Adday-Desta Heller

BSc Mathematics, 2019

Three words to describe your time at Warwick

Rewarding, challenging, stimulating.

Career aspirations

I enjoy my career as an Environmental/Social Data Analyst and can see myself progressing and developing in this role. I look forward to developing my programming skills as part of the job and learning more environmental subject matter expertise.

Environmental/Social Data Analyst, Bloomberg

To what extent did you plan your career?

I attended careers fairs, talked to careers advisers, and attended careers talks, but I wouldn't say I planned my career initially. I accepted the first job I found that sounded interesting and used that to learn what I did and didn't enjoy. I repeated the process with my next job and am currently in a job that I highly enjoy.

How do you use your Maths degree in your job?

I use critical thinking, problem solving, and programming daily in my current job. During my degree I also learned how to learn new concepts efficiently, and I use this in my job frequently. I also used my experience of leading the Women in Maths group to found diversity and inclusion (D&I) groups at my previous two jobs.

Finally, I use my experience in Maths education as a governor at a local school, where I advise on my Maths curriculum.

Why did you choose to study Maths at Warwick?

I studied Maths as I had always enjoyed it, and, as I didn't know what I wanted to do after university, I thought that Maths would be a good general option that could open lots of different doors. I chose to study at Warwick as I wanted to study at one of the top universities in my subject, and the flexibility of the course at Warwick was a huge factor. I wanted to take part in a year abroad, and study other subjects alongside my degree, and Warwick allowed and encouraged that.

Which modules did you particularly enjoy/find useful?

Studying modules in Python, Java, and an interdisciplinary module in general programming opened up the most doors for employment after university and gave me some foundation for my career. I chose these as I was interested in learning about Computer Science, and previous graduates had encouraged me that these were some of the most employable modules (they were right!). Programming skills enable you to use a lot of the general Maths/logic skills that you learn in the rest of your degree, and I think it's the easiest way to translate your knowledge into the real world.

I also have a passion for languages, and so took languages courses in my second year (German), third year (Spanish), and fourth year (Portuguese). I chose these modules as I enjoyed them, but they have also enabled me to travel all over the world, and I was surprised that these skills have been hugely beneficial in my career so far.

What core skills do you think you developed during your time at Warwick?

Problem solving: this was my most important takeaway from my degree, whilst the actual content varied, problem solving was always at the core of this and I consistently use problem solving in my career and day-to-day life.

Communication: I developed this from the extra-curricular work that I took part in whilst at Warwick. This included speaking at Maths open days, leading a weekly Women in Maths group, organising a Women in Maths conference, working as a student caller, and working as a tour guide for potential students.

The ability to learn well: with a maths degree, there will always be times when you are completely stuck. Learning not to be put-off by this, and learning how to learn new concepts efficiently, has been one of the biggest takeaways from my degree. I don't think many things are harder than a Warwick Maths Degree, and achieving this has given me a lot of confidence in the real world.