>> My name is Tyson Thomas, and I am the Chief Scientist and the Director of Product Science
for a small software company called Neural ID.
So, Neural ID is a software company that analyzes data
for pharmaceutical companies using machine learning pattern recognition.
So, I would say the most interesting aspect from my perspective, is that I've been exposed
to such a huge variety of application areas and experts.
Domain experts in welding, experts in electrophysiology, from a cellular level
to pre-clinical trials, to clinical trials, to dealing with humans, animal physiology,
a variety of different things, as well as the other applications that we've looked
at in the past, tractor manufacturing, car manufacturing and welding, so that's been one
of the most fulfilling things is interacting with domain experts, learning how they do
and what they do, being able to tour their facilities and then seeing how we can help them.
And the real satisfying part is if we can help them,
seeing how much more efficient we can make them.
So, I went to Pomona College for undergraduate, and I majored in--
I was a double major in physics and economics.
Economics was sort of my backup major in case physics got too hard.
Then, I took a year off and worked for my step-father in accounting and realized
that I wasn't interested in pursuing that.
There was a bit of a recession at the time that I graduated,
so I like to say that I could not get the jobs that I didn't even want.
So, that turned into an application towards graduate school.
So, I ended up going to the University of Southern California
in a Master's program for Electrical Engineering.
Towards the end of that, I got an offer for an internship type academic part-time position
at the jet propulsion laboratory.
So, then I stayed on and enrolled in the PhD program also in Electrical Engineering
at University of Southern California.
Science and engineering careers have evolved, and I'm going to say more engineering careers,
especially like what might be in Silicon Valley.
They've evolved because it used to be you needed a set of very old-school skills
to be able to participate in engineering.
Now, you're seeing so many more engineering--
they're not really engineering companies anymore, but start-up companies in technology
that are fusing different disciplines.
So, social media involves all sorts of things related to psychology and sociology,
and then there's math and statistics and data science.
So, there's a lot more amalgam and fusion.
So, in a lot of ways you can pick up some of the technical side skills later, if you want.
Now, that being said, if you know you have an interest in that,
I would say it's worthwhile pursuing that direction.
But I would say pursue it if it's your passion.
Don't pursue it because you think it'll set you up to have a good career.
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