About me

I work in Data Science, but I often feel like I have no idea what I’m even doing. Yes, really. The field is constantly changing and as a student or junior it’s tough to find out what you should be focusing on and where you fit in.

I’m here to share what I’m learning on a technical level, but also to show you the behind-the-scenes of navigating my career.

My name is Sarah and I am currently a Machine Learning engineer at a public utilities company in Germany (aka "Stadtwerke").

Before that I was a Data Science Consultant at a consultancy firm since January 2022. And before that I studied math and computer science at university (see below for the details of that). I am a huge theory-math nerd, but preferred the tech world for my career, so machine learning ended up the area of choice.

I run an Instagram profile since July 2020 - I was bored and lonely studying alone from home and now I'm stuck with it.

I also started a blog - duh, obviously, you're reading it right now - and a Youtube Channel about Machine Learning, Data Science, Math and everything that I learn or experience that is roughly related to my job.

Who am I as a person?

I am 28 years old.
Okay, I have no idea what else you would want to know, but here are 50 fun facts about me.

Education

I completed a Bachelors degree in Mathematics in from 2014 to 2018. In parallel I also completed a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, as the two programs have a lot of overlap. I finished that one in 2019.

My Bachelor's thesis in Maths was on the topic of Knot Theory and explained the Markov theorem in that area.
The thesis in Computer Science was about Embedding Differential Equations in ProB, which is a tool based on formal methods and is used for safety-critical systems like Metro doors, trains and elevators. You can read more on the B-Method here for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-Method

Afterwards I completed my Masters in Computer Science with a focus on Machine Learning. My final project and thesis was about Deep Learning with a research and theory focus.

Work experience

While studying I was a teaching assistant/tutor for various math and CS courses. This included grading student's assignments, teaching classes that explain the previous weeks homework, supervising coding workshops and helping with exam grading.

I also did an internship and continued working as a student in a consulting company - the very one that hired me after graduation. After a while the continued starting and stopping of consulting gigs became a bit frustrating so I went on a search to find my new role, which gives me the chance to see a company grow in the area of machine learning and build long lasting infrastructure and see projects from their first idea all the way to completion and deployment which I enjoy a lot.