Emma Castiglia (PhD ’22, Physics)

What are your key roles and responsibilities in your current positions? What do you like most about your job and what do you find most challenging? 

Key Roles:

  • Design, develop and monitor product metrics
  • Query data to diagnose impact and causes of bugs/regressions
  • Collaborate with program managers, data engineers, and software engineers to complete projects

The best parts of my job are the people I get to work with – all highly talented, eager to mentor or learn, and collaborative, and the ability to work on cutting-edge technology.

The most challenging part of my job is that I cannot talk about what I work on with those outside the company! Also, because the work is so new, we are solving problems while building out the tools needed to solve those problems.

 

List or describe the top 5+ professional skills that are crucial to your role. 

  1. Programming
  2. Data Analysis
  3. Statistics and Modeling
  4. Ability to Communicate technical findings to non-technical partners
  5. Research Mindset- ability to pose new questions and dive into a project, figure out what to explore next, and create a reasonable timeline to complete the work

How did your time at Yale shape your career trajectory? For example, what skills and/or experiences did you acquire that have contributed to your career success? 

While at Yale, I took advantage of the ability to take courses outside my department and took/audited Deep Learning and other programming classes. This helped me incorporate machine learning techniques into my PhD research and acquire the coding skills needed to interview for tech jobs. I attended OCS events and events put on by the physics department that were focused on careers in tech. Lastly, I utilized Yale’s alumni network to learn more about what a career in tech would be like and got advice from former PhDs that transitioned to careers outside academia.

 

What were the biggest challenges that you faced when transitioning to different workplaces and cultures? What advice and suggestions can you offer to current students to help them prepare for those challenges?

I found the transition out of academia really smooth and easy. My team culture is pretty similar to my research group’s culture and I joined Meta alongside several other PhDs. I would recommend applying to companies whose values you align with and where there are other former PhDs. I did a tech internship during my PhD which exposed me to what the tech-lifestyle is like, and convinced me it was what I wanted to do after graduation. I highly encourage getting that exposure/experience while still in your PhD.
Work Experience
  • Data Scientist
  • Meta
Communities
STEM PhD Pathways
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