Photo taken in Taipei
During a stormy night in 2018, it was raining cats and dogs outside. Suddenly there was thunder and lightning. Jeng jeng jeng, I suddenly decided to take up a master degree to study data science.
Nah, I always wish it was that simple to make such a big decision in life.
- It took me about 5 years to decide that I would go back to university for a data science degree.
- It took me 2.5 years to have the courage in taking the leap to go for a change in job function for the 1st time.
Was I worried or scared when I made these choice? Oh absolutely.
Unconventional Path - Work
After working on actuarial pricing for more than 4 years, I have asked for a change in job function, which I have chickened out twice times after the requests. There were a lot of ‘what-if’ in my head.
“What if I don’t like the new function?”
“What if I struggle to understand the new concepts?”
“What if I screwed up?”
“What if I get along with them?”
However, on the third time, I came to the conclusion that if I don’t take the leap of faith, I would never step out from my comfort zone.
Meanwhile, unfortunately sometimes life is not a bed of roses. Even if it is a bed of roses, it is also a bed of roses with full of thorns.
Initially, things were not as smooth as what I wanted. Team mates left one after another one and things were pretty messy. It was through these tough times I discovered my strength, how I could play my strength and make a difference.
Fast forward to 1.5 years later, I was being offered to change my job scope again at my work. However, this change in job scope was even more drastic. I was being offered to change my job scope from life insurance to general insurance.
Am I scared? Still as worried as usual.
However, I decided that I would regret if I did not take the leap of faith again. My industry friends were shocked, they even checked with me to verify the news. Deep down I knew that worry does not solve anything. So, I worked my a** hard to put in the extra effort to understand the fundamental concepts for general insurance.
Within less than 3 months after joining the team, I was asked to cover group insurance while my colleague was on maternity leave. At the moment, I was worried as my main expertise was never in short term insurance business and I was expecting to guide one of the junior on this piece of work. Despite of the hiccups at the beginning, things turned out better than what I initially imagined.
These past success have nevertheless given me more confidence in myself.
Unconventional Path - Data Science Journey
I first discovered my interest for data science back in my undergraduate studies. I still remember it was generalized linear model project on Titanic dataset that sparked my interest.
Screenshot of my GLM report
After I started working, I never forget my interest in this area. However, as life goes on, I was not sure this data science was for me since actuarial science and data science are still different (in terms of concepts and work) although they are somewhat similar.
Until few years ago, I was once exposed a bit on data science at work again. That re-kindled my interest for data science. I knew that it is not going to work if I rely others for my learning, eg. waiting to learn from work, waiting for others to teach me and so on. Eventually, I decided to go back into university to study data science.
Throughout these processes, I have encountered many “Why” from myself and others.
“Why would you still want to study, given that you have been studying for your actuarial exams after graduating from university?”
“Why are you still studying this when you hold an actuarial science degree?”
“Why are you studying when your working hours can be quite bad?”
“Why are you spending so much money on getting another degree? Are you sure you can earn back the money?”
“Just why??”
I knew it is going to tough and tiring to work full time + study part time, although I was complaining that I did not its going to be this tiring.
Looking back now, did I regret anything? Absolutely no.
In fact, I met some of my “gui ren” (ie. people who are great help to one’s life) through my this journey. Prof Kam Tin Seong has spent so much time with me guiding me through my capstone project, explaining the concepts of data science techniques (eg. how to do proper clustering, considerations when building a model), making me working very hard for the weekly data visualization makeover and many more. Another of my gui ren has to be Prof Wong Yuet Nan. The valuable advice and experience he shared with me has built up my knowledge and confidence.
Was I stressed during these process? Super duper stressed. I was so so stressed out until there were days my brain couldn’t think or function.
Deep down I knew what are opportunity cost and price I am paying, but I am willing to going through the pain. Sleeping at 2am almost every day, occasionally running back to work after class ended at 10pm and fell asleep at random places due to lack of enough sleep are really nothing when I compared to these valuable experience and confidence I have gained.
Would I trade these experience for anything? Definitely no.
Takeaway
Do I have the certainty of what is going to happen next when I was making the above decisions? Nope, often I am not sure how things will work out.
Do I want to have the certainty in these situations? Oh absolutely yes. However, I knew life does not work this way. I would miss out so much fun if I demand on the certainty.
It was taking these seemed “unconventional paths” that provided me the opportunities to discover amazing things. Just like the the photo shown below, it was taken with no filter during my Japan trip. Instead of walking along the main road like what other tourists were doing, I followed another path that is less taken and discovered this awesome view.
Photo taken in Hakone, Japan
Nevertheless, this is my story of unconventional path.
Life is short, so go & live a life with no regret! :)