Who I am.
My name is Alan Hylands and I am a data analyst and writer from Northern Ireland.
What I’m doing now.
I joined Zapier in early 2020, and am currently a Staff Data Scientist.
What I’ve done.
I’ve worked in tech, data and analytics for the past 20+ years - building, reporting, analysing, managing, and mentoring.
I’ve covered varied sectors, mainly tech, financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce, and have led successful data projects in areas such as exploratory data analysis, customer segmentation and profiling, and customer lifetime value modelling.
A little more background.
I studied Accounting at university and planned for a future in finance.
Then I found the internet, programming, and databases.
I started my first e-commerce development agency in 2003. Since then I have worked on a number of small business start-ups in e-commerce, analytics, marketing, online research, and content marketing.
I started a successful football website which gave me the opportunity to write professionally for the New York Times Company. (Want to find out how that came about? Check out my I Want To Be A Football Writer When I Grow Up article.)
Quite unexpectedly, I was seduced into the corporate world of banking and financial services in the boom-time mid-noughties.
I spent over twelve years running Data and Analytics projects for a large UK and Ireland banking group. I worked my way up through the ranks, from senior data analyst to senior analytics manager to Head of Retail Commercial Excellence.
Then I decided that I’d had enough of management and wanted to get back into doing what I love best - digging into data and telling stories about what I find.
And that’s what brought me to Zapier.
Anything else?
I also write data articles to help folks become better data analysts, and interview actual real-life data professionals to find what really makes them tick.
And I help them get started learning SQL with my online SQL Crash Course.
Where you can find me.
You can contact by: