‘I wanted to learn more data science techniques’

Dilton is a first-year student of the Master Data Science for Life Sciences, who chose this master because he wanted to expand his knowledge.

‘After my bachelor in Biomedical Engineering in India I came to the Netherlands to follow a master in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Twente. When I finished, I worked at a process engineering company for six months, but I decided I was not finished learning. I wanted to learn more about data science techniques and when I saw this master it was exactly what I was looking for.

If you ask me, every company has to get involved in data science in the next couple of decades because there is so much data everywhere. Even in, for instance, the process engineering company I worked, I saw a lot of data. In the future I would love to combine my process engineering skills with data science, but to do that I needed to learn more about data science. When I saw this master, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to learn what I need.

So far, the master is great. It really focusses on learning new techniques, and gives you experience with programming. There is also a perfect balance between theoretical knowledge and applying that knowledge to solve practical problems. A lot of these problems actually come from the workfield, so that really gives you a good idea what you might work on after you finish the programme. I also really like living in the Netherlands, although I did have some problems finding a house when I first got here.

I do think that you need to like puzzling, programming and mathematics if you start the master. There are a lot of links with, for instance, statistics and linear algebra, so it helps if you are familiar with these concepts. However, you also need to be prepared to work hard, because it is often a lot of new information that you have to process. It is all very satisfying if you figure it out.

Right now, I am doing a project in a process company that produces proteins from animal waste fat. I find it really interesting because after the masters I also want to find a job at a company that just makes something, and help them to improve their process by using data science. I am not worried about finding work after the master, because I think the skills I have gathered so far will ensure that I can find a good job.’