The Intersection of Tech and Finance
After eight years in consumer banking data science and analytics, Shravan Sunkada (MFE18) wanted to broaden his repertoire of quantitative techniques and advance his applications to industry. To stay at the forefront of data science and finance, Shravan chose to apply to the Berkeley MFE Program.
Discussing his choice, Shravan emphasized the Berkeley MFE’s interdisciplinary nature, tight-knit cohort, superb location, and renowned faculty.
“The Berkeley MFE Program provides unparalleled support in establishing a strong industry interface for projects, internships and full-time opportunities. The interdisciplinary nature of the program (combining finance, statistics, mathematics and programming), a cohort size which allows for close and meaningful interactions with fellow students, the outstanding faculty, not to mention the exciting opportunities afforded to students by the Berkeley MFE’s location in the Bay Area, all combine to make a best-in-class learning experience, which I eagerly wanted to be a part of.”
Shravan greatly enjoys the financial practice seminars, which have afforded him the opportunity to explore his career interests and engage directly with industry professionals.
“I found the interaction with industry practitioners and their insights into the dynamics of working in the industry very valuable. It helped me immensely in finding a path best suited to my skill-sets and aspirations.”
In addition, Shravan notes the importance of the curriculum’s practical nature: “the courses not only have a strong theoretical foundation but were also very focused on the practical aspects of the topic. Professor Lettau’s class was extremely useful in this regard - he highlighted several potential pitfalls which one must be aware of while analyzing time series data, and how to steer clear of them.”
This fall, Shravan will be joining Uber’s Strategic Finance Team in San Francisco as a Data Science Intern, where he will employ machine learning-based solutions to business problems.
“I got the opportunity to interact with Uber employees at an internship fair organized by the MFE Office, and found their work incredibly interesting. I expressed my interest and, after a few rounds of interviews, landed an offer. Given the plethora of data that Uber has, there is a lot of scope to approach the company’s business problems with interesting quantitative techniques. I hope to tackle some of these problems during my internship.”
Outside of school and work, Shravan enjoys travelling with his wife and playing table tennis and chess. He also delights in listening to Indian music and is an amateur singer himself.
“The intellectual rigor of the Berkeley MFE is quite unlike anything I have been exposed to before. The peer group, professors and GSI’s are of an extremely high caliber, and I’m fortunate to be part of this experience.”
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