Meet the Social Media Coordinators: Jinwei Sun & Lanting Su

An introduction to the social media coordinators for Cohort 11 of the M.S. Data Science program at the University of San Francisco.

Hello, everyone! We are Jinwei Sun and Lanting Su, the Social Media Coordinators for Cohort 11 of the M.S. in Data Science (MSDS) at the University of San Francisco (USF). We will be taking over the social media accounts for this academic year and have so much to share with you about our program and the student experience. Before we dive in, we want to share a little bit about ourselves.

Jinwei Sun(Left) and Lanting Su(Right)

What are our backgrounds?

Lanting: I was born and raised in Beijing, China. I first came to the U.S. for undergrad and graduate school, and my major was Finance and Economics. After my graduation, I moved back to my hometown as a consultant at a British company. I came back to California four years ago and worked as a Finance Analyst.

I had always wanted to pivot to the tech industry and be more challenged at work. One of the few silver linings of the pandemic was that I was able to work from home full-time. So, I started to learn SQL on my own. But I soon realized that self-learning wasn’t systematic enough for me. After digging more, the USF MSDS program caught my interest. The course curriculum is so practical, and with the practicum (nine-month internship) included, I felt that I could learn a lot from this program. Even though I did not have too much programming experience compared with most of the other students, I have a lot more work experience. So USF became the only school I applied for. Gladly, the program saw my potential, and accepted me, which I truly appreciate. Because I have learned a lot from this program and my classmates already.

Jinwei: I am originally from Southern China, and I moved around to a few different cities growing up. Before I came to the US, I stayed in Shenzhen for a couple of years. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Systems from the University of California, Riverside. While it is a business degree, I did have some encounters with data/technology in my concentration classes. After graduation, I first worked in marketing and business administration, but the excitement of working in the traditional business industry slowly faded away after a while. I then decided to pick up what my concentration classes taught and worked as a data analyst, which inspired me tremendously. After one year, I wanted to dive deeper into data and understand the underlying algorithms of how these decisions are made. Therefore, I came to pursue a Master’s degree in Data Science.

Lanting: As the social media coordinator with Jinwei, we are hoping to share more of our experience as MSDS students at USF to help future students who are interested in entering this industry.

Why Data Science?

Lanting: I realized the need for improving my technical skills at work, and I also think it is very interesting to be able to “talk” to a computer. However, I found that engineer roles are way too technical for me, and I’d love to have some balance of communication with people involved in my daily job as well. Data Science turned out to be the good combination for what I want. So, here I am!

Jinwei: My undergraduate study combines business and data. From my domain experience in business, I believe making business decisions that rely on data is undoubtedly the trend of the future because this process produces raw rational decisions and isn’t influenced by random emotions/noises. Data-driven decisions are the result of previous observations and concrete facts. On top of that, I found it fascinating that data science can extend to any industry and provide great applications to improve their traditional functionality, or even extend to a new era of innovations. Therefore, I want to be a “technology detective” for data who discovers hidden patterns, resolves issues, and provides evidence to support my suggestions and decisions. It is like solving a puzzle for me, giving me a great sense of achievement.

Why USF?

Lanting: So many reasons! Location, curriculum, practicum, and reputation. Since my goal is to join the tech industry, studying in the Bay Area is going to be so helpful as there are many opportunities here. Our campus is located in the downtown area of San Francisco. There are many great companies nearby, and our program also holds weekly seminars to ensure we get full exposure to the industry.

The courses are practical and well designed. It targets accurately the job market needs. Also, every student is assigned a nine-month internship (practicum), which increases our chances of securing a job by the time we graduate. Our program launched over ten years ago, and the statistics show that over 90% of graduates secure a job within three months of graduation, which is very impressive.

Jinwei: I was already in California, so I mostly looked for graduate programs in California. I chose USF because the MSDS program at USF is not like any other. This program offers a one-year intensive study of the most needed skill sets in the industry and a 9-month practicum with companies from different industries. There is no doubt that this program is very “eventful” with tons of study and a heavy workload, but the outcome is undoubtedly rewarding. Additionally, this program is based at the center of the San Francisco Bay Area, the preeminent hub for technology, where most well-known tech companies and unicorn startups are located. It will be an essential benefit for building connections and job searching in the future. I think this program strongly targets job markets and that is exactly what I am looking for.

How is your experience at this program so far?

Lanting: It’s a lot of work, sometimes can be overwhelming, but I’m also learning a lot at the same time, which makes me feel very satisfied. Sometimes all the quizzes and homework are lined up in one week, so we have to learn to prioritize things, and be good at time management. I think this is an important skill to have when it comes to work in the corporate world.

Jinwei: In class, I have studied many concepts and topics that I would never be able to learn or fully understand if self-taught. Our faculty are very informative and helpful. I started to understand the underlying logic of machine learning algorithms and how to implement them from scratch, while, previously, I only knew how to call packages and functions. In terms of social activities, we have organized many hangouts and city explorations. Staff also host some school events for us to bond and socialize. By the way, even though our schedules are hectic with tons of work, our staff are still able to find some gaps and organize social events for us. Props to that!

What interests you the most in Data Science?

Lanting: I like how it combines technical skill, business sense, communication skills together in this role. Using the data to answer questions, and present to teams, and make an impact on a business is what attracts me.

Jinwei: There are many fields of Data Science that I find quite interesting, and I am still in the process of exploring more. If I must pick, I would choose systems in e-commerce because of my business background, or in the technology/software industry because of its innovations. I think these two fields adapted to data science the fastest and the most efficiently. For instance, recommendation systems can be used to provide suggestions based on previous views or purchases. Thus, customers will be able to find content or products more relatable to them. It improves the customer experience and customer stickiness, which then leads to generating millions of revenues. It is incredible that sometimes machines might know us more than we know ourselves.

Why do you want to be a Social Media Coordinator?

Lanting: More than a half of our program are international students. As an international student myself, I know the struggle we may encounter. I also enjoy talking to people from different backgrounds and get inspiration from this. So I hope to help more people and get inspiration through this role.

Jinwei: I’ve always loved to be involved and engaged in the community. When I saw this social media coordinator opportunity for our program, I immediately knew I wanted to do this. I think this is a great way for me to get to know my cohort (I will do interviews with them in the future), and a great honor for me to be able to present for our program. Being a social media coordinator is something I can do outside of homework. It is almost like a hobby and a fun thing for me.

Some fun facts about you?

Lanting: I am a big foodie. The initial stimulation that got me interested in tech companies was the various types of food provided to employees by tech companies. I was like, I want that perk too! Haha. But of course, I made the decision of pivoting my career path after a lot of deep research and serious consideration, and I am quite happy with where I am right now.

Jinwei: Before I came to this program, I was making great progress in my fitness journey. I went to the gym for strength training five times a week, and I broke through some bottlenecks of my deadlift PR. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much time to dedicate to my fitness goals now, but I am slowly picking up the path and trying to maintain a good balance of working, studying, and training. Thankfully, many students in our cohort are committed to a healthy lifestyle so there are always people down for exercise and outdoor activities. Hopefully, I can get back on track soon. (Knock on wood!)