Name: Yilun Tang

Year: 2017

Major: Mathematics/Physics

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going!

This summer, I am interning with Asia-Analytics in data analytics field. They have ongoing projects at several offices in Asia, but I have been very lucky for having the opportunity to work in their Shanghai office!

Data analytics is the science of analyzing raw data with the purpose of drawing conclusions about that information. It is used in many industries to support companies and organization to make better business decisions. During the last two weeks in the office, I started learning about the basics of SPSS, which is a very useful tool while processing large data sets. However, in order to understand the operations of SPSS, a strong background in Statistics is highly recommended. As a Physics and Math major, I have taken only one Statistics class, so I have found myself referring to my old textbook many times…I am trying hard to apply my knowledge at work, and it is interesting to see how the Physics and Statistics are related in ways I have not thought about. Besides the Statistics component, I have also realized that it is a very technical field, especially because it is impossible to avoid data mining, which requires a lot of coding experience.

Other than my internship, Shanghai is an amazing city with a lot to offer! As an international city, it always has so much energy. The amount of people at rush hour is incredible, as well as the heat. Also, 9 to 5 does not exist because there are “competitions” going on about who is the last one to leave the office. I normally leave at 6:30pm, but my roommate works for an internet start-up and she works from 10 to 10. They even have yoga classes at the company so that employees are not too tired from overtime… It is basically another version of New York, except for the better planned public transportation system. I really enjoy the energy and I want to make the best of my time here!