First of all, I was really impressed by the professors and classes in my field of study. By that time, I had graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and I wanted to continue studying. But I didn't want to do so just to get a degree, as is often the case with master's programs. I wished to acquire new knowledge and become better at what I do.

Next, I think Skoltech has something that education in Russia lacks. That is, the chance to look at your field of study from different angles: scientific, technical, economic, and innovative points of view. This fact offers you a whole new spectrum of collaboration possibilities. That was really important to me since I already had some ambitions in the fintech sector.

And finally, networking. Of course, you meet some exceptionally talented people at the MIPT. But they're all somewhat aligned in their interests and worldviews. But Skoltech gets students from all walks of life and professions — from biology to engineering. Just meeting and speaking to these people is the perfect way to broaden your horizons.

All in all, I knew what I was doing when I chose to go to Skoltech.

I was a part of the ADASE research group, and Evgeny Burnaev was my advisor. I worked with multivariate forecasting, time series clustering, anomaly detection, fault detection, and discrete optimization. My findings were used in commercial software for cash management optimization (forecasts and recommendations for banks: distribution of cash among ATMs for lowering funding and cash-in-transit costs, improving client service, and satisfying demand). Skoltech professors have a lot to offer in terms of data science and other useful subjects. So as far as hard skills are concerned, I use them daily. This is the foundation for my job.

Skoltech also teaches you to see new opportunities at the intersection of areas. Our team swears by the Data Fusion approach (it presupposes achieving the greatest business effect by combining data and using machine learning algorithms in different areas). There is also a conference of the same name (data-fusion.ru) by VTB and the Skolkovo Foundation. So our whole team lives by Skoltech principles.

My career began at the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is a joint department of MIPT where students can work in scientific teams. I worked on 2D and 3D computer vision problems and studied attention models of deep neural networks.

After that, I did a lot of research and project work at the CDS Office of Sberbank — their flagship data science division, which is responsible for the digital transformation of Sberbank, among other things. We developed recommendation systems for bank products based on geographical, transactional, and click-stream data. We also held competitions and hackathons and created internal libraries and services.

Next was Gazprombank. At the time, the company's management focused on the retail segment, which produced a whole cascade of modeling tasks. What would be the optimal placement for offices and ATMs in some random town? What factors would ensure good customer flow? Would the placement be optimal in terms of infrastructure and operating costs? So we developed a geoplatform that would collect and model all geodata that the bank acquired.

And now I work at VTB. The tasks of our team (in the broadest sense) are extremely numerous — we deal with all non-standard modeling tasks and foster mutually beneficial partnerships with Big Data providers in Russia. In just two years, we have created the ML Center, which is now capable of solving any data science problems that the modern fintech sector may face.

There were no sudden ups and downs in my career. Every step I took would expand my previous experience and build upon it. And I think that is really important. I believe that it is crucial to constantly find new ways to better yourself and grow at your own pace. And it's especially great if your colleagues and people around share this idea.

My advice to students: Skoltech is a great social elevator. It offers great opportunities, just be sure not to miss them! And, of course, the most important thing is to have fun in the process:)