From Carlsberg to Data Science at Vodafone. How to change profession after 20 years in sales

20 years in retail: from store manager to Carlsberg supervisor

In 2001, Serhiy graduated from the Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy of the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University with a degree in Metallurgy. However, in the early 2000s, seeking a career in metallurgy was only promising on paper. Having a higher education, Serhiy went to work in sales.

His career in retail and distribution spanned almost two decades. In Kharkiv, he worked his way up from an intern to a store manager in what was then a large network of mobile phone stores. And upon returning to his native Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, Serhiy got a job at a company that distributes Carlsberg products (beer and related products). There, he started as a sales representative and rose to the position of supervisor of a regional team of sales agents.

Over 20 years in retail, Serhiy has mastered communication with people, sales analysis, report preparation, and Excel. But over the years, retail has become increasingly automated and networked, traditional sales have stagnated (everything has moved online), and confidence in the future has waned.

First steps in IT: Google search and doubts of Big Data Lab mentors

The interest in numbers and planning that arose while working with Excel spreadsheets naturally led to an interest in Data Science and neural networks.

Serhiy started by studying materials online on his own: he watched webinars on YouTube for six months, took a short and inexpensive monthly course on Python. But he quickly realized that on his own or on short superficial courses, he would “go to the goal for a very long time.” Before starting serious training, he literally googled simple technical commands: “What is pip install and how to use it on a laptop.”

He was looking for a deep, systematic program. He came across the Vodafone Big Data Lab course on his Facebook feed. The price was a serious factor: at that time, the training cost about $3,000 — a significant amount for a family budget. But Serhiy was convinced by the Vodafone brand and the fundamental training program.

During the initial assessment, the Big Data Lab team was hesitant about whether Serhiy’s initial training would be enough for the intensive main program. His level of knowledge in mathematics and programming was low at that time, so he was offered to take a preparatory course first. And then something happened that the team did not expect: Serhiy brilliantly passed the preparatory stage and showed that he was able to work with the load of the main program.

Offer for the 3rd month of the course

The Big Data Lab program is designed for 6 months and is extremely intensive: higher mathematics (mathematics, linear algebra, matrices, vectors, probability theory), Python, SQL, database architecture, and Machine Learning.

Serhiy combined a full-time job as a sales supervisor with intensive night studies. The turning point came around the 3rd month of the program. The students were given a machine learning homework assignment — to build a classification model on the famous Titanic dataset from Kaggle.

Serhiy approached the task not just technically, but systematically. He demonstrated code cleanliness and a clear logic of the approach. He showed iterative development and a deep understanding of how data affects the result. The mentor was delighted with his work.

It so happened that at that very moment a vacancy opened in the CVM (Customer Value Management) and Data Science department at Vodafone Ukraine. The mentor recommended Serhiy to the management, and the very next day after the presentation of the homework, the head of the department called Serhiy and offered him the position of Data Scientist.

Serhiy moved to Kyiv and defended his final Big Data Lab project, already being an official Vodafone employee.

Remote work in telecom

Serhiy started his new job a couple of months before the full-scale invasion began. On the night of February 24, 2022, he was in his native Kupyansk, where he had come to visit his family. The city was occupied. Having survived a difficult period under occupation, Serhiy and his family managed to evacuate.

For the safety of the children (his son started primary school in the UK), the family temporarily settled in the UK. Vodafone Ukraine’s flexible policy on full-remote work allowed Serhiy to keep his position and continue to work effectively on the company’s tasks.

In parallel with his work at Vodafone, Serhiy continued his studies: in 2024, he enrolled in and successfully completed his second master’s degree at American University Kyiv (AUK), graduating with honors.

What is Serhiy doing at Vodafone now and what will he teach?

Today, Serhiy Kuksa is an experienced Data Scientist who works at the intersection of classic Machine Learning and Generative AI:

Analytics and ML: building machine learning models to analyze the behavior of millions of telecom operator customers, predict churn, and forecast needs (CVM analytics).

AI implementation: participation in the creation of personalized recommendation systems (in particular, the launch of neural network selection of optimal tariff plans for users in the "My Vodafone" application).

Now Serhiy is returning to Vodafone Big Data Lab, but already in the role of a mentor. He has developed a new AI module for Vodafone Big Data Lab, which consists of two blocks — AI for Data Professionals and Applied AI Systems, where he will teach students:

1. AI as a tool for daily efficiency: How a data scientist can use generative AI to quickly write and optimize code, fix bugs, and create complex SQL queries.
2. AI Engineering & AI Agents: How to build complex autonomous AI systems, integrate agents, and create next-generation product solutions based on big data.

Serhiy is convinced: you can study math analysis and linear algebra for years on your own and not understand what exactly is needed for Data Science.