I’m from Myanmar, but because my parents had international jobs, I have lived in different places all over the world: Scotland, Germany, the US, and Cote d’Ivoire. I attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I earned my Undergraduate and Master’s degrees. In the middle of my last year I was interviewing with a few tech companies and a few financial firms as well as considering the PhD program at MIT.    

Ultimately, I accepted a position with Goldman Sachs as a Quantitative Strat within the Securities Division. I chose Goldman Sachs because of the opportunities available to students with my background, which allows them to use both their engineering and quantitative skills in interesting ways to contribute meaningfully to the firm.

One of the most rewarding things to me about working here is being involved in markets and in the global economy. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re the one trading dollar-euro every day but it does mean that every job at Goldman Sachs is somehow connected to the market-moving events that you read about in the newspaper. This is the nature of markets and how working at Goldman Sachs is different from working at a technology firm. We’re engineers involved in helping make things happen in the global financial system, which is critical to global economic activity and growth.

My current role is to better serve our clients through data analytics and machine learning. We look into broader insights about the businesses our clients are in, not just about markets but also new strategies, products and industry trends.  We study them and present them in a manner that our clients can understand.

Teamwork in the firm is important to our success. Because of the quality of our people in all the different departments, we trust that collaboration can yield greater results. When you have a new idea or want to launch a new product, this culture of collaboration means producing a better product through collective decisions. One of my mentors once told me that, when working with a colleague you don’t yet know, just assume as a baseline that they’re good at their job.

Engineers are involved in the business at Goldman Sachs. We sit on the trading floor next to traders & salespeople, viscerally experiencing the daily rhythm and issues of the business. So when an important decision needs to be made, or when the right questions need to be asked, an engineer will always have a seat at the table.

Outside of work, I am involved in traditional rock climbing and technical scuba diving. I also like to cook, research new recipes and try new restaurants. I love the New York area because I can do all of these things in one weekend.