Alumni case study: Siddhant Walia
Siddhant Walia, BSc Mathematics 2014-2017, now a Manager (Cloud analytics), Efficio
“Mathematics was the only subject I enjoyed in school and found that calculus and probability really interested me because of how we could understand and explain real world phenomena. This motivated me to delve deeper into what maths has to offer, along with how it's applied!”
Careers support for Maths students
As a graduate with a degree in mathematics, your career prospects will be exciting and wide-ranging. Within the maths department, we have a dedicated careers consultant who will offer you advice and guidance on what might be ahead after you graduate, and how you might get there. This support is free and available to you at any time during your studies with us.
Why did you choose to study Maths at Warwick?
Mathematics was the only subject I enjoyed in school and found that calculus and probability really interested me because of how we could understand and explain real world phenomena. This motivated me to delve deeper into what maths has to offer, along with how it's applied! At the time Warwick University was one of the top universities for mathematics and the course flexibility (along with interdisciplinary options) really appealed to me.
Which modules did you particularly enjoy/find useful?
I really, really enjoyed modules which were more applied - Topics in Data Science, Mathematical Statistics, Bifurcations, Mathematical Economics were fantastic examples of mathematics shaping and solving real world problems. Additionally, I loved Complex/Vector Analysis, PDE and Galois Theory, all of which served me really well during my master’s too.
What core skills do you think you developed during your time at Warwick?
The rigour and depth of mathematical training we received at Warwick meant that I had a really strong mathematical foundation. This helped me hit the ground running during my master’s as I was ready to apply my knowledge and training instead of having to simultaneously build a strong quantitative foundation. Additionally, the main skill set I developed was being able to work through abstract problems. This really helped in consulting as at the core of it, we're solving different problems for businesses!
To what extent did you plan your career? Did you attend careers fairs, have appointments with our careers advisor, engage with employers on campus etc? Or has it been unpredictable & unexpected?
I really did not and was constantly confused about what to do. I knew that mathematics opens loads of doors for us as we're trained to become highly analytical individuals. However, I was drawn to consulting as I knew it would introduce me to a variety of sectors and real-world problems, which would "hopefully" help me plan my next step better!
How do you use your maths degree in your job?
During my time in consulting, the main skills I used from my degree are being able to comfortably work through abstract problems, while being extremely confident with numbers/analytics in any setting. This meant any modelling/quantitative work was a breeze. I will also be moving to bigtech to become a quantitative analyst where I assume statistical modelling will also be key!
What do you see the future holding for you in your career?
I've just joined Apple as a quantitative analyst and over the next few years I'm looking forward to gaining experience working at the intersection of data science, machine learning and product! From there, I hope to manage an analytics team and see where this takes me.
What 3 words would you use to describe your time studying maths at Warwick?
Challenging, rigorous, rewarding!