I was uncertain about my future path in Japan, so I made a spontaneous decision to study abroad. During high school, I couldn't find something I particularly wanted to study at university, so I was contemplating the meaning of going to college. As one of my options, I also considered trying to go straight into working, so I went to a bookstore to look for materials on qualifying exams. That's when I noticed a book about studying abroad. After reading it, studying abroad seemed more accessible than I had imagined, so I contacted the author to learn about the process and ended up going to the United States. I didn't think my English skills were very strong, and as the day of departure approached, I felt anxious about living abroad. Despite this, I decided to take on the challenge and go along with the flow.

I studied computer science and business. One particularly memorable class was a competition conducted in collaboration with a company. In this competition, groups worked to devise solutions to real problems faced by the company, presented them, and were scored by representatives from the company. It was a stimulating experience to get a glimpse into the real world of business.

Because I was busy with my studies, I attended the Boston Career Forum and conducted a short-term battle there. As a guiding principle for job hunting, I emphasized four points: working for a Japanese company, having decision-making authority even as a young employee, working for the sake of team members, and applying what I had learned in university. Also, if I could, I wanted to work in a job related to my hobby of gaming. Since childhood, I've enjoyed playing a wide range of games like strategy games, RPGs, and social games, and during university, I was particularly into PC games.

One memorable experience was when I served as the guild master of an online game during the COVID-19 pandemic when I took a year and a half off from university. At that time, I was devouring business books, and based on a diagnostic test I had done before my leave of absence, which suggested I had managerial aptitude, I decided to try my hand at management. I managed a guild with about 50 members ranging in age from their teens to their forties, thinking about how to keep the game enjoyable without getting bored. I organized events like other game tournaments and mahjong tournaments during periods when there were no major updates in the game to ensure the members' community remained engaged. I also learned management tips from adult members, acquiring skills in delegating tasks and assessing aptitudes. Through online gaming, I gained a significant amount of simulated social experience, which contributed greatly to my personal growth. I'm also grateful to my family for warmly supporting me while I spent my time during the leave of absence immersed in games.

At Reazon, I saw an opportunity to engage with my beloved games while applying the knowledge I gained in business and computer science at university. When I thought of a data scientist, I had the impression it was a job closer to engineering, but what attracted me to Reazon's data scientist role was the expectation to not only analyze but also propose subsequent measures. Moreover, during the interview, I was impressed by the employees who spoke to me, especially when they said they worked with the spirit of a high school club. During high school, I was deeply involved in the backstage work of the string ensemble, such as creating schedules for performances and producing introductory videos for new students, regardless of my own role. I was completely absorbed in my work, and I thought that if I were to work at Reazon, I could work with the same enthusiasm as I did back then.

The atmosphere within the team was much better than I had imagined. On my first day, they invited me to lunch, and during work hours, seniors working under discretionary labor bought snacks and took breaks together, creating a refreshing team atmosphere.

I handle data extraction, analysis, and if necessary, proposal of improvement measures in response to analysis requests from the promotion and operations teams of social games. There are many data analysis requests directly related to sales, such as payment status and cost-effectiveness of campaigns. I'm also involved in adding and editing items on BI dashboards. During quieter times, I analyze issues I find while playing games and propose improvement measures.

Deep understanding of the game. My superior taught me that there are three qualities necessary for a data scientist: business communication skills, technical skills such as statistics and SQL, and domain knowledge of the service being handled. While I don't have outstanding technical skills, I believe I have an otaku-like enthusiasm for diving deep into games. Reazon's games are thoroughly played, and I apply my understanding of game terminology and systems to my work. Since I love games so much, it was enjoyable, and I felt a sense of accomplishment, wondering if I had ever played games so productively before.

In social games, characters with attractive skills and statuses that players desire are crucial. While playing, I formed hypotheses and cross-referenced them with data such as character usage rates to analyze which characters are likely to become popular. I also found unexpected issues and was able to contribute to their resolution.

About a dozen interns are scheduled to join the AI & Data Science department, so I'm actively creating training materials for them. Personally, I'm still studying technically, but through creating training materials, I want to deepen my technical understanding so that I can confidently answer questions from interns during the summer.

I emphasize creating readable data. Data analysis is meaningless unless it leads to improvements that the client receives and acts upon. Even for members of other departments who are not experts in statistics or data, I strive to present materials in a way that is easy to understand and engaging. Moreover, for areas where clients might not understand, instead of simply submitting the data, I add notes like, "Here is the data, but please consult if you have additional requests." This is a style I've adopted from my seniors. With the mindset of accompanying the client, I tackle daily analysis tasks.

Initially, I struggled to connect with members of other departments. As the analysis team plays a role similar to internal consultants, it's necessary to actively communicate with members of other departments. However, I was uncertain about my job duties and understanding of our games when I first joined, so I struggled with knowing what to discuss.

First and foremost, I greeted everyone fresh with a cheerful "Nice to meet you!" to help them remember my face. Additionally, I diligently worked on daily tasks to be able to discuss work topics, as taught by my seniors. I actively participated in the monthly social gatherings held within the Game Business Division, and asked senior members to introduce me to others. As a result, I've spoken to more people, and not only introduced myself and chatted, but also consulted on work matters, naturally deepening communication.

It's an optional event where we casually talk while eating dinner ordered from the menu. Drinking alcohol is also allowed, and it's a stand-up format so you're free to eat and chat with anyone anywhere. It's a perfect opportunity for new employees to get to know others, as we can talk openly about work and private matters.

I feel that the greatest value is having a fun workplace. The job itself suits me, and I'm blessed with great colleagues. Especially when discussing analysis content and games with department members, it's more enjoyable than anything else. Discussing challenges while playing games with members who are passionate about gaming, and finding clues for analysis from there, is very stimulating. I truly feel like I'm working with the same spirit as I did when I was captivated during job interviews by the "spirit of middle and high school club activities."

I want to grow into a recognized data scientist, where colleagues can confidently say, "Ask Wagata-san, she'll know." To achieve this, I want to acquire knowledge and technical skills in statistics, machine learning, programming, etc., so that I can determine the best approach for these challenges. The AI & Data Science department originally had few members, so we've only tackled critical analysis so far. Now that we're in the process of increasing the department's personnel, I hope to take on a wider range of analyses and discover challenges to further enhance the gaming experience.