Supportive, friendly and challenging (in a good way!)

Moving to Sheffield has been quite an adjustment to make, but it has helped me to feel a lot more independent. I'm also really motivated to work hard!

Support is readily available

I have found all of the staff to be extremely supportive and friendly which is comforting, as I know where I would need to go if I ever need extra support for any reason. My modules so far have been fairly challenging (in a good way!), particularly the Python programming one from last semester as I was a complete novice to coding and using technical software. 

Looking to the future

I haven't done any work experience yet, but I am looking for an internship  to do over the summer, ideally working with data so I can improve my skills. After I graduate, I hope to go straight to working in industry: I'm still not quite sure in what role exactly, but at the moment I really like working with databases so that could be a good route for me! I also like the idea of working abroad and so hope to have the opportunity to do that in the future.

Advice for future Data Scientists

Although it definitely isn't mandatory, I would say that it might be worth having a look at a few online programming courses and how-to videos on Youtube. This will help you to familiarize yourself with what coding is like if you - like me - are new to it. Having some practice will make it much easier to pick things up in September.