In this weekly series we introduce you to members of the Tech North team, and let them tell you more about their roles and their views about tech in the North of England.

This week we hear from our Insight Manager, Henri Egle Sorotos.

Tell us about your role at Tech North

I love data and my data job! I am the responsible for analytics, intelligence and insight at Tech North. I do everything from social research through to data science. Practically, this means a mixture of social research & policy work, content production and internal operations.

I’ve only been working for Tech North for four months, and am the first ever Insight professional at the organisation. The organisation is working to become the authoritative intelligence hub on Northern tech and digital.

Most of my time is dedicated to four areas of focus – skills provision, development of the tech ecosystem, investment, and market analysis. These areas are the foundation designed to make Tech North the authoritative voice on Northern tech. So whether I am doing some machine learning or designing data collection tools, all output is related to these topics.

I work and live in Manchester, but regularly travel around the North and down to London.

What’s your background, and what attracted you to working at Tech North?

I’ve been living in Manchester for six years now, having initially moved North to study Economics and Politics at the University of Manchester. I trained as a social and market researcher with the Market Research Society, and worked at three different Manchester research focussed charities. However, I quickly focussed my professional development on more heavy duty data science techniques, and learnt to use the R programming language.

My software expertise now spans everything from network analysis with Gephi, machine learning with R and Python, through to JavaScript visualisation.

I was really keen to work in a small, vibrant and dynamic team that allowed freedom within the role. I had a number of interviews at large tech firms, but chose the role at Tech North due to the autonomy in the role. I feel really empowered, and love the day to day work.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about tech in the North since you joined Tech North?

I had no idea there was so much. I certainly had a good idea of tech in the North of England, but within a week I was fully versed in the sheer scale and size of it. I have found it really fascinating analysing the breadth of the ecosystem, and how the different organisations are interconnected.

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

I love my job, so much of it is exciting! Most rewarding is the chance to interpret and articulate complex datasets to a variety of audiences. Ultimately, this is the raison d’etre for any insight manager. I am currently working to quantify the digital skills gap in the North of England – something that has long been left unanswered.

I also relish the opportunity to work on projects in partnership with other Northern based organisations. Interconnectivity is key to the success of the Northern Tech ecosystem.

If there’s one thing you’d like people to do after reading this interview, what would it be?

Get involved! Tell us what kind of intelligence would be relevant to you. Data is god, live it!

Follow Henri on Twitter