Transitioning out of the mini-MBA component (conducted virtually for us) October was punctuated with onboarding events and opportunities to grow within the Rotman community. The semester began with a seminar on what to expect over the next three months: our journey, deliverables, and responsibilities. At this stage, we were introduced to our respective professional practicum teammates and expected to collectively develop a deeper understanding of the project assigned to us. Additionally, we spent this time forging stronger working relationships with our academic work groups in the exciting Reciprocity Ring game and through collaborative self-development sessions where we navigated interpersonal issues over multiple supervised simulations. Working intensely and in person with my cohort this month, in both academic and professional capacities, facilitated the formation of meaningful friendships that have carried me through the challenging periods of this program.
October’s very own: Employment
The well-planned structure of the program enabled us to start thinking about our careers and be proactive in getting them started early on in our ride. Our career centre set us up with a multitude of resources to construct our résumés and cover letters, along with the soft-skills coaching required to navigate interviews and convert them into job offers.
The workshops on improving our networking strategies and developing our personal brand were most impactful for me in tailoring the profile that sets me apart from my peers.
The wide network of Rotman friends and alums empowered us to use these skills in making in-roads within our future industries and learning more about the cutting-edge technologies being inducted professionally.
During this month, we had the opportunity to speak with senior leadership from influential North American fintech firms through the program’s Advisory Board networking event. Augmenting my interactional skills and applying them frequently this month have been instrumental to my job search journey.
Spooktober: Dive into the deep end
This month marked the beginning of our “tools” term, consisting of four classes exploring different facets of machine learning. Two of these courses used R and Excel to build models that solve complex linear programming problems, while in the other we programmed in SQL to pull data and Tableau to visualize it, and in my favorite subject of the semester we built neural networks using Python. As exciting as these topics are, the accumulating course load and increasing complexity of these classes can feel overwhelming. Delegating responsibilities equally among my groupmates and setting pseudo-deadlines for myself (usually a day before I was supposed to turn them in) helped me balance my workload and manage my procrastination. The support of my resourceful instructors and the program staff was pivotal in making this experience less stressful and more rewarding. I admit that this month I was intimidated by the coding challenges I came across, but it felt equally cathartic to overcome them with the assistance of my friends.
The MMA program has equipped me with the resources required to materialize my solutions. Like myself, if you appreciate the power of analytics and its ability to support critical conclusions, a Rotman education combines the best from academia and the industry.
My time here has set me up with a lifelong support system in Canada and the ability to survive in the workplace of the future.
The Master of Management Analytics is designed to give students the advanced data management, analytics, and communication skills needed to become an analytics professional.