Career Strategy
Senua's operating notebook — direction, rules, and the decisions that compound. Not a chat log.
Career direction
Move from Fraud Specialist into Data Analytics within 6–9 months, then Data Engineering, with ML/AI Engineering as the 2–3 year horizon. Lead with the fraud/risk domain as the wedge — it's the unfair advantage no generic analyst has.
Positioning notes
- The fraud analyst who builds tools, not just dashboards (Magnifier).
- Investigation instinct + data discipline — rare combination.
- Comfortable at the messy edge of data quality.
Role preferences
- Hybrid Cork or fully remote (Ireland/EU/UK).
- Strong async culture, real data maturity.
- Gulf strategic roles considered when comp + Sharia-alignment + relocation make sense.
Companies to watch
StripeMonzoWorkdayIntercomstcQNB
Excluded industries
Conventional-interest core banking productsGambling / bettingAlcohol-led brandsPredatory lending
Sharia-alignment rules
Exclude roles whose core function is riba-based products, gambling, or haram goods. 'Review' flag for general banks where the role itself is data/fraud and not product-tied — decide case by case.
Recurring lessons
- BI-only roles undersell the engineering trajectory — deprioritize.
- Quantify Magnifier impact in every CV; vague 'AI tool' lands flat.
- Referrals convert ~3× cold applies — work the network first.
Mentor notes
- Mentor: push for the analytics-engineering path, not pure analyst — better long-term leverage.
- Bring one concrete dbt artifact to next mentor session.
Weekly decisions
- This weekPrioritize Stripe + Workday follow-up; pause Gulf outreach until CV C has a real dbt project.
- Last weekClosed HubSpot (too junior). Started CV C dbt portfolio repo.