What attracted you to your course at RGU?

The reasons I chose RGU were the academic standing of the institution, the standard of its courses and facilities, the campus's setting, the resources, and support services offered to students, the availability of research opportunities or internships, as well as the university's inclusive and diverse student body and faculty. Another reason was the quick and candid responses from the school office which addressed all my queries in a timely manner.

My research also revealed that the School of Computing at RGU is filled with resources and resourceful staff to support you throughout your time at RGU.  

What would you describe as the highlight of your degree?

A unique highlight of my course for me was the approachability of the Academic staff. In all my modules the tutors were extremely friendly and thoughtful, providing me with the correct guidance depending on the stage of the course I was in at the time. The warm approachable nature of the academic staff was the key reason I completed this master's program. My course leader (Dr David Lonie) and my course strategic lead (Dr Ines Arana) were always there when I had questions and needed guidance.

How will your degree support your career and future goals?

My goal is to become an eminent data scientist soon. The RGU curriculum has not only armed me with the theoretical skills to achieve this, but also the practical skills I need to compete in the challenging data science industry. The course was holistic and covered many important and novel areas useful for a modern data science practitioner. I am currently putting the skills I honed throughout the course to build production-level data science solutions.

Any tips or advice for future students?

My advice to future students is to be proactive. Complete all lab sessions at the first opportunity you get, and always question how the concepts or skills you learn will help you when you work in industry or conduct research in academia after your masters. 

Another tip will be to use the drop-in sessions provided to students to your fullest benefit. It’s very important to have one on one chats with tutors and question any unclear elements in each module. I wish you all the best.

Future students need to also be prepared, as the first semester will usually be the hardest, since they’ll need to get used to and adapt to the course delivery methods and requirements. It’s also important to complete all the assignments as soon as they are released so that you can keep the weekends free for exam preparation activities. Try to proactively cover the material and keep the lecture delivery session as an opportunity to ask questions and gain clarity on any unclear areas.

Prospective students need to also know that no matter what you do there will be times that you will feel bogged down with the workload. The way I learned to cope in times when it got like that during my master’s was visualizing myself completing the master’s and walking across the stage on graduation day.

 I also organised group study sessions with friends, discussed ideas, and compared notes. This will help you gain a broader understanding of data science. My last tip is that you ensure that you master cloud technologies (AWS, GCP, MS Azure, Kubernetes, or Docker) whilst studying for the masters especially if you are inclined to work in the industry post-graduation.

I am happy to lend any future students a helping hand whenever I can, and they can contact me via Twitter (@trappedalien).