contact with the same group as we became TLs, mentors, and took on new responsibilities. They've been a source of reassurance whenever I’ve started to feel I’m in over my head. Knowing that all the nervousness and anxiety are actually pretty common and that it’s ok to be figuring things out as you go along. If there are areas I feel I’m not confident in, I try to identify low-risk ways to gain that confidence. A specific example of this for me was with Entity Resolution (ER) – a core Quantexa concept. There was a point where I hadn’t done a huge amount of ER development or Tuning and felt it was a topic I didn’t know enough about. To gain some confidence, I signed up to present a session to the graduate scheme on ER. The stakes were relatively low – I was presenting key concepts to a group of people who were still learning the ropes (and were probably feeling some imposter syndrome themselves). It allowed me to reassure myself that, I do know how this works and to consolidate (and expand) my understanding – teaching others is a great way of making sure you yourself fully understand the concepts you’re presenting. Lastly, I've found engaging with the feedback process a great way to overcome obstacles. If you're feeling like an imposter, it can be daunting to actively reach out for feedback, but often the feedback you receive will be instrumental in getting past that mental block. Either it will be positive feedback, reassuring you that your imposter feeling is just that, a feeling, or it's constructive feedback on how to improve. Having clear actions and goals in mind taken from this constructive feedback, is a great way to gain confidence and explicitly mark your progress which can lead to moving past that imposter feeling. What key skills and personal traits are essential for succeeding in your role as a Lead Data Engineer? Most importantly (but perhaps least excitingly), it’s important to be able to manage your time and priorities. Having a clear view of the most urgent and important task on your to-do list makes for a less stressful time as it prevents things from slipping through the cracks or being left until the last minute. Often it's relatively clear what this priority should be, but when managing workloads across different projects or workstreams, it can require a lot of discipline to stand your ground. When faced with a choice between chipping away at a longer-term piece of work (that will eventually have a high impact across all of Delivery) vs. fielding short-term urgent client requests or asks from your team, it can be difficult to push back but it's important to trust your judgment and say no when needed. Relatedly, to make the above remotely possible, I also find the art of delegation and coaching to be critical in making sure things run smoothly. We all only have 8 working hours in a day, and as much as I’d love to have my superhero cape on and singlehandedly solve all of the problems, in the long term it’s better for everyone (and less stressful) to invest time in the people around you and make sure they feel sufficiently equipped with the skills to step up and take over when their time comes. What do you find most rewarding about your job as a Lead Data Engineer? There are two things for me. The first is the reactions from clients when they first see their data in the Quantexa Platform. I’ve worked on projects where Quantexa was engaged to visualise data for the first time. Up to that point, the data had been static tables in databases – so being able to bring that data to life in the Quantexa UI, dynamically building networks, visualising risk, and offering a whole new perspective - the reaction never gets old! The second is the opportunity to work with more junior members of Delivery and take an active hand in their development. This has ranged from being a mentor- being directly responsible for my mentee’s career progression, to being the manager of a project team and upskilling the members. A particularly nice example of this came earlier this year. I worked closely with a team member over the course of my previous project. He joined the team as one of his first Quantexa projects so spent time upskilling and gaining Quantexa experience until eventually, in January I was able to fully hand over the project to him as the TL – a real full-circle moment. What one piece of advice would you give to someone aspiring to become a Lead Data Engineer? In short – be curious. I’ve found being interested in the things going on around you is a great way to start to understand the broader context of your role – asking questions, keeping up with project details and how the client relationship is going, chatting with people on other projects to see what new features they're implementing etc. – all of this will help you make those prioritisation calls, and make better use of your time. As a curious person, this comes naturally to me- I love to hear the details of other people’s projects, what's going on and why, and coming back to Community support posts that sound particularly interesting or potentially relevant to see what the solution was in the end – just in case it might be useful in the future. I’ve found that experience, information and context are all incredibly vital in the role of a TL / Lead Data Engineer and the best way to gather this is through keeping up with what’s going on around you as much as possible.31Views6likes0CommentsA day in the life of... a Xander Talent Academy Team Lead
Meet Oliver… I work as an Academy Team Lead on behalf of Xander Talent, a digital talent consultancy and an official Education Partner for Quantexa. My main responsibility involves supporting the many learners in the Quantexa Academy through leading code reviews and support calls, creating educational content, delivering in-person workshops, and being an active member of the Quantexa Community. Before embarking on my voyage into Software and Big Data, I worked professionally as a session musician, recording and touring the world with many different bands and artists. I’m trained in Jazz Piano, and a huge fan of jazz giants like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and Thelonious Monk. I listen to all types of music and continue to practice and play gigs whenever I can in my spare time. I fell in love with coding in the early months of 2021, when I enrolled in a Full-Stack Web Development bootcamp. Through learning languages and frameworks like Python, JavaScript, React, Django, and Flask, I built a solid foundation which I continue to build upon to this day. There are many parallels between software/data engineering and music; both require a great deal of practice to gain good technical skills, and both industries involve collaborating with others, which I love to do. What do you enjoy most in your role? While I find all aspects of my role fulfilling and enriching, I must admit that I love debugging and troubleshooting issues in support calls and the Academy Q&A Topic. While learners are working on their assessment projects, a lot of issues they encounter are unique to the individual, and debugging these issues requires a different approach or way of thinking, and I really enjoy that challenge. I also believe it’s important to use any debugging sessions as a learning experience for myself and the learner; instead of simply instructing the learner to change their code in X, Y, or Z places, I do what I can to guide them to find the solution independently, through their own initiative. By taking this approach, the learning experience of a debugging session is maximized, both for the learner and for myself. What are your main goals as an Academy Team Lead? I would consider myself to have done a decent job if the learner graduates from the Quantexa Academy with the foundational skills to operate independently on a project, using best practices. Once a learner has a solid foundational knowledge of ETL, Entity Resolution, Network Generation, Scoring, or UI configuration, they will be in an ideal position to dive deeper into the platform by using the Documentation Site. Whether I am leading training sessions, assessments, and support calls, or creating content, I always aim for the learner to leave with a little more knowledge and independence. How would you describe a typical day where you have used Quantexa? My day often begins with jumping on the 8 am support call, with a full cafetiere by my side. Sometimes I am not assigned as the leader for the support call, but I enjoy being involved nonetheless, helping learners wherever I can. While providing assistance, I load up my project in my VDI. Recently, I have been using the Academy Tutorial example project to inspect and interrogate the parquet outputs of Batch Entity Resolution, in order to demonstrate the impacts of Entity Resolution Tuning in the Resolver Configuration JSON file. I am documenting my findings in written educational content that I am creating for the latest, upcoming version of the Quantexa Data Engineer Academy. It is my hope that the result of my explorations will provide some good learning experiences and ‘aha!’ moments for others. What are your most memorable moments in your Quantexa journey? I was fortunate enough to have recently been involved in delivering the Data Engineer Velocity program in person in Bangalore, India. I worked closely with AndrewBirch (another Xander Academy Team Lead) and Irena_Yanachkova (Quantexa’s Senior Instructional Designer), in which we delivered an in-depth program which lasted for 3 weeks. Through daily in-person sessions, we guided twelve learners through all the fundamental aspects and areas of a Quantexa implementation, along with the Spark and Scala techniques necessary to be an effective Quantexa Data Engineer. The sessions included group discussions, code-alongs, and we also provided dedicated one-to-one support to each individual. The learners we worked with were all so lovely and generous, and it was really enriching to develop a great working relationship with them through learning. It was such a rewarding experience, and I am so grateful to have been involved. What are you excited about in your industry at the moment? It’s exciting to be working with a technology that has such a broad positive impact. Of course, Quantexa is pretty much synonymous with Anti-Money Laundering (AML), though its applications go beyond the AML/Finance sphere, as has been demonstrated with their recent partnership with the Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative, as one example. Through partnerships like this, it’s clear that Quantexa’s technology is being used for more than decision-intelligence and risk management alone; organisations are using Quantexa to help in their efforts to ensure people’s safety and to improve the lives of others. It’s this kind of flexibility and positive impact that I am proud to be associated with. What advice do you have for someone just starting out with Quantexa? For anyone new to Quantexa, my main advice would be not to start coding until you have a decent understanding of the concepts and the data that you are working with. For any learners embarking on the Quantexa Data Engineer Academy, this rule especially applies to approaching the CreateCaseClass script in Assessment 1a. Before you start coding, make sure you spend at least a day analyzing the different datasets, and how they fit together. If you do this before you write any code, I think you will find the CreateCaseClass script a breeze! What is your favorite area of the Quantexa Community? You will always catch me in the Academy Q&A area of the community. I recently received the title of ‘Grandmaster’. Those who know me will know how much of a buzz this gives me.22Views6likes0Comments
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