Approaching the end of studies

Start of studies

When I arrived on the 10th of September 2020 in Zurich for my bachelor’s in Computer Science, I didn’t really know what to expect. Back in high school I was quite good in mathematics and had an interest in computers, which made it quite a logical decision to study computer science. Next to that, having the possibility to study at a renowned university made the choice even more enticing to me.

I struggled hard during the first semester of university, as an 18 year old in a foreign country with no on-site lectures due to covid made the experience harder. Having to adjust to a different education system, where in some courses certain parts were merely glossed over since they should have been covered in high school (well not in mine) made me have to catch up on certain topics. Also coming from The Netherlands, I noticed the philosophy and expectations were slightly different in Switzerland. One of the things is that in The Netherlands your work cannot be perfect, maybe due to the calvinistic idea that only god is perfect and otherwise noone. It’s almost impossible to achieve perfect grades, and maybe in my opinion I feel like there fewer people strive for it. The idea of goed genoeg (good enough) is prevalent. This is something I got to appreciate from Switzerland, being surrounded by hard-working and skilled classmates, and seeing it flourish in the startup culture. Another thing was for me also to get used to Swiss-German, my German at the time was quite good but Swiss-German is a complete different game and when everything is locked down & not being able to meet it ceratinly makes it harder. Luckily, German was not the reason I struggled with some courses, but because the courses were just hard. Anyway, the exams stressed me out and I had no idea if I passed it or not (secret: I did).

The second semester went much easier for me and also the courses were finally held physically. This is where I first got introduced to university level (applied) mathematics. I absolutely loved it and also the reason the year later I became a teaching assistant for the course. It’s funny to think of me becoming as a teacher, it was just something that was never fully on my list even though it actually fits me quite well. In the first year of high school our class teacher made us fill out a form on potential future careers and my top result was school teacher and in my 12 year old mind that was the most hillarious thing ever. He mentioned he did a similar test as well before becoming a teacher. Funny how wrong I was. Anyway, being a teaching assistant was one of the best things I did and something I can recommend everyone to try. It is a role with a lot of autonomy and on the personal side it improves your speaking skills and teaching skills. The best thing is to me being able to help people develop an understanding of something you are also interested in. I did teach my classes in German (I could have done English), because the courses were in German and I was more familiar with the German definitions etc, but also because if you do not do it in a language you are fully master on a full native level, you have to explain it in simpler terms and if you cannot explain it in simpler terms you just do not understand it well enough.

Exchange Semester in Hong Kong

In the 5th semester I did an exchange in Hong Kong, as I wanted to be somewhere where I could improve my Cantonese and to have further experiences abroad. I ended up mine at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where I got to experience a different but in a way a familiar culture. It was an irreplaceable experience as I got to meet a lot of people and made friends with whom I am still very close to today. Especially during that time Hong Kong was still restrictive due to covid regulations, so when I arrived I had to undergo a quarantine in a hotel for three days. There wasn’t much to do and I just finished my exams, as a result I was still quite tired and I ended up sleeping for three days. My hotel room luckily had a nice view on the harbour and every day they would knock the door at fixed times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Otherwise nothing exciting, but luckily the time went by quickly. After the quarantine I made my way to the college dormitory and I met up with someone who I texted before because she had the same last name. She helped me get settled and introduced me to her friends. A few days later the courses started and I noticed that the education style was very rigid and in certain ways quite outdated, something that I found a bit unfortunate. I didn’t visit class much after, I ended up mostly studying in my room or library. Also, I don’t get why you don’t allow people to double book courses if there is no mandatory attendance, if someone fails a course it’s on them. Besides university, Hong Kong was amazing. The combination of nature (70% of the city is not built on!), skyscrapers and access to beaches is something unique. Some of my favourite memories include going on the peak, clubbing in a skyscraper, having a cocktail in a rooftop bar at 480m, fresh mango mochis at the beach and many other things! Oh, one thing I don’t mind is the humidity. The exchange is something I very fondly look back at.

Gaining first real work experience

When I returned I had to finish my bachelor’s thesis and a few other courses, but also to make a decision on what to study next. I signed up for the master’s in Data Science at ETH and got accepted into it, as I found out during my bachelor’s computer science wasn’t for me. My main interests were lying more towards machine learning and statistics, and with the program’s flexibility better aligned with my goals and interests. However, in October I received an internship offer from my PwC for a STEM Intern and I decided to take that and put my studies on pause. I was lucky to be placed in a big team which was responsible for the audit of one of the biggest private equity firms and had shorter rotations for two other private equity firms. This really gave me the chance to gain insights into some of the inner workings of these firms, but also getting to learn from a lot of different colleagues. Being in a big team with a flat structure gives you the possibility of making an impact and combined with the trust of my direct manager gave me a lot of opportunities to explore different projects.

Following this, I knew I wanted to continue my path in this direction and the quantitative finance master’s at ETH Zurich & University of Zurich seemed to be the path forward for me. I managed to get an interview and ended up passing the interview. As the program would start later in the year, I had time left until the start. I decided not to continue at PwC and see if there were possibilities in something better aligned. One of my colleagues knew someone who studied in the same program and setup a meeting with him. I got an interview with this startup multi-strategy hedge fund and joined the firm as an intern for 6 months initially. I directly started with taking about 1.5 weeks off, which is something I probably would not recommend to do. Anyway, afterwards the learning curve was steep as I did not have any finance background at the time. I caught up and helped deliver reporting tools and moved on to supporting the investment team with investment decisions. After my internship was done, I got the offer to continue part time as a working student, which I gladly appreciated. The internship really strongly reinforced my ideas of what I wanted to do for my future career. Doing those internships helped a lot and something I can also recommend, sometimes you just do not not know what you actually like. It is easier to say what you think you would like, but you can never know until you have actually tried it.

Starting the master’s

As I got accepted into the master’s, I started around September 2024 while still working part time. The time has just gone by so fast. Being in a small program of around 50 students and the possibility of doing long term projects like the Portfolio Management Programme further expands your understanding of finance and what mathematics is actually useful. Now as I just received my last grade and with that I concluded all my courses, just also how on some random day you had your last exam and last course without really realizing it. In the coming 1.5 months I will be wrapping up my master’s thesis combining machine learning and finance with an application in implied volatility surfaces. After which I am done with my master’s and my educational journey (for now). I will be continuining full time as a quantitative analyst at Savex Capital from April on. I am excited to continue learning and to keep improving.

I honestly can say I look fondly back on these last few years, all the misfortune, all the experiences, all the people, and all the lost hairs. I am looking forward to the time ahead, to new struggles and continued growth. Thankful for everything and everyone.