Machine learning is awesome. Netflix saves around a $1 billion a year thanks to its intelligent algorithms that keep people warm and happy with relevant content personalisation and recommendations. That’s a juicy wad of cash that can be neatly injected back into content and customer delight. It also aligns with McKinsey’s ‘The State of AI in 2020’ report that points to how organisations are using this technology to generate measurable financial value. This is what makes the individual who can translate lakes of data, algorithms, AI and information into usable innovations and solutions, a very rare beast indeed. So we asked Hanno Brink, machine learning engineer at Synthesis, to slide open the door to his life and reveal exactly what’s needed to undertake this demanding, fascinating and coveted role.

“As the practice lead for the intelligent data division at Synthesis, most of my time is spent with clients, helping them to become data-driven organisations using cloud-native technology to extract the data they’ve collected,” he says. “My role is to leverage machine learning and AI to enable innovation, and to deliver value to customers in the form of products.”