Question: How old were you when you first wanted this job? Also, were always the top of the class at maths in primary and high school?

Sreejita Ghosh answered on 11 Nov 2019: last edited 11 Nov 2019 3:53 pm

I used be among the top few in Maths from primary till secondary school (till GCSE equivalent exam). In high school wasn’t able to devote as much time to Maths as I should have or would have liked to. But I liked Maths even in high school despite my grades falling below what it used to be before and during my GCSE equivalent.
My ambitions have changed over the years. When I was in primary school I wanted to follow my dad’s profession and become a doctor. As I grew older I saw how difficult my dad’s job is and wanted to do something so that the job of doctors like him become easier. By then I had started ripping apart tape recorders (yes, these things were available during the time I was growing up) and then putting it back so that it functions. I liked problem solving from a young age. That’s when I decided to become a Biomedical Engineer. However during my years as a Biomedical engineer I did an internship where I had to use computer programs on the MR images of brains to find out which type of psychiatric disorder a subject has. However I did not understand how exactly the computer program did what it did and wanted to learn more. When I talked about it to a professor he offered me an internship at Philips research. During this internship I learned how Maths and Physics was behind these programs and how the subject grouping by the computer programs (known as machine learning classifiers) were made. Since I started loving this new field I wanted to learn more I applied for this particular PhD position (also in association with the friendly professor who is now my Grandvisor) and got it. So it is actually really just 4 years ago that I knew I wanted to become a Data Scientist and not a Biomedical Engineer.
Changes happen. That’s normal. We change as people, and along with that our ambitions change as well. Career change is quite common too. Just don’t stereotype yourself. Keep all possibilities open with respect things you enjoy studying. You don’t need to be brilliant in maths from the very beginning. My supervisor says that it is required that you are not afraid of maths and are ready and excited to learn new maths 🙂 .
Does this answer your question? Feel free to ask if you have more questions. 🙂