Master of Applied Data Science
Spatial Data Scientist, Orbica Ltd
Joo-Hyun was working in data marketing for an airline company back home in South Korea, when he realised the marketing industry's environment had been changing and becoming more demanding. He saw this as an opportunity to improve his knowledge and be able to understand the new business era.
After he researched different universities around the world to study, he chose the University of Canterbury because of the Master of Applied Data Science (MADS) programme.
"The MADS provides high-quality content with solid theories and practical cutting-edge techniques," he says.
"As an international student, the e-learning system that UC has helped me attend some online lectures. Also, studying with students from different countries allowed me to think out of the box and improve my problem-solving skills."
Other than his degree, Joo-Hyun decided to live in New Zealand because of the chance it offered at starting a new life - the clean environment, safety, affordable costs, and high quality of education provided for his family.
"I strongly believe that if someone travels to Christchurch for a couple of weeks to experience the atmosphere of the campus and living costs, for sure, they will be back again to study here," he says.
He received two awards during his study, the UC International Dean's Award and a stipend after he completed a summer internship given in recognition for his efforts through his studies.
"For the summer internship, I was assigned a data science project which was given by a non-profit organisation. That one led to my next internship and permanent job in New Zealand. So, I highly recommend attending the summer internship, and when you get the survey for assigning a project, choose the industry you want to dive into."
Joo-Hyun is currently working as a Spatial Data Scientist at Orbica Ltd in Christchurch. He is detecting coordinates of where objects are located on the earth's surface by satellite or aerial imagery, through computer vision techniques and deep learning algorithms.
He wants to encourage future students to use the different tools and services that UC has, to improve their language and written skills to pursue their studies overseas.
"For a potential international student who has a lack of knowledge in English or any other subject, I suggest to attend the free courses at the central library, such as 'how to write an essay' and 'basic linear algebra', would be significantly helpful," he says.
