Maintain a strong work ethic.
Hello there!
My name is Chris and I am a data scientist working at Verizon. I have been working for 7 years in tech with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science. If you are reading this, then you most likely have an interest in a STEM field and are looking to pursue a career in STEM which is great! I would like to describe my journey into how I got into STEM and how I ended up where I am now in hopes that this can give you some direction or at least some ideas for your own journey.
Growing up, I was naturally good at math and science and looked to pursue those areas since it made sense for me to follow something I was good at. Outside of that, I did not really have a good idea of what I wanted to do for a career, I just knew that I wanted it to involve math and science in some way. My parents suggested pursuing engineering since most engineering jobs involve math and science, so I decided to enroll in the engineering school at Rutgers University. In my opinion, the school you go to is not as important as what you accomplish at that school, so if you know what you want to pursue then I would focus on finding a school that offers what you want instead of finding the most prestigious school.
Once I was at Rutgers, I found that I was comfortable with engineering in general but still needed to pick a specific major. Ultimately for me, I wanted a desk job compared to a more hands-on job which led me to computer science/computer engineering. Despite being good at math and science, I did find computer science challenging as most people do. The overall skillset between computer science and engineering has overlap, but computer science is a bit more abstract with less focus on formulas and numbers. The most important part to succeeding in college is to maintain a strong work ethic because you will receive a lot less guidance once you are in college and your future is now up to you. If you want to succeed in life, you have to pave the way for success.
In the end, I graduated with a major in computer science and a minor in math. Admittedly, this did not exactly align with what I wanted since I was looking for something with more numbers, but I was hoping that I could find opportunities along the way that would align better with my goals. Most people end up switching job fields during their careers so not finding your ideal job in the first try is not a big deal. In fact, I didn’t even know about data science before starting my first job. I started working as part of a rotational program which let us get experience on different teams before eventually sticking with a permanent team. It was through this program that I got exposed to data science which was the blend of math, computer science, and statistics that I was looking for. With that, I have found a field I am comfortable with and continue to learn more about through work and occasional learning on my own.
To summarize, STEM is a great area to make your career in and that there are many possibilities for you to settle on. I would try to take a subject you are passionate about and look into what kind of jobs focus on the area you are looking at. Tech jobs in particular see a lot of advancements and innovation, so I think it is a good place to start if you are looking for something interesting. You don’t have to get it perfect on the first try (most people don’t), but having somewhere to start can help you start your career journey faster and help you figure out what you want or don’t want from your career. As long as you work hard and reflect on every step of your journey, I think you should have a great chance of finding a career that you enjoy.
