#GradStories Rebecca Coleman, Tableau Dashboard Developer, PepsiCo Ireland

What does a typical day look like for you?

PepsiCo is a manufacturing food and beverage company so it is important to be able to analyse the performance and execution of manufacturing. So as a Tableau dashboard developer, I build dashboards to enable business intelligence. I meet with the users to interpret their understanding of their wants and needs. I also support and maintain dashboards after they go live.

What skills do you need to be successful in your role?

Communication skills is a big one. You need to be able to communicate with the users to be able to understand their wants and needs. It’s important to ask the right questions to the user and keep in communication throughout the process so that you can keep getting feedback.

Another one is data analytical skills, to be able to interpret the data and create dashboards to interpret that data visually.

How did you find out about the role?

I studied business information systems at University College Cork. My favourite modules in college were data analytics and user experience design. So, when I saw the job description to join the PepsiCo graduate programme, it really jumped out at me. The description was to join the business intelligence and analytics team, it mentioned developing reports and data analytics. So it was a perfect fit for my interests.

What advice would you have for students?

Develop teamwork skills early on. It’s important to recognise that everyone has different ways of working and different talents to the key is to mesh those factors together. It’s important to share ideas and responsibilities. Collaboration is key.

What do you love about your job?

What I love most is the culture here at PespiCo. The people make coming to work so easy. There’s such a fun and warm environment here. PepsiCo is a global company so the diversity, equality and inclusivity initiative is really big here. Everyone is represented.

How did you adjust to working from home?

When I started my graduate programme, I was remote working for the first six months. The key is to separate your workspace from your living space. So I packed away my monitor and laptop after I finished work, out of sight, out of mind.

The past few months, I have been in the office three days a week so it has been great to be able to build that network and make connections face to face.