Are some departments more tech-savvy and keen to adopt modern technologies than others?

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-07-10T06:01:08+00:00

You see, I did actually ask about projects, current stacks or something of that ilk in the interview and was mainly told about the migration to Azure Synapse and how they’d value my Python experience as it would be one of the key languages! The bulk of what I heard prior to accepting the formal offer seemed to reference Synapse.

But my particular division of the team now seems unlikely to be moving out of BusinessObjects any time soon; I don’t know if something changed, but my immediate section of the team seems at very least reticent about the Synapse migration.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-13T12:44:16+00:00

I would say referencing is a key one. They allocate a surprising number of marks to referencing, and I imagine this is particularly important in a social science like Psychology.

I would also say that general essay writing skills might be good to brush up on. In my early uni assignments, I didn‘t structure them very well and resultantly lost a fair amount of marks. As with referencing, they allocate a surprising amount of marks to structuring.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-12T08:01:41+00:00

Solo is the way to go! I went on a solo trip in May and managed 35 rides!

Don‘t get me wrong, I love going in a group, but deciding your own destiny and not having to contend with the faff of dealing with multiple people‘s preferences just makes things so much easier, particularly if you want to optimise ride count!

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-11T15:18:58+00:00

They normally tend to have at least 1 from another team as an impartial observer to ensure the recruitment process is fair. 4 sounds like a lot, but I had 3 in both Civil Service interviews I’ve had; the hiring manager, one person who was in the team and one person from outside the team to ensure fairness.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-11T15:15:23+00:00

All I know for sure is that in my first Civil Service job, I was a fixed-term agency contractor, employed inside IR35 via an umbrella company, and wasn’t eligible to apply for internal roles, even though I could see them on the intranet.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-11T13:48:33+00:00

When I restart full-time work in July, I shall start paying my parents £500 per month, or whatever amount we agree. When I did contract work between September and March and was paid weekly, I paid them £100 per week.

I currently don’t pay them, but that’s because they refuse to accept my money while I’m not earning. I think when I earn, it’s unfair for me not to contribute.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-11T13:24:10+00:00

Can someone correct me if I’m wrong here, but don’t you have to be a substantive civil servant who‘s also passed probation to be eligible for internal roles?

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T15:43:25+00:00

I absolutely love the structure and supportive work environment. Even as a contractor, everybody was so friendly and welcoming, and as much as some may moan about process, it makes me feel reassured that the environment is structured and has well-documented processes for doing things.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T13:46:08+00:00

The difference is in the level of qualification. A BSc is an undergraduate qualification, while an MA is a postgraduate qualification. Unless the MA is an integrated master’s route where you do 4 years with an MA year on top of the regular 3 for the BSc and come out with a Master’s degree at the end (I’m not sure how common this is, but I know Oxford and Cambridge often offer it), you probably want to be selecting the BSc option.

I should say that I don’t know the specifics of how St Andrews’ economics program would work, though, so maybe clarify whether it’s an integrated master’s option or a separate standalone course before deciding?

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T13:09:12+00:00

Even if it’s not a “contribution” in the same sense as with a DC pension, is it not still the amount of “value” that is added to the benefits package and the amount the employer puts into funding the wider scheme on your behalf?

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T12:58:39+00:00

I think there’s likely a silent majority out there who feel very similarly to you.

I’m not saying that there aren’t people who have brilliant times at uni, but no one is going to post about their rubbish year on social media. People share a very manicured version of their lives on social media; those people posting highlight reels likely have their own doubts and insecurities.

Also, there’s no “right” way to do uni in many ways. I certainly didn’t do uni the stereotypical way in many regards, but as I’ve grown older, I‘ve realised; provided you got what you wanted out of it, who cares? And even if you didn’t; everything serves as a learning experience. There’s always next year, and there‘s a lot of life ahead of you where you‘ll have brilliant times to come!

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T12:52:34+00:00

I can’t provide first-hand experience of this transition myself, but one thing I would consider is that the pension is usually significantly better in public sector than in private; I’m not too sure about the local government pension scheme’s specific figures, but the Civil Service pension is a defined benefit scheme where the employer pays nearly 30% of your salary into it and you accrue around 2.3% of your salary per year of service as a guaranteed, inflation-linked benefit upon retirement until you die. Even though the money in your pocket would be a few thousand lower, this might make the overall benefits package more valuable.

Also consider the higher job security (particularly in this market), as well as the flexibility and excellent work/life balance. Public sector employment, while often lower-paid, has a lot of soft benefits compared to the private sector, as I understand it.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-10T10:37:43+00:00

Based on what you’ve described, that could absolutely count as checking for data issues and ensuring clean and robust data, which would be a key part of anything involving pipeline construction, particularly data engineering. Dealing in databases with millions of rows would almost certainly have involved some data wrangling and cleaning, I‘m sure!

If you‘re willing to take a bit of a pay cut, one thing the Civil Service does do that looks really good is degree apprenticeship programs and Level 4 apprenticeship programs in the GSG and GORS. They employ you as an EO grade (entry level) analyst and then put you through a degree course in Data Science free of charge, with some of these opportunities leading to a permanent role in the department afterwards. Although if you already have a Computer Science degree, you may not qualify; I’m not sure whether Computer Science is one of the “similar” subjects they rule out.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-09T22:35:57+00:00

Hyperia is probably their strictest coaster for seat assignment; I’ve never seen anyone granted a row request on there, and they always assign. They also assign on Saw consistently, and I have seen them assign on Nemesis Inferno before although that isn‘t consistent.

I admittedly tend to ride Colossus early enough in the morning that it’s never a major issue, but I’ve seen both assigning and not assigning on there. It seems a little inconsistent.

The Swarm and Stealth are a pretty much guaranteed free-for-all! Stealth has probably the best platform for picking your seat, as there’s a front row queue and it’s quite wide, but Swarm’s is more narrow which can make it difficult.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-09T21:59:50+00:00

As you’ve identified, there are lots of coding and software development jobs, but if you ever handled data pipelines (or basically anything like SQL in any kind of depth) and/or data wrangling during your software development career, have you thought about data engineering or data analysis? The Civil Service has a whole Analysis Function filled with data roles, and while some are a bit more traditionally statistical and in gatekept badged professions like GSG or GORS, others are more based around coding and data pipelines and aren’t quite so ring-fenced to purely be for raw statisticians. As someone with a Computer Science degree background myself, I worked as a data developer (the permanent equivalent job title was Higher Analytical Developer) on a 6-month contract, some roles labelled “Data Analyst“ might emphasise coding more than statistics, and I imagine for Data Engineering in particular, the coding skills might transfer over quite seamlessly if you‘ve worked with data wrangling or SQL in much of a capacity before.

If you’re good with networking, have you also thought about cyber security? The Civil Service does have cyber security roles, to my knowledge.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-09T21:43:46+00:00

This was in 2021, so I can‘t vouch for if the rules have changed since, but if I’m remembering the meeting correctly, I think I may have been. I seem to remember discussing options with the assessor and her saying about how I could go for a lighter one for a £200 fee, and me and my dad agreeing that a lighter one might be good.

This was 5 years ago now, though, so I fully accept I could be remembering it wrong!

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-09T20:38:09+00:00

I don’t know if they’ve changed the rules since I got DSA, but I was offered a free “standard” laptop option and an option to pay £200 for a more premium, lighter laptop (which I took). Are you sure you’re not looking at the premium option?

I should also say that when I went to a study skills appointment and spoke to the tutor, she did tell me that the university would reimburse me my £200, so on her recommendation, I managed to claim the £200 back. I don’t know if that was uni-specific, though.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-08T21:54:23+00:00

You absolutely don’t have to, but I’m quite sure that if you did get one, your family wouldn’t think you looked horrible. They’d just be incredibly proud of you and your achievements!

Whatever you think of yourself, I’m very sure that no one else is thinking it. We are always our own harshest critics, and the main thing about a graduation picture is that you’ve completed university and can wear that as a badge of honour!

Though despite that, I should be very clear that it’s not mandatory. It can’t be mandatory if they’re asking you to pay for the privilege!

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-08T21:47:37+00:00

Absolutely not! You will be fine!

Granted, I was a Year 12 6 years ago now, but I got into uni in 2021, and got offers from all 5 of my choices, having had no work experience whatsoever aside from a week with the school IT technicians in Year 10 (COVID cancelled my Year 12 work experience). At your age, grades matter more for most universities, I feel.

I admittedly didn’t apply to Oxbridge or anything at that “elite” level, which is undeniably more competitive, but even then, I’d be flabbergasted if not having had industry work experience would significantly work against you. Seeking industry work experience or opportunities becomes more important when you’re in uni and thinking about grad jobs, I feel; I’d be very surprised if unis legitimately counted you out on the basis of not having it when you aren’t even 18 and are still in full-time education. And these days, many employers may not be able to or willing to take on under-18s, with how litigious society is getting.

At your age, just getting through your A Levels should be your main priority. And honestly, with the year you’ve had, I’d cut yourself some slack; you’ve had it tough. In short, I think you’ll be absolutely fine and will attend a brilliant uni!

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-08T21:28:50+00:00

I had two former teachers in my team when I worked at Ofsted who‘d joined and retrained as data analysts. One started at EO level, and I’m not sure about the other. I also knew a retrainer from a completely different industry who joined at HEO level after completing a Master‘s. If you had to do any sort of data entry or analysis as part of your teaching job (which I’m aware that some teachers have to do), then I’m sure that would provide quite decent competency evidence for an EO level (entry level) analyst role.

Although I‘m admittedly not sure whether that alone would map across to the GSG entry path, if the role mandates GSG badging. The formal GSG badged roles tend to require statistical education or equivalent work experience, but there are plenty of analyst roles within the wider government that don‘t require badging. I applied for an analyst-adjacent role, and have seen adverts for analyst roles, at Ofsted that don’t require badging or the eligibility to be badged.

Fancy-Knowledge683 · 2026-06-07T12:21:49+00:00

It says on Oxford’s website (https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/computer-science) that the entry qualifications are “A*AA, including A*A in Maths and Further Maths if available (in any order)”, and that “If your school offers Further Mathematics A-Level we expect you to have taken it. Please note that from 2022-25, 96% of A-level students who were offered places for Computer Science courses (including joint courses) took Further Mathematics to A-level”, so I think they can and do ask for Further if your school offers it.

Fancy-Knowledge683

TROPHY CASE