“Back to the Future” Advanced AI Careers Evening
UCD CS graduates working in artificial intelligence returned to offer students their advice.
On Wednesday 2 April 2025 eleven graduates returned to the UCD School of Computer Science to talk to students about their experience and offer advice and insights about future career choices. Our graduates who returned to talk to current students are all working in artificial intelligence related roles:
- Ali Browne, Accenture, Data Engineering Consultant (BSc Computer Science w/Data Sc 2021)
- Liana Anca Tomescu, SonnyLabs.ai, AI Security / Founder / Startup (MSc Cybersecurity 2024)
- Sachin Soman, Protex AI, Senior Software Engineer (MSc Computer Science (Conv) 2021)
- Suraj Shivshankar, HealthBeacon PLC, Data Scientist (MSc Computer Science (Neg) 2023)
- Suryansh Singh, Deloitte, Senior Data Science Consultant (BSc Computer Science w/Data Science 2019)
- Yuxin Wang, GoMappEd, CEO & Co-Founder (MSc Advanced Software Engineering 2007)
- Swagat Mhaske, Deutsche Bank, AI Research & Development Lead (MSc Computer Science 2017)
- Tanaya Badve, Amazon Web Services, Cloud Solution Engineer (MSc Computer Science 2021)
- Yash Karle, Car Trawler, Data Scientist (MSc Computer Science 2019)
- Idil Bilgic, Deloitte, AI & Data (BSc Computer Science w/Data Sc 2024)
- Rian Dolphin, Amazon, Research Scientist (PhD 2024)
50 students came along for the evening, which was a great success. Head of School (opens in a new window)Associate Professor Neil Hurley welcomed the alumni and thanked Cathy Brooks from the UCD alumni relations team for their support. (opens in a new window)Assistant Professor Deepak Ajwani spoke about the new MSc Advanced AI and invited the alumni to introduce themselves, and then they went out to chat with the students at their tables. There was a great buzz as the alumni and students chatted. We rotated the alumni around the tables so everyone got a chance to meet and talk to each other.
After an hour, we had a feedback session where the alumni told us what they had heard from the students and offered their thoughts and sage advice. Some common themes emerged:
- Networking is important!
- It’s a competitive job market so don’t be put off if you don’t get offered a job;
- Tailor your cv and applications to each job you apply for;
- Network with anyone you know in the company before applying;
- Quantify the value of your experience. Talk about how you can help with real world challenges, e.g. save money, be more efficient and so on - it shows you understand how you can add value;
- Ireland is a small community compared to larger countries such as UK, USA, India;
- The UCD alumni network can be helpful to UCD students;
- Go to industry meet ups and events and then later you can reach out to people you meet there;
- While working in data science roles, get experience networking and build your profile. Use Linked in posts to talk about your achievements;
- Don’t reject yourself without applying! Apply if you are interested;
- Soft skills are still very important - verbal, written - it shows you can communicate and express yourself;
- Use the UCD Careers Network - the professionals there can help you to practice your interview skills;
- Contribute to open source projects.
Following the feedback session, everyone stayed on for pizza and further discussions. The visiting alumni seemed to really enjoy meeting each other as well as the students.
For more information about our Master’s in Advanced AI visit our website https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=COURSE&MAJR=T413
To hear about UCD’s research and teaching in this field watch our interviews with graduates and faculty here (opens in a new window)https://youtu.be/9WtMfcN1Kr8?si=MENVYVafID9SSJON
Published 7 April 2025