Reflecting a year into grad school

Transitioning to academia, working professionally for several years in AI to pursue research came with it’s own set of challenges. I went from a well cushioned job and comfort of living in my home to having a runway for exactly a year for pursuing graduate school and being clueless on how to fund graduate school for the second year, I learnt more about life than what I set out to study in grad school. And this came from a position where I set aside my ego where my skills were financially rewarded in a professional setting to paying tuition to study algorithms that I used in production environment in my professional pursuits, just to get a shot at being in a place where I could work on research. This coupled with having to work with fellow graduate students who don’t share the same seriousness was a harsh reality that I was not prepared for during my first year. This led me to question how universities shortlisted applicants into graduate school, contemplating wheter a grade that I got back in 2018 weighed more than the skillset that I had built working?

But all these adversities taught me two things, grit, all the way to the bone and being honest to myself, as I am walking into my second year. This was fortunately made possible because of an updated scholarship email, I received earlier this week from my department, giving me a runway for one more year. And I am grateful that I could find a place where I could find myself and rebuild myself along the way, as I walk into my second year further refining my research focus. This portfolio and blog post will be a place where I document my journey into research and a place where I can improve upon my writing skills.