Alum Ying Wang was a student in the Computational Finance and Risk Management Master of Science campus cohort of 2013. Ying obtained a summer Quantitative Analyst internship with Verus Investments, before on-boarding as a full-time Quantitative Analyst after graduation. Since 2017, she has been rising through the Data Scientist ranks at Amazon. She recently shared her thoughts about her time in the CFRM program.
Hometown: Hubei, China
Undergraduate University: Wuhan University
CFRM Cohort: 2013
CFRM Graduation: 2014
Current Location: Seattle, WA
Company: Amazon.com
Title: Senior Data Scientist
Q: What made you interested in your current field?
YW: I can use data and modeling techniques to solve problems and advise leadership on the optimal decisions. That makes me proud, as my efforts make a direct impact on the business and customers.
Q: What is the best part of your current job?
YW: I joined the team at the early stage of the team’s product, so I got the chance to grow together with the product from the very beginning. I led a lot of initial modeling and analytical work to make the 0 to 1 process happen. My current job has a lot of new opportunities to learn and explore new knowledge, which is great to improve science breadth and depth.
Q: How did your time in the CFRM program help you with your career path?
YW: I really appreciate the CFRM Statistical Modeling course. It included a wide range of popular statistical learning techniques that our daily work often uses as a data scientist. The CFRM program also provided some fantastic training sessions about interviews and socializing, which are super useful soft skills for students who don’t have much work experience before entering the job market.
Q: What was your favorite CFRM course? Why?
YW: Statistical Modeling. It is super useful and I use it almost every day in my work! Also, Monte Carlo Simulations, as I got the highest score in the class, LOL.
Q: What was your most memorable event or activity during your time in the program?
YW: One of my most memorable activities was volunteering with Zeno. I really appreciated that our program organized students to attend a formal volunteer event like this, and the experience of teaching math and playing with kids was quite unique and fun.
Q: What advice would you give incoming CFRM students?
YW: The courses offered by CFRM are super useful, so please take them seriously. You will absolutely benefit a lot from the technical skills learned in these classes, no matter whether you are in the financial industry or IT area in the future.
Q: What are your favorite memories of UW Seattle?
YW: I really liked the feeling of roaming the roads of UW campus, from the library to the AMath Department building [Lewis Hall], from classrooms to the HUB dining place, etc. I appreciate every memory with the UW and CFRM program, which are pure and happy.