I grew in confidence, and as a person, during my placement

Sathvik Sai Krishna Surisetty, BSc Data Science with a Year in Industry graduate (2026)

I wanted to spend a year of my Data Science degree in industry to help inform my future career choices, and to give me an edge in the job market. What I hadn’t expected was a year that would leave me more confident, curious, and prepared for the road ahead.

 Finding a placement

The most challenging part of my placement year was finding a placement! I applied for many roles, and was on the point of giving up when I received an offer to join Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) as a Data Scientist. I’m so glad I persevered, as the application process gave me great resilience, and I also had a brilliant year.

 Joining an experienced data science team

Before I started my placement, LBG sent me a questionnaire to gauge my coding and academic knowledge, and preferences for what team I wanted to join. My Data Science degree stood me in good stead, and I was allocated to the best data science team, which was branded the “Centre for Excellence in AI and Data Science” during the year. Everyone in my team made me feel so welcome. They all had at least 10 - 15 years of experience, and were so generous in sharing their expertise.

 Translating data into real business impact

I worked on a really interesting technical challenge, redeveloping the EconMetrics pipeline, analysing different customers’ behaviours – mainly in Python – and using these insights to generate data-driven predictions for other teams within LBG. I typically spent 2 days a week working from the Bristol office, and 3 days working from home. I also visited colleagues in the Birmingham, London, and Manchester offices.

 Positive company culture

I love learning, and was really keen to read up on any topics which were new to me in the evenings and at weekends, so I was more prepared for the following week. My manager noticed this, and told me to take Thursday afternoons and Fridays as learning time instead, to ensure a better work-life balance. Alongside my technical work, I served as the data industrial placement lead for over 60 placement students within LBG. This role gave me great experience of engaging, representing, and supporting others, as well as organising hackathons.

 Endorsement and what’s next

Lloyds gave me the chance to step outside my comfort zone: to present findings and recommendations to senior stakeholders, to be adaptable, and to grow in ways I hadn’t expected. This experience shaped not only my technical abilities but also my approach to teamwork, problem-solving, and leadership. I’m truly grateful to my mentors and colleagues at Lloyds for their guidance, trust, and encouragement. I’ve just graduated from Bristol with First Class honours, and I’m really looking forward to joining LBG’s graduate scheme in September where I’ll be working in their new machine learning and AI team.

Interview written up by Dr Joanna Jordan https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannafjordan/