Oh-hyeon Choung, PhD - Senior Data Scientist

Oh-hyeon Choung, PhD - Senior Data Scientist at DSM-Firmenich

Where are you from, and what is your educational background?

I’m from South Korea, and I studied Neuroscience for bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree. I did bachelor’s and master’s degree in KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), South Korea, and Ph.D. in EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Switzerland. I wanted to understand human brain better to make machine intelligence smarter. To do this, for my master’s at KAIST in South Korea, I researched how people make decisions, made a mathematical model of the process, and compared it with brain signals (fMRI). Later, for Ph.D. at EPFL in Switzerland, I dove deep into our visual perception process, built a mathematical model, and used it to improve computer vision models’ performance.

Why did you decide to pursue the PhD path?

I believed that by understanding human brain, we will be able to make machine intelligence better. During my PhD, I aimed to deepen this understanding and develop algorithms to improve machine learning models. I wanted to apply my insights of the strengths and weaknesses of these models to real-world problems.

When did you realize that you didn’t want to pursue an academic career?

From the beginning of the PhD, I quickly realized that making real-world impacts would be more effective in an industrial setting, so I decided to pursue a career in the industry.

When did you transition into industry, and with which company?

A few month after the PhD, I started to work in Novartis (computer aided drug design team) as a Machine learning researcher as a contractor. 

You worked in a second company just after, what was its name and what was your role?

Then, I worked in a Start-up called Synple Chem, a chemical reaction automation company. I was responsible for all computational works in the company, including digitalization of data, automatizing manual processes, building prediction models, developing web application, evaluating the third-party applications, project prioritization with customers, etc.

What is your current position, and what do you do?

Now, I am a senior data scientist in dsm-firmenich. I optimize perfumes and flavors by developing machine learning models and automatized workflows for different use cases.

Was transitioning into industry your primary goal? And is your job related to the work you did during your PhD?

Working in the industry after my PhD was my primary goal. However, I didn't expect to end up working with chemistry data, since my research focused on computer vision models and human perception data. I anticipated working more in autonomous driving or vision model-heavy industries.

And while I work in applying and developing machine learning models, I lack domain knowledge in areas like chemistry, medicine, perfume, or flavor/food science.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?

I love that the models and applications I develop to optimize processes are being used and facilitate product development. I enjoy all the steps involved in creating a model/application. Not just the technical parts like data analysis, model development, and programming, but also the communication with subject matter experts and users to build something truly useful.

How did you adapt to the cultural and operational differences between academia and your current role?

The biggest difference I noticed was the collaborative nature of the work. Active communication and proactively reaching out have really helped me adapt to the working style in a company.

Were there any new soft or hard skills, or knowledge areas, that you had to develop for your new position?

Yes, for all.

Technical skills: I had to obtain all full-stack development skills during my first job experience.

Domain knowledge: Everyday, I try to learn more about the domain knowledge, especially about cheminformatics and chemistry.

Soft skills: Communication with confidence and project management skills.

As a non-EU citizen, what was your experience transitioning from your PhD to your first position outside academia?

Even though foreign nationals graduating from Swiss universities are exempt from the “Swiss/EU citizen first” rule (Article 21, paragraph 3, of the Foreign Nationals and Integration Act, FNIA), most firms prefer not to hire non-EU candidates due to the additional processes required for a non-EU work permit. In my experience, large corporations with established HR procedures or start-ups are more willing to handle the work permit hassle. Getting short-term (often lead to L permit) or post-doc contracts seemed easier than securing a permanent contract. During each job transition, I had to go through the documents more thoroughly with HR, which took longer than expected. The EPFL career center's documents were very helpful in explaining the process to HR.

What helped you succeed in your career transition?

95% networking through work colleagues, conferences, and networking events (subject specific meetups). And 5% of extra development of technical skills.

What helped you securing a more permanent job in the sector?

I worked as a contractor and worked in a start-up. These experiences helped me to secure the current permanent job.

What advice made the most difference in your professional development?

View every work experience as an opportunity to develop into the person you want to become. Don't just work for the sake of working or take a job just to have one. Instead, find a position that helps you build the technical and soft skills needed for your dream career. And about job searching: Job searching is a pure number game, apply as much as possible.

What advice would you give to PhDs and postdocs seeking opportunities in your field?

Stay updated on technical trends in your field through publications and conferences. Occasionally browse job postings to see what skills are in demand and work on developing them. Most importantly, network through LinkedIn, conferences, and social media. Be curious and ask questions about the work being done by people at your dream companies.

Did you engage in volunteer work during or after your PhD that helped you develop skills now useful in your job?

I did not engage in any particular volunteer works, but I contributed to COVID19 work force (data analysis) and I joined several hackathons to further develop my technical skills.

If you could go back, would you change anything about your career path?

I would have done more industrial internships during PhD. I definitely recommend it to those who are planning to work in industry afterwards.

What can I wish you for the years to come?

In this fast-developing era, I hope to continue working on interesting real-world problems while developing both my technical and soft skills.

Oh-hyeon’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oh-hyeon-choung/