It's hard to define and hone in on the many things NYUAD prepared me for. I think the fact that it was a one-year accelerated master's instead of a traditional two-year gave way for a lot of autonomy and time management. There's not a lot of wiggle room when you have assignments every week, need to keep on top of deadlines or write your thesis in three weeks. I think that provided me with an ability to get things done efficiently to fit other things I wanted to do in my schedule. Things are constantly moving around you and projects are being added, and you have to keep your cool and adapt. This becomes incredibly valuable today as project deadlines stack up and I am able to finish up my work in time with little to no stress. On the content side of things, I'd say the ability to read research papers, synthesize information effectively, and use computer programming have all made my daily life much easier. While I do read more engineering-focused papers nowadays, it doesn't take away from the fact that they are structured in the same way as economic papers. Understanding the core premise of something that might seem complicated at first sight is definitely something NYUAD prepared me for.
As a master's student, you learn a surprising amount of things by yourself. Professors are always there, yes, but a lot of the synthesis and understanding will be done by yourself through textbooks and YouTube videos. This ability to go find information myself and make myself understand a certain subject is invaluable, and allows me to become a subject expert in little to no time.
Throughout my master's, as I got better at reading research papers, evaluating statistical results, and becoming a pro in STATA/R/Python, I realized I needed a technical job that encapsulated this. I realized the immense power that data holds to find correlations in the world and enjoyed working with it. Thus, being able to condense, synthesize, draw conclusions from data was something I wanted to do and that brought me to consulting. Being able to present your findings, defend yourself with data, and propose recommendations based on data insights is the artery of consulting. And so, realizing I could help companies decarbonize, for example, with simple data insights is incredible.
Home Region: Grew up in Munich, Germany yet I am half Spanish, half French (home region would be Europe)
Current Occupation: Consultant within the Energy Providers team at Guidehouse
Location: , France
As an energy consultant, my main task is assisting big energy and utility companies decarbonize their entire energy value chain. I think at first I didn't know the energy sector could be so expansive, so I do enjoy the variety of work that I do. I love getting into the nitty-gritty of things and learning something new every day. Lately, I have become somewhat of an expert in hybrid system optimization tools. Another thing I enjoy is the fact that we focus on sustainability and decarbonization exclusively. I believe this unique focus makes me proud of working here and contributing to something that not a lot of other companies offer. On top of that, we are a small team in Paris with a relatively flat hierarchy. So, having your voice heard in most conversations and meetings is absolutely invaluable and has helped me transition into the role with such ease.
I don't know yet what I want to do or who I want to be in the long-term. I just know I want to be in a place where I am constantly learning and finding new ways to expand my knowledge of the world.