Master of Applied Data Science
Data scientist, Karit NZ Ltd
Why did you choose to come to New Zealand?
New Zealand is a beautiful country with an excellent education system and internationally accredited qualifications. New Zealanders are also well known for their friendliness. In addition, New Zealand also offers a 3-year post-study work visa for international students.
Why UC?
I was a Supply Planning Assistant Manager at Unilever in Vietnam before I came to UC. When I worked for Unilever, I could see that data is one of the most important assets of the company. Every decision is driven by data. Data science is also an emerging profession with the exponential growth in size and availability of “big data”. The course outline of MADS at UC is very well-organised. That’s why I chose to study MADS at UC.
What is the best thing about UC?
UC offers a range of services to help me settle into university. The campus is fabulous with many green spaces. Teachers are very helpful and dedicated. The structure of each course is well-organised and the library is awesome with a rich variety of books and computers.
How did you find your MADS programme internship?
The internship project as a data analyst at Fonterra really helps me to apply what I had learnt in MADS to solve real-world data science problems. This is a valuable opportunity to touch real-world data from real business which enables me to practice different statistical modelling techniques used for analysing data and get hands-on experience.
Where are you employed now and what tasks does your job entail?
I’m a Data Scientist with Karit NZ Ltd in Christchurch. My main job is to utilise the analytical, statistical, and programming skills to collect, analyse, discover patterns, interpret large data sets, and develop data-driven solutions to solve difficult business challenges. As a data scientist, my role is central to the progressive development of predictive analytics and machine learning, transitioning into AI within the Karit energy management software platform.
How has your study experience at UC helped your work skills?
The MADS programme at UC allowed me to gain a wide range of technical competencies as well as providing the practical knowledge about data mining and machine learning techniques. This in-depth knowledge enables me to effectively identify good solutions for the new challenges in the data field for Karit.
What advice would you give to someone considering studying in your degree area?
If you are generally interested in seeing and analysing the rational side of everything - that’s a good sign that you would enjoy data science. Even if you don’t have background in IT, you still can learn applied data science as this Master’s course is designed to suit non-technical backgrounds.
In addition, remember to make friends, do not hesitate to ask for help if you need, join group learning, and check out events around University campus. You will find lots of fun.
