“So that’s what you do!” – Working as a data analyst at Prognos

How long have you been with Prognos? What did you do before?
I have been working at Prognos in Freiburg since 2015. Initially, I started as a project manager until, in 2019, I discovered that the career path of an analyst or expert was a better fit for me. Before that, I worked at the University of Freiburg – first as a doctoral student, then as a post-doc. In addition to my doctorate and teaching tasks, I was able to get to know about project work. There, I dealt with some of the same topics and clients as Prognos.

What is the difference between your day-to-day job as a data analyst and that of a project manager or consultant?
You could say that I work in the background or at the foundation. I support our interdisciplinary teams and projects primarily with model expertise and data analysis, from data acquisition to data visualisation, and finally reporting. One of my current hobbyhorses is computer-assisted reporting using the statistical programming language “R.” This has meant development and programming work, but it is increasingly paying off, as “data-heavy” work steps have now become less time-consuming. An example is the analysis of survey results: For this purpose, last year, I programmed a toolbox to automatically create illustrations and tables and output them in PowerPoint, Excel, or Word.

What do you specialise in?
As a data expert, there are some topics that are in my wheelhouse. In my case, these are demography, social security, and social and fiscal policy. I support our microsimulation model and our social security model, OCCUR. The former is used whenever the impact of policies on households is to be investigated, for example, the additional burden of a CO2 tax or the impact of introducing the minimum wage. The social security model CURE is required when forecasts of the pension level or the development of social security contributions are required.

Which skills and personal characteristics are particularly important for your day-to-day work?
Experts should definitely have a preference for data, models, and methods. As my colleague Alexander Piégsa puts it so nicely: “We are the stonemasons of Prognos.” It is a matter of getting your (data) hands dirty. A knowledge of programming is required as well as the willingness to deepen this knowledge and to familiarise yourself with topics and data outside of your wheelhouse.

In terms of personal traits experts need great teamwork skills. This applies to almost everyone at Prognos. In our interdisciplinary projects, I sometimes work with several colleagues simultaneously. Digital technologies in particular require a great deal of patience and the ability to translate complex or technical issues into understandable language.

Which tool or gadget can you not do without at work and why?
The first thing I do in the morning is open “RStudio” (a development environment for the R programming language). This is why I cannot do without my “RStudio” coffee cup at work. My attitude since joining Prognos has become: To no longer be dependent on licensed software and instead on open source.

What motivates you in your work at Prognos?
I am free to organise my work independently: I can work on the topics using my methods, because it is up to me which tools I use to achieve my goal. From the beginning, I found the diversity of topics and the opportunity to deal with new topics exciting and motivating. I can also try out new ideas and develop digital tools in larger or smaller innovation projects. And finally: The biggest motivation for my work, besides the variety of topics, are the people at Prognos.

Thank you very much for the report and the insights into your daily work, dear Stefan!

To Dr Stefan Moog’s profile

Also of interest:

The day-to-day work of Jannis Lambert, project manager at Prognos

Valentin Würth’s insights into the traineeship at Prognos

In conversation with Melanie Nogossek, Head of Human Ressources Management