Career Path

Motivations which established my intended career path and approaches I believe can be used to expand businesses.

Photo by: Henry Lo, Unsplash License

Why I am studying chemical engineering and machine learning

My interest in chemical engineering was highly motivated by how this field takes an idea that hasn’t quite finished its development and nurtures the idea into a mature form. This concept of growing ideas into a practical ideology that can be used to improve the existence of humanity was too beautiful for me to ignore.

To be able to participate in this act of expansion I would have to learn how to leverage these tools to produce value. In this period of study, I learned that despite 'certainty' being something that I had considered inherent to scientific practice a more important concept arose, confidence.

I had discovered through the help of my mentors that the mechanisms and tools that we employ worldwide on incredible scales are only as certain as the significance of the statistics that assert their validity. This meant only one thing.

If I wanted to create exceptional ideas, then I would need exceptional tools.

This is where artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning entered my life. The techniques were like an older sibling to the knowledge that I had gained in chemical engineering. With the technology developing so quickly and the adoption by large companies like Tesla, Google, and Amazon; a new passion was consecrated.

I have since felt that the combination of these fields of study are less distinct than I had originally thought. I now see artificial intelligence and machine learning as the next step in the study of expansion. Understanding of the driving factors of a process, the behavior of energy, and allocation of resources are the foundation to this discipline. Optimizing these foundations has created the world around us, but the success is limited to the domain of human knowledge and the ability to connect concepts across disciplines. However, by coordinating the appropriate teams to collaborate on the key factors for success and creating a procedure to rapidly collect the relevant data; we could begin to recognize new areas where businesses can be strengthened.

Employment in Banking Industry

My employment in the banking industry was coincidental; however, the purpose of my employment became more clear as time progressed. When I say that the employment was coincidental, I mean that it had never been my intention to work in the banking industry before I had started. While I was working on a direct marketing campaign to raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross, I encountered an extraordinary woman whose generosity exceeded my imagination. It was her belief in my ability that allowed for me to gain the insights and skills that I will have for the rest of my life, and I am forever grateful.

I had originally intended to enhance my negotiation and sales abilities, but this quickly shifted to exploration of financial topics. My new employment sparked interest in market dynamics, financial products, and economic concepts. As my knowledge base grew seeing the relationship between individual and commercial entities through the perspective of assets and liabilities grew in importance.

I have spent the last two years closely following the US economy, and the relationship between the US Treasury, Federal Reserve and Central Banks to evaluate the strength of their markets. I am ambitious to expand on this knowledge in the future with formal study of financial topics and business organization. I intend to use what I have gained in my personal endeavors to make more thoughtful considerations towards allocation of capital and management of risks throughout projects.

The most fundamentally important piece of knowledge that I acquired working in the banking industry, is the importance of risk management. The methodical approach that the banking industry applies to their business practices are incredibly efficient in ensuring that no single points of failure exist. In banking, the margin between success and failure is heavily dictated by how effectively that bank manages risk.

Risk management is unusual because of the connotations that are associated with risk. The difference between an inexperienced banker and an experienced banker usually can be spotted from their perception of risk. For example, the inexperienced banker when told that a certain action is associated with a level of risk will tend to gravitate away from that action. This is usually because they are too preoccupied with words buzzing in their head like “exposure”, “danger” or “hazard”.

How does the experienced banker respond?

The experienced banker assesses the risk and then makes an informed decision that is in the best interest of the business. Not to say that the experienced banker blindly takes on risk and exposes the business.

No, the experienced banker has an appetite for risk, and the discipline to not take too much on.

All-in-all risk is a double-edged sword. If risk is neglected, and you wind up overleveraged and there will be a margin call waiting with your name on it. Conversely, if a party is overly conservative with how they manage risk, they simply will not be able to compete. However, when risk is utilized effectively, carefully assessed, and managed from an informed consideration in the best interest of the operation; success follows.

How everything comes together to create value

The combination of all of the discussed topics and their applications, by which the performance of a business can be enhanced is my ultimate goal.

The various elements listed up to this point include:

• Expanding ideas and deriving value
• Exceptional ideas use exceptional tools.
• Practical allocation of capital resources.
• Leveraging risk to increase productivity.

In practice, I believe the act of scaling the productivity of a business can be facilitated using these principles. At the start of the project the confidence is yet to be established, however the tools are readily available. If the scale up of a business is what is desired, how would one apply best practices to make practical use of the capital resources?

Looking at a few of the largest companies in the world: Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA), and Amazon (AMZN). They have a competitive advantage that allows for them to outperform their competition year after year. As a result, their competition slowly loses their market share until they eventually die out, because they simply cannot compete. The common denominator is that they effectively use all these principles better than their competition does.

The power of automation is that once it has been implemented, it only requires maintenance and improvement. Using data driven decision making, you increase the confidence that you are making the most effective decision.

Therefore, you only pay once.

Companies of this caliber are able to take on much more risk with a significantly reduced likelihood of failure. Additionally, the risk that is taken on at earlier points in the project provides higher levels of statistically significant assessment at later points. If their competitors tried to take on the same level of risk prior to establishing the same level of confidence, their failure would be imminent.

Ultimately, the capital will gravitate to the party with the superior technology.

Where I am at now?

Graduating with Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in Spring 2022. Looking to identify gaps in my own understanding by taking on either short or long term projects. Additionally, expanding my perspectives to incorporate a larger domain by learning from industry professionals to expand on base of knowledge. Continuing to build upon current projects that I am working on with various teams and commercial partners. My current goal is to continue building experience and abilities which would allow for me to lead larger projects in the future with great success.

Would I make a good addition to your team?

• ABSOLUTELY
• NOT INTERESTED