What I wish I knew about my maths degree and it's place in industry before I began my career

1. A maths / stats career?
WITH HENRICA MAKULU
NUST ALUMNI ∙ CASSAVA SMARTECH DATA ANALYST ∙ FOUNDER OF HM DIGITAL

2. 1. My time at NUST
2. Your career options
3. Day in the life of a data analyst
4. Tips & Tricks
AGENDA

3. 2007
• How did I end up
doing Applied Maths?
• Heartbreak issues!
2008-9
• Failed Part 1&2
Mechanics
• Hour long walks
to campus
• Food issues!
• Accommodation
issues!
2010
• Struggled to find
attachment
2012
• Almost didn’t have
a dissertation to
submit!
• Sold sweets and
Jiggies!
2011
• Had to repeat one
year
• Fees issues!
2012+
• 2012 got an admin job
• 2017 Econet interview
• 2018 worked with Fayaz King
• 2018 interviewed a classmate
• 2020 started a business
• 2020-2021 trained &
mentored 100s of people
…in all things God works for the good of those who love him… - Romans 8:28
My time at NUST - Walk with me…

4. Working hard…

5. Playing hard…

6. Finally…

7. Henrica Makulu
Data Analyst | Mentor |
Founder
Henrica is a tech
professional with ten
years’ experience in
digital literacy and six
years’ experience in
data analytics. She loves
to simplify tech
concepts and help equip
individuals and
corporates with problem
solving skills using
technology
BSc Hons. Applied Mathematics (National University of Science & Technology
ZW), Data Science Certifications (WorldQuant University, Acadgild, IBM Digital
Nation, LinkedIn Learning)
6 years experience in data analysis
Has trained over 500 individuals on various skills including one on one training as
well as corporate training using tools such as Microsoft Office, Qlik Sense, SPSS
and Python. Trained Togo National Government Officials on Qlik Sense
Dashboards. Trained South African Educators online on Digital Literacy in
partnership with MANCOSA School of Education: https://youtu.be/Sr0ZupULp34
Founder of HM Digital Mentorship Program
Then vs Now…

8. What do you want to be?
…Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life… - Confucius

9. ***INDUSTRIES***
 banking
 health sector
 insurance
 tax
 investments
 stock broking/trading
 engineering
 actuarial work
 accounting
 economics
 operational research
 market research
 pensions
 retail
 quantitative analysis/risk analysis
 financial engineering
 management consultancy
 project management
 teaching and outreach work Source: https://help.open.ac.uk/career-opportunities-maths-stats
***PROFESSIONS***
 Actuarial analyst
 Actuary
 Astronomer
 Chartered accountant
 Data analyst
 Data scientist
 Investment analyst
 Research scientist
 Lecturer/Teacher
 Software engineer
 Sound engineer
 Statistician
 *ANYTHING REALLY!!!!!!!*

10. The tech world
The world is moving. Think back 5, 10, 15 years. 4IR is here
The future of careers is different: be future ready
Self-service (e-commerce, airport check-in,
vending machines etc)
Artificial Intelligence
(self driving cars, Google home, robots, drones etc)
Big Data
Cloud
5G
Business powerhouses are big data users

11. Exercise - The data world
Algorithms
Business intelligence
Machine learning
Big data
Data analytics/analysis
Data science
Artificial intelligence

12. Data driven decisions
From January 2020 to date we have
managed to service 50 clients,
almost half of whom are in the food
industry. This is a slight decline
(17%) from the 56 clients we served
in 2019. Please find attached a
detailed breakdown by industry
5
13
26
24
25
13
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
2019
2020
Manufacturing Food Clothing
2020:50 17% YoY
2019:
56
Option A Option B

13. LinkedIn Youtube IBM Digital
Nation
• Coursera
• Udemy
• DataFlair
• DataCamp
• Excel
• PowerBI,
Tableau,
Qlik Sense
• Python / R
• SQL
Data-cate yourself
Courses Tools
Kaggle – to
enter
competition
s & build a
project
portfolio

14. Henrica Makulu
Day Transactions Subscribers Amount
Mon 2000 1000 2500
Tue 1500 800 2000
Wed 1600 850 2000
Thur 1800 900 2200
Fri 2100 1000 2600
Sat 1450 800 2500
Sun 500 400 2000
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
Daily Numbers-Stacked
Column Chart
Txns Subs Amt
A day in the life of
Figures have been edited and do not reflect actual figures

15. Henrica Makulu
Day Transactions Subscribers Amount
Mon 2000 1000 2500
Tue 1500 800 2000
Wed 1600 850 2000
Thur 1800 900 2200
Fri 2100 1000 2600
Sat 1450 800 2500
Sun 500 400 2000
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Daily Numbers – Line Chart
Txns Subs Amt
Figures have been edited and do not reflect actual figures
A day in the life of

16. Henrica Makulu
Select All
From Table
Where Day = ‘Sat’
Day Txns Subs Amt
Sat 1450 800 2500
select
from
where
if and
Day Transactions Subscribers Amount
Mon 2000 1000 2500
Tue 1500 800 2000
Wed 1600 850 2000
Thur 1800 900 2200
Fri 2100 1000 2600
Sat 1450 800 2500
Sun 500 400 2000

17. Henrica Makulu
import
describe
head()
pd.read_excel

19. Look for people who represent the you that you would like to be
Start with the basics
Success is the sum of small efforts repeated daily
Network: reach out
Try things out
The internet is your friend
Be neat and accurate
Mentor/teach others
Be a problem solver
Whatever you do , do it well
Collaborate
Do what comes naturally
It’s okay at this stage to not know exactly what career you want
Copy and paste what is working elsewhere
Measure your impact
Tips & Tricks
“THINK IN OTHER TERMS...”
Find what you love
Be well-rounded

20. Technical Intelligent Quick Learners
Math & stats students are unique
Make sure you take advantage of this and be well-rounded.
Solve problems no matter what industry you end up in

22. THANKYOU!
EMAIL: HENRICAMAKULU@GMAIL.COM
HENRICA MAKULU
 DATA SCIENCE & ANALYTICS
 HOW I LANDED A JOB WITH ZIM’S
BIGGEST TECH COMPANY
 ETC
Check out my articles on LinkedIn
and www.resiliatech.com
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