Through the eyes of a student: networking and career planning

My name is Shang Huang, and I am a PhD student in geophysics at the University of Calgary with CREWES. I am also president of the Student Exploration Geophysics Association (SEGA) at the University of Calgary.

I am also fortunate to have part-time employment as a junior developer at Areto Labs, mainly working on machine learning tasks. It has been a fun journey for me. I had started to be interested in machine learning/deep learning in 2017 when I took a couple of courses on Coursera. Then I did more literature reviews about machine learning approaches applied in the geosciences. That research helped me realize how to use AI to improve traditional workflows. When I started my part-time employment last year it inspired me to redefine my interests on the geoscience software side. I like to challenge myself to learn something new and find new ideas by integrating my passion for geophysics, software design and computer science. It has been a remarkable journey where I’ve learned from team members as well as practical work about software design, user flow and, most importantly, the efficiency of agile work.

Thanks to the CSEG Mentorship Program and my mentor Nanna Eliuk who, in the past five months, has helped introduce me to some great people from geoscience-based companies like Ikon Science, SeisWare, Absolute Imaging and Earth Signal Processing to expand my network and learn about the actual application needs in the industry. I am excited to have been able to meet with them and have learned a lot from our discussions. For example, I’ve learned about sustainability and carbon dioxide storage, high-performance software architecture, practical cloud system and computing, and machine learning applications in the geosciences. I also learned that forward-thinking and priority-driven leadership are necessary skills for a leadership position on the management side. Even though the learning appears straightforward, it is challenging to apply it in the real world. I appreciate the companies who devoted their time to share knowledge with me as it helped me to further my career planning. It has been an incredible opportunity to open my mind to combining my interest in geophysics and software design, or other areas, and it opened my eyes to the fact that there are many promising employment opportunities in geosciences. Take the opportunity to join the CSEG mentorship program for the chance to learn from experts within your area of interest. Networking is so important and provides the opportunity to learn from an expert and practical case studies via a coffee chat or meetings. It is essential to step out of your comfort zone and try something you feared before. Every day is a new day. Thank you for the opportunity.