Viv Shen (B. Data Science & Decisions 2021) – Graduate Spotlight

Posted on: February 12, 2023

Last Updated on: February 19th, 2023

Post Category: Student Experience

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I actually met Viv through a cold connection request on LinkedIn, asking for her insights into an internship I wanted to apply for; it was the Data Science Intern role at Atlassian, and unfortunately I did not get it. But even before that, I kinda knew of Viv and found her accomplishments at Uni very admirable.

We reconnected after I shared the idea of her contributing to a guide I was working on, named the ‘Uni for Students’ guide. And I’m truly honoured that she agreed to share about her Uni experience, her career journey so far, and her learnings.

-Jason Khu

Jason:

Thank you, Viv, for agreeing to contribute the guide. I’m sure your experience will be very insightful for the new students coming in!

But before we get into it, for all the readers, can you please introduce yourself? And can you tell us what you studied, and what you are up to now?

Viv:

Hi everyone! I’m Viv and I studied a Bachelor of Data Science & Decisions with a computational major at UNSW. 

I interned at Google, Atlassian and tutored computing courses at UNSW as a casual academic. During my time at Uni, I was also involved in a number of student societies including Data Science Society, Computer Science and Engineering Revue Society (CSE Revue), and the Women in Technology Society (WIT).

I graduated at the end of 2021 and I have been working as a Software Engineer at Canva.

In my spare time, I’m working with my friend Annabel Zhou to help ourselves and others better manage our chronic diseases! 

Jason:

That’s awesome!

For context, the Uni for students guide is about how to make the most out of your Uni experience and how to start building your career – and to grow personally as well.

So, how would you describe your Uni experience in three words, and what were some of the key highlights from your experience?

Viv:

My Uni experience in three words: fun, learning and perseverance.

All my main highlights are around working on something I’m incredibly passionate about, putting in all the hard yards and seeing all the hard work pay off. Some key highlights include: 

• CSE Revue: working with 100+ talented students to create and perform to thousands of people in a student production 
• WIT: building on and creating an incredibly talented and supportive community, achieving extraordinary growth and winning awards 
• Startup journey: meeting new people, upskilling and securing our first Angel investor! 

Jason:

From what I see, you’ve landed roles at Google, Atlassian and Canva, AND you were pretty involved with extracurriculars at Uni.

So, I was curious… would you say that your Uni experience helped you build your career and land your roles – if so, how? And did you get any value, from your Uni experience, added to your personal life?

Viv:

Your Uni experience is what you make of it.

A lot of my Uni experiences focused on developing soft skills such as teamwork, communication and leadership, which have definitely helped me build my career. I have grown and learnt from my experiences and, when asked, I can easily bring up an example to show how I have been in this situation, managed it and learnt from it. 

In my case, a lot of the main skills I developed were soft skills so it was definitely applicable to both my professional and personal life. 

Jason:

That’s great! Thanks, Viv!

Now, there was something specific I wanted to ask you…

From what I’ve seen, there’s consistently this big hype and talk around picking up technical degrees, like computer science and data science, because of the growing demand for that type of knowledge and talent. And there’s also this big hype around working for a large tech company.

Even for some of my peers, who are business students, they do admire the perks that come with tech companies – better culture, work-life balance, etc.

Just from what you know and experienced, what would you give as advice for any student who is interested in building a career in the tech space?

Viv:

Tech is very flexible. I have seen people who got into the tech space with a traditional tech background as well as backgrounds in arts or med! 

Many have this misconception about tech being really hard, you must be super smart, you can only do well if you’ve been coding since you were young, etc.

I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to be any of those things.

From an outsider looking in, tech and coding looks really difficult with the strange syntax and even the concept of writing a program for a machine. I would argue that the same would apply to any other degree out there. If you try looking at an architecture or finance book without knowing the background, it’s all going to look hard and challenging. 

If you take the time to do tech/coding, you’ll find that it’s actually quite logical and intuitive. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but that would also apply to most new things you try picking up!

For anyone trying to get into the tech space, I would suggest doing some research and reaching out to people in the roles you’re interested in, to find out more about the role and assess if it aligns with your interests. 

Since I studied computational data science, my advice would be around how to get into programming specifically. For this, there are two main options you could take:

• Pick up coding through a Uni course, such as COMP1511 (intro to programming), to keep yourself accountable and really build some good foundations to set you up for success (i.e. touching on areas like good coding practices). Following this, you can either teach yourself relevant topics or pick up some other core courses, such as COMP2521 (data structures and algorithms), COMP2511 (object oriented programming), COMP6080 (front end web development) and COMP3311 (database management) 
• Teaching yourself. There are so many free courses on platforms like YouTube and Udemy, which you can use to teach yourself the relevant skills. But this would require a lot of commitment and dedication.

I haven’t completed any bootcamps so I can’t comment on them, but that is another option you can consider!

Jason:

That was really comprehensive. Thanks, Viv.

Let’s bring the conversation back to the Uni experience…

Unfortunately, winging it is part of the student life – you’re bound to figure it out as you go, and sometimes you have to change your mind to things.

Were there any key learnings from your experience? And do you have any regrets from your experience?

Viv:

Some key learnings include: 

• Don’t be afraid to express/voice your opinion, even when you’re in a room of people who seem more qualified than you. Because, first of all, they might not be. And you might notice something that hasn’t been addressed by others. It’s always important to express your opinions, since you are the voice for the people you represent.

• Don’t let other people’s comments and perceptions of you get in the way of doing what you want and love.

There are definitely moments I would want to redo or take back, but I wouldn’t regret them, because I think you learn and grow a lot as a person from your shortcomings.

Jason:

So that pretty much wraps up the chat…

Thank you again, Viv, for contributing to the guide!

Before we end it, do you have any (more) general advice for incoming students?

Viv:

• Be the change you seek.
• Create your own opportunities.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.