Graduate Experience:
Nicolas Terrazo

What led you to Aurora, and what did you do before?

I did a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Maths at Oxford University. I originally tried research in pure mathematics, but decided I wanted to do something less abstract with a more obvious real-world impact.

Can you describe a typical day in your role?

I start my day with a team meeting every morning for everyone to say what we are working. I then work until around 12:30 when the hour lunch break comes around. We try to do fun stuff for lunch with people in the office like going to the park or an outdoor market (if the weather is nice). I then work in the afternoon, continuing my coding projects and meeting with other teams. For example, I meet regularly with our product development teams to align on features clients want and how best to implement them. After work, there are days we do fun stuff like pub quizzes and other activities!

If you were to pitch your job to someone, what would you say you enjoyed the most?

The best thing about Aurora for me is the social aspect. It is a young company with a lot of people who are up for getting together outside of work and that means you get lots of chances to make friends which is not always possible in some companies.

How would you describe the culture at Aurora?

Aurora is a very friendly company! We do a lot of social things after work which is great. I also think we have a work culture where it’s not excessively formal, so it feels like I can always talk to people in more senior positions (about work-related and non-work-related things!).

Can you share a moment when you felt particularly empowered at Aurora?

A moment when I felt empowered came when I developed a new model feature for our battery software, Chronos. I got to present this to the global Head of Modelling, who listened and asked questions about it. It made me feel empowered because, despite being relatively new to the company, I still got to make a significant change that was noted by my most senior colleagues in Modelling. After this meeting, my manager remarked that no change is too small—any slight change in our model can lead to immense valuation changes for very real-world projects.

In what ways does Aurora support your sense of purpose in your career?

I think with a maths degree, it’s quite hard to find a job that has a positive real-world impact. So, I am super happy to work at Aurora where I am actively helping the energy transition.

What have you gained from your time at Aurora, and what do you hope to achieve next?

As my first job, Aurora has helped me learn how to be a more responsible adult and what it means to be a professional. Things such as having a stable routine, time management, professional communication, and coding to a serious standard are all things I have learned and that I am still trying to improve on. I hope to continue to improve on this and also gain experience in teaching and managing our new hires who come after me, as I feel that would be a very rewarding experience.

Reflecting on your start at Aurora, what’s one thing you wish you would have known, and what advice would you give a new starter?

At least for me, the transition from studying to having a job was quite extreme because I had a very chaotic student lifestyle, so at the start, I had to adapt very quickly. To anyone feeling that way, I will say this is a good thing and it helps you mature, so keep at it!