The saying in high school that 'the job you'll have probably doesn't exist yet' resonates strongly with me.

I initially studied chemistry at UCI and realized I liked quantum mechanics the most. Figured more math would never hurt, so I added a degree in physics.

I then went to UCSC for a graduate degree in chemistry. Things didn't work out with my initial graduate adviser (always have a backup plan(s)!) and I almost dropped out of UCSC. A new professor had an opening for me to study solar cell semiconductors with x-ray spectroscopy, a technique I didn't know existed when I committed to studying it for my PhD.

Near the end of my PhD, I realized I was intellectually saturated with semiconductors. Semiconductor jobs would mean I could work at Apple or Intel doing fundamentally the same process engineering work. Several of my friends who did their PhDs in particle/astrophysics were moving into this new field called data science. I found the field of data science interesting and more intellectually diverse; I could work in health care, finance, logistics, etc every few years. The pay and flexibility didn't hurt either

I took my initial data science job as the 2nd employee at a Stanford-based startup using machine learning focused on predictive maintenance in the connected vehicle space. I got introduced to the world of tech and saw the company grow from seed level to series A funding.

Now I work at Facebook in the Small Business Group, where I help small business advertisers use the Facebook platform to reach potential customers.

My technical work focuses on machine learning and experimental design (AB tests and causal inference techniques). It's been an interesting contrast between the small startup and the large company, especially as someone who still feels like an outsider to tech in the valley.