Data Scientist at Ministry of Defence of Singapore
About
Brief Job Description:
I analyze HR data, such as IQ and personality scores, to improve selection and deployment decisions in the Singapore government. I also authored the best-selling book, Numsense! Data Science for the Layman (no math added), which has been used by top universities like Stanford and Cambridge as reference text. You can check it out here: http://getbook.at/numsense
Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far?
No one can accomplish anything great alone. Knowing how people think and behave has helped me grow to become a better leader and team member.
What was your career path like?
I started out in a psychology department, where I was in-charge of administering public surveys. However, I realized that we had been missing many deeper insights despite amassing a large amount of survey responses. Hence, I transitioned from psychologist to data scientist.
Through data analysis, I uncovered new behavioral patterns and made more accurate HR predictions that helped my organization perform better. Along the way, I coached fellow colleagues to do the same. If you’re interested to get started, you can check out my layman tutorials on data analytics at: http://www.algobeans.com/
What advice do you have both professionally and personally for students and recent alumni who are interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?
Be curious, be diligent. Curiosity led me to discover data science as a way to enhance my psychology research, and diligence helped me to self-learn the subject.
What is the best career advice that you have received?
Well done is better than well said. —Benjamin Franklin
Why do you love Michigan?
The best teachers I had were at Michigan. I’ve heard many stories about university professors being more occupied with publishing than with teaching, but I didn’t encounter this at Michigan at all. My tutors were generous with their time, and I felt like they genuinely cared. To this day, their unwavering commitment to passing on knowledge has been a motivating force for me to keep learning.
