Postgraduate Machine Learning Student at Royal Holloway
Tell us a little bit about yourself
Hi my name's Tom, I studied BSc Economics and graduated in 2022.
Why did you choose to study Economics at Royal Holloway and what did you enjoy most about your course?
I chose to study Economics at Royal Holloway because I like to understand the world around me and with so many interesting economic events over the course of my life (Brexit, Covid etc.) it felt essential to understand the underlying mechanisms that drive economies - and where better to do it than on a beautiful campus!
How was your personal experience of being part of the Economics community as a close-knit group of staff and students?
Very good! I found all my lecturers engaging and easy to approach. At the times where I felt more awkward expressing certain concerns, the student reps for the economics department were well known and were happy to raise any issues on my behalf.
How did Royal Holloway help you to discover opportunities and prepare you for life after university / to find your purpose in life?
Royal Holloway put on regular careers/employability based events which helped me to try out different things. For example, they ran an amplify trading simulation - and whilst I really enjoyed this, I could tell that it didn't best suit my strengths so that got me thinking about other career possibilities. This trial and error helped me to find what I really enjoyed.
Tell us about your career journey since graduating and what you do now. What do you enjoy most / find most rewarding about your current role?
I am currently studying MSc Machine Learning at Royal Holloway. I enjoy the fact that I have a different skill set to many of the other people on my course. There are obviously a lot of computer scientists who really understand programming, but economics has given me a slightly different perspective on things. I think I have a more robust understanding of statistics and data - which helps with interpreting the data and making sense of it all.
What are your top tips for students thinking about a career in your line of work/study?
Don't just pick all the fun modules that you like! It's obviously good to enjoy your modules but try and pick modules that will diversify your skills and open doors for you in the future. I think the best thing economics can give you is adaptability, due to it being a very diverse field.
